Cracking on the surface of cheesecakes is well known. These can almost always be avoided by remembering not to beat the batter excessively or cook it for too long, but if you want to be absolutely sure there are no cracks, you can take a few extra precautions and you will get a smooth and perfect surface.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Part One: Before Baking the Cheesecake
Step 1. Grease the pan well
Baked cheesecake tends to shrink as it cools. If the edges of the pan have not been greased properly, the cake may stick to the edges and crack in the center as it shrinks. By greasing it, however, you will allow the cheesecake to remodel freely.
- To grease the pan, you can use a non-stick cake spray, or an edible fat, such as butter or margarine. As a general rule, the edges and bottom of the pan should appear shiny and greasy to the touch, but not so much that they run off.
- To spread the fatty substance evenly, use clean kitchen paper.
Step 2. Stir a little
As soon as the ingredients have blended and the batter is nice and smooth, stop mixing. If you continue too long, bubbles may form, which will then cause cracks.
Inside the oven, the air bubbles trapped in the batter expand and try to rise. Moving towards the surface of the cheesecake they can form cracks or indentations
Step 3. Try adding starch to the batter
Add 15 to 60 ml of cornstarch or flour along with the sugar.
- Starch minimizes crack formation. The starch molecules bind to the egg proteins preventing them from clotting too much. The result will be that the cheesecake will shrink less, thus causing fewer cracks.
- However, if you are following a recipe that already includes flour or cornstarch, there is no need to add more. Maybe whoever wrote the recipe has already thought about how to solve the crepe problem.
Step 4. Add the eggs last
Eggs are the glue of all the ingredients, so they are also the main culprits of trapping air bubbles in the mixture. Mix all the other ingredients thoroughly before adding the eggs to reduce the number of trapped bubbles.
- Any lumps caused by the cream cheese or other ingredients must be broken up and completely eliminated before adding the eggs.
- After adding the eggs, beat the batter as little as possible.
Step 5. Put the cake pan in a double boiler
Cooking in a bain marie keeps the humidity inside the oven high and, above all, prevents the cheesecake from getting too hot during cooking.
- For cooking in a bain marie, first cover the edges and bottom of the pan with aluminum foil, in order to have an additional barrier from the water. If possible, use thick paper, and wrap the pan as best you can.
- Place the pan on a larger baking sheet. Fill the latter with 3-5 cm of hot water, or at least enough water to wet the pan up to half of its height.
Method 2 of 3: Part Two: While Cooking Cheesecake
Step 1. Cook on a low temperature
The ideal would be to bake the cheesecake at 160 ° C. Too high temperatures or sudden changes in temperature can cause cracks, while baking the cake at a relatively low temperature will reduce this risk.
You can also cook the cheesecake at a lower temperature if the recipe says so, but avoid higher temperatures instead. At high temperatures, egg proteins clot too much, causing cracks on the surface
Step 2. Try turning off the oven first
Instead of letting the oven heat up all the way through cooking, turn it off after about 45 minutes. Leave the cake in the oven for another hour, or until the cooking time is complete. However, the batter will continue to cook even in a warm oven.
Gentle cooking in the final stage helps prevent the cheesecake from overcooking, thus eliminating another cause of cracking
Method 3 of 3: Part Three: After You Cook the Cheesecake
Step 1. Check if the cake is ready with an instant reading thermometer
Check the center of the cake with the tip of an instant-read thermometer, towards the end of the cooking time. When the cheesecake reaches a temperature of 65 ° C, remove it from the oven.
- Cracks will always form on the cheesecake if the internal temperature exceeds 70 ° C during cooking.
- The thermometer will leave a hole in the center of the cheesecake, so if you want a perfectly smooth surface you can skip this step. However, many think that a small hole is little compared to cracks. Since the thermometer will allow you to know precisely when the cake is ready, it is a valuable aid against the formation of cracks and definitely has many advantages.
Step 2. Don't overcook the cheesecake
The cheesecake is ready when the edges are solid while an area in the center of about 5-8 cm remains soggy.
- The center should feel moist and soft, but not undercooked.
- The center will also solidify when the cake has cooled.
- If you continue cooking until the center is dry, you will have overdried the cheesecake. Dryness is another cause of surface cracks.
Step 3. Run a knife along the edges of the pan
After taking the cheesecake out of the oven, let it cool for a few minutes, then pass a smooth knife along the inside edges of the pan to remove the cheesecake.
Since the cheesecakes shrink as they cool, this is another step to prevent the edges of the cake from sticking to the pan, causing a crack in the center
Step 4. Let the cheesecake cool slowly
Let the cheesecake cool to room temperature.
- Do not put the cheesecake in the fridge immediately after taking it out of the oven. The abrupt change in temperature can cause cracks to form.
- To protect the surface of the cheesecake while it cools, cover it with an upside-down plate or baking sheet.
- Once the cheesecake has reached room temperature, put it in the fridge for another six hours, or until it is completely solid.
Step 5. Finished
Advice
- If your cheesecake has cracked anyway, hide the crack by starting to cut the cake from that point.
- You can also hide the cracks by creating a layer of sour cream, whipped cream or jam on the cake.
