How to Cheesecake

Have you ever wanted to bake tasty treats that'll make your friends love you? Or, if you don't have friends, make you really fat and happy?

Mmm, pumpkin cheesecake.

I've been getting a lot of cheesecake-related questions recently, so I've decided to stop lurking and make a post to share the tips and tricks I've gathered over the years. Cheesecakes aren't super difficult, but they can be fussy (and time consuming). I'll show you my general order of operations and tips to avoid cracks in your cheesecake. Ugh, cracks.

Let's go!

First things first

A rule of thumb on cooking versus baking is that cooking is about knowing your ingredients, while baking is more about knowing your equipment. Cheesecakes can be finicky and I've tried a bunch of different tools over the years, so I've formed some preferences.

For cheesecakes, you'll obviously want a springform pan. There's a lot of different options and I have a few different types, but my favorite one is this anodized aluminum pan. It doesn't have any paint or non-stick coating (coatings will peel after awhile) and I haven't managed to make it rust (which is usually why I have to toss my other pans). The type with a lip, like this one, I've found is easier to deal with than the pans with the fitted bottoms. Especially when baking with water baths, which I'll cover in a bit.

You can get cheesecake pans that don't have removable sides (a la Alton Brown's preferred method), but be sure that your cheesecake recipe is going to yield a firmer cake (and that you have lots of parchment paper). The cheesecake I'm making for this post isn't firm, so removable sides it is.

The mixer

You *can* make cheesecakes without a stand mixer, but you're probably going to have a bad time. Stand mixers make life so much easier.

Some insurance

I bake all of my cheesecakes in a water bath (a bain marie, for you fancy-folk). It helps regulate the temperature of the cheesecake as it bakes and I've found that it's the best prevention against cracking (which is generally caused by uneven heat and overcooking). To keep everything baking evenly, I use a roasting pan filled with water that comes about halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan.

Word to the wise, though: springform pans with removable sides will leak. Some manufacturers will advertise that they're leakproof, but they're dirty liars and can't be trusted. If you're not using a cheesecake pan with removable sides, then you won't have to worry about water leaking into your cheesecake. Since I'm using a pan that has removable sides (and I'm a worrier), I use at least 2 layers of aluminum foil and an oven bag over my pan.

Two layers of foil done...

And now the oven bag. Generally, the oven bag will stop everything, but leaks do happen. Which is what the foil is there for.

More preparations

When making cheesecake, you'll want to use room temperature cream cheese. Some people prefer all of the ingredients to be room temperature, but I've found that only the cream cheese will make much of a difference when it's room temperature versus cold. Cold cream cheese is a pain in the butt. Don't do it.

Getting started

Enough prep, let's get baking. Toss your cream cheese into your stand mixer bowl and start it on a medium mixing setting (~3 on my KitchenAid). I like to get this started first so that it has plenty of time to smooth out.

Gettin' smoother...

Sugar is the next to go in, but scrape down the sides first. I like to scrape the bowl between each ingredient addition.

While the sugar and cheese are beating, get started on the crust. For this cheesecake, I'm going with a graham cracker crust. Food processors make this part easy peasy. You *can* smash up the graham crackers with a rolling pin and a ziplock bag, but meh. I've had too many broken bags and crumbs everywhere (although the dogs appreciate that). So food processor it is.

Smoosh it down in there. A heavy-bottomed glass helps get everything packed down quickly. I tend to make my crust flat, but if you want to press it up the sides, you do you.

Nice and flat. Some people prefer to prebake the crust, I rarely (read: never) do. It's a preference thing, so if you want to do it, go for it. If anything, I'll toss it in the freezer instead while I finish making the filling. I like the texture better that way.

Now it's time to get back to the filling. After the sugar, add your eggs. Add 'em one at a time and give it a bit to mix in before adding the next egg. Once the eggs beat in, add the rest of your dairy, if the recipe calls for it. For this cake, I added some sour cream after the eggs.

Next in the process is to add your flavorings. This one's gonna be a margarita cheesecake, so alcohol and limes it is. Yes, that's a really big bottle of tequila. Don't judge me.

Grated up the lime peel, juiced the limes, added the alcohols, and the filling is looking pretty.

Pour the filling into your springform and give that baby a few whacks on the counter to get rid of bubbles. I like to take a spoon and use the back of it to smooth the top layer, just in case any bubbles are just below the surface. Bubbles are jerks and can cause cracks. This cheesecake filling is pretty loose (cuz, alcohol), so bubbles aren't really going to be a huge issue here.

Put the cheesecake into its water bath...

And into the oven. With cheesecakes, I never bake over 325F. This is another part where knowing your equipment is key, so get an oven thermometer if you're not sure of how accurate your oven is. With the water bath and lower temperature, most cheesecakes usually take about 60-70 minutes to bake. Set the timer on the lower side and, when the timer goes off, give the cake a jiggle to see how it's progressing. When it's done, the sides should be mostly firm and the center slightly jiggly.

For the margarita cake, I made a sour cream topping. The very end of the cook time is when you'll want to add that if you're using a sour cream topping. And you should. They're good.

Once that's done, turn off the oven and let the cheesecake sit in the warm oven for a bit. By a bit, I mean for a few hours, if possible. This is another step to avoid temperature extremes (and, again, avoid cracks). Then pop the cake into the fridge for at least 6-8 hours. Overnight is better.

All done!

After it's chilled, transfer it to a cake plate or cake board, garnish it up, and take a bunch of pics. I guess the pics are optional, but it'll make your friends super jealous. And that's always fun.

If you still end up getting a crack in your cheesecake, fret not. Whipped cream is your best friend. Not Cool Whip, though, that's disgusting. Make it homemade, don't be lazy. 2 Tbps of sugar for each cup of whipping cream and beat that up til fluffy. Tah dah!

This recipe is pretty similar to what I put into this particular cheesecake, if you want to give it a whirl:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/margarita-cheesecake-recipe.html

Dog tax

Hope this post was helpful! Now, go bake stuff!