A flair for baking cheesecake

CHEF MOM / Adoree Chong-Uy

Question No. 1: I consider myself an intermediate baker. I have been baking brownies, cookies and cakes for years now. I thought that a baked cheesecake is an easy thing to make, but I was wrong. Last week, I made New York cheesecake using a recipe I found on the Internet, and it turned out uneven. I consider a perfect cheesecake to be even on top with its pristine white color. Mine came out collapsed in the center and it browned on some parts. What went wrong, Chef Mom?—Joy Mendez of Makati City

Thank you for your question, Joy. I am hoping that this incident did not discourage you in any way. I am sure that, even with years of experience in baking, this will not shield you from a mishap that can always happen during baking. At the end of the day, practice is still the answer to a perfect baked product.

The secret to a dense and even New York cheesecake is to ensure that minimal air is incorporated into the batter. When mixing the batter, do it at low speed at the least amount of time. Minimal air would mean that the cheesecake does not leaven during baking, because when this happens, the cheesecake will just collapse once you take it out of the oven, thus, the uneven top. Be sure to bake it at a moderately low oven temperature or, even better, use a hot-water bath, or bain-marie, to help ensure even, gentle baking.

Question No. 2: I would really love to surprise my husband by baking his favorite cheesecake. The last time I tried baking one, it came out with a big crack in the middle and the cheesecake was gummy. Thank you in advance.—Maricris Valle of Parañaque City

Hi Maricris. Thank you, as well, for taking the time to write to us. It is our pleasure to answer your query and be of help to our dear readers.

Baked cheesecakes are considered custards, meaning we used eggs to bind the liquid batter and turn it into a solid, smooth cream-cheese custard. Having said this, eggs, when cooked or baked at a high temperature, will curdle and sometimes, turn rubbery. The solution is to ensure gentle baking, to make it smooth, so that no cracking would happen.

Bake your cheesecake in a bain-marie and lower the oven temperature to 300 Fahrenheit. To bake with a bain-marie, prepare a bigger baking pan that would fit with the cheesecake batter. Fill it halfway with hot water. Secure the outside of the cheesecake pan by lining or covering with aluminum foil to ensure that water will not seep in. Put the covered cheesecake pan onto the water-filled pan and bake just until the center of the cheesecake is still wobbly when gently shaked. Overbaking will cause you cheesecake to crack and turn gummy, so watch it carefully.

Question No. 3: How come there are recipes for cheesecake that require it to be baked with hot-water bath and some recipes that don’t? Is there any difference?—Pao Villarica of Taguig City

Thank you for your question, Pao. Cheesecakes, being one of the more easy-to-make desserts around, can be quite confusing, but we at Chef Mom, would answer your questions to the best of our abilities.

All baked-cheesecake recipes have eggs to bind the mixture during baking, but not all recipes have flour or any form of starch to help in the binding and to stop the eggs from curdling at high temperature.

Recipes for cheesecake that have flour or starch in it can be baked without a hot-water bath because the flour present will do the job in preventing the eggs from curdling. For recipes without or very little flour, a hot-water bath is necessary to avoid curdling. For other concerns, like cracking and browning, the hot-water bath will address those so you may also bake bain-marie, even with flour present in the recipe to ensure a prefect-looking cheesecake.

Question No. 4: I prefer my cheesecake cheesy and dense, as compared to those creamy, fluffy ones. How can I make my cheesecake cheesy and dense?—Thelma Sarmiento of Paco, Manila.

To make cheesy, dense cheesecakes, more cream cheese is used in the recipe with a little sour cream or heavy cream, and eggs to bind them. The correct mixing technique is also called for. Just beat the mixture at low speed all the time, so that the incorporation of air is at a minimum. For the creamy, fluffy types, more heavy cream is added to the recipe to give the creaminess and lightness, in place for some of the cream cheese. Both variations are acceptable. In the end, it is all a matter of preference.

We have been hearing good feedback from some of you, our readers, and we would like to thank you for letting us know how you are loving this column. Rest assured, we will continue to do our best. We would love to inspire more readers as we answer more of your baking queries and reveal more oven secrets!

E-mail: chefmom.tmm@gmail.com.