[Blog] Say Cheeeeeeeeezzz Cake

Cheesecake with or without a crust – that is the question.

In Germany, cheesecakes with a shortcrust pastry base are very common – some bakeries prefer yeast dough as a base. American cheesecakes often have a base made with crushed cookies that are mixed with melted butter and sugar, for example. You will get a crumbly layer, but it will be rigid enough so you can cut a slice and place it on your plate. Whether a cheesecake needs a base or not depends mainly on the consistency of the filling. If the filling is firm, you can do without a base. In any case, you should use a leak-proof cake tin. If you don’t have one, you can wrap a regular baking tin tightly with aluminum foil to keep the filling where you want it to be during baking. For a cheesecake that is still a bit soft after being baked or when using fruit, we typically use a base so everything stays where it should… but maybe that’s just a preference?

⁣Cheesecake – soft or dense filling?

How dense a cheesecake filling gets depends primarily on the ingredients, but also on how the cheesecake is prepared. For example, you can choose between quark or cream cheese as the main ingredient, right? With cream cheese you will get a denser (but creamier) cheesecake. Quark (or Topfen, as the Austrians call it) contains more liquid than cream cheese. Therefore you will get a cheesecake that is slightly softer (but also sometimes ddrier. Many recipes with quark will tell you to drain the quark properly before using it for the cheesecake filling. When drained, you can pass the quark through a sieve to make the cheesecake filling creamier. To add volume to a cheesecake you can fold in beaten egg whites – something you do when preparing Japanese Cheesecakes, for example. Quite a few options to manipulate the texture of a cheesecake. ;P

What color do you prefer?

For NY-style cheesecakes, for example, you want the top of the cheesecake to look pale, almost white. Other cheesecakes look better when slightly browned. In case you want to enhance the browning, you can brush the top of your cheesecake with a little sweetened condensed milk – about ten minutes before the end of the baking time. The sugar from the milk will caramelize and turn golden brown. You have to be careful though. Baking it too long can lead to a cheesecake that gets a bit too dark. If you do the »sweetened condensed milk trick« check regularly towards the end of the baking time and cover the cake with baking paper or aluminum foil to reduce the heat hitting the top of the cake.

How to prevent your cheesecake from collapsing.

When your beloved cheesecake rises beautifully in the oven, it’s a big disappointment when it collapses as soon as you open the oven door. What magic tricks are there to ensure that the cheesecake still looks good after cooling? Well, that’s actually quite simple (but time-consuming). Don’t bake the cheesecake in one go, but take it in several intervals and let it cool down in between. If you loosen the cheesecake from the edge of the baking tin with a knife after about 10 minutes of cooling time, it can rise further without any problems during the next baking cycle. The oven temperature should not be too hot with this method – around 150°C (fan-forced) or 170°C (top/bottom heat). Furthermore, bake the cake on the lowest rack possible.

Another tip – placing a baking pan with water at the bottom of the oven helps a cheesecake to rise as well. No matter what your recipe says about baking the cheesecake, it is often advisable to let the cake cool down slowly inside the oven with an open oven door (and also loosening the cake from the baking tin with a knife). This allows the cake to set slower and the surface cracks less or not at all.

What do I do with leftovers – if there are any?!

Almost all types of cheesecakes freeze well. It is best to put the cake in the freezer in individual slices, not everything in one piece. Whenever you are in the mood to eat the cake, you can take it out piece by piece and let it thaw – preferably in the fridge.

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