cheescake trifected - cake, sauce and crust!

I have been working on perfecting the art of cheesecake for... oh... about 3 years.  Finally, I think I can say, as far as we are concerned - it has been achieved.  (Of course, it probably won't stop me from tweaking.)

My rules for the perfect NY style cheese cake are 3 fold:
1. The cake should be tall, it's a big cake and it should be creamy all the way through from the middle to the edge -- none of this overdone, chalky cheesecake near the edges.  The creamyness should still have the flavor of cream cheese -- no tasting like sour cream or heavy cream instead just to get it creamier.
2.  We don't know what it is with cherries.  If this isn't true "NY style" just because it doesn't have cherries then I don't care, we'll call it "bec's style".  Give me raspberries!  A good fresh raspberry sauce with just a hint of lime, no cornstarch and no cooking. 
3.  And the crust.  This was a big dilemma.  I have an issue with pasty, soggy graham cracker crust.  I need some crunch component added to the richness.  In my opinion, you can keep the crust from getting soggy in one of 2 ways - 1. Overcook the cake, thus having a dry cheesecake, the crust won't get soggy (not optimal) or 2. Keep some of the crust separate from the cake until just before serving.  Divide your crust crumbs in half.  Use one half to make thin crust, just enough to stabilize the cake and then cook 1/2 the crust separately with some toasted pecans, crumble, and add just before serving.

My recipe?  The standard phillidelphia brand cream cheese recipe printed on the inside of their box.  It is a good solid recipe as far as the ingredients go.  My technique?  This is the key.  This is what has taken so long to perfect. 

Here are the main points.

1.  Bring your ingredients to room temp.  Just let them sit on the counter for an hour or 2.  This isn't totally necessary if you follow step #3 but if you don't do that step then this is a must.  It will help prevent cracking (though isn't the only factor in cracking) and it helps to evenly incorporate all the ingredients.

2.  Stir the eggs in by hand, one by one.  This was a tip from some baking guru I found on the internet a couple years ago.  Overbeaten eggs are not good for smooth cheesecake.

3.  Use a hot water bath to pre-warm the batter.  This is the one that I came up with on my own, it is not culinarily founded, I haven't seen it anywhere else - take it or leave it, but I can back it up with experience.  It just made sense to me that if you were going to bring ingredients to room temp in order to help prevent cracking (the less expanding it does in the oven, the less retracting it will do when it cools, thus, the less chance that it will crack when it cools) then if the batter was even slightly warmer still, it would have even less chance of cracking.  So, before pouring the batter over the crust, while it is still in the metal mixing bowl, I fill a sink with hot water and basically just give the bowl a hot water bath, stirring slowly and carefully to warm the batter evenly.  The batter doesn't need to get hot by any means, but just a little warmer than room temp. 

What I found was that when I did this - 1. Even if I didn't bring my ingredients to room temp before I started, they were getting warmed and completely incorporated in this process, so I could skip step #1 if needed (though I usually still do it anyway).  2.  Even if I was cooking the cake in a springform with, no water bath in the oven, my cake never cracked anymore.  3.  It also completely eliminated the bubbles that form on the top of the cake when it is baking.  (This is totally nitpicky, but if you want a pristine smooth cake, they are unsightly.)  I have read that you can just run a knife through the batter to pop all the bubbles before you bake it.  That has never worked for me.  It doesn't pop any of them. You can pop them with your finger if you want but more usually form while you are baking.  Even if I am baking the cake in a hot water bath (so there is no worry about cracking) I will still do this step to keep the bubbles from forming. 

4. Use a light colored pan.  The silver pans don't get quite as hot so they cook more evenly.  The dark coated pans get too hot and tend to brown edges, etc.  (I don't want any of the cake to be browned at all!)

The pan on top is my steel springform -- it was my mainstay for years - until I took the waterbath leap!  The 2 dark springorms aren't so good for cheesecake but are good for other things.  The 2 solid high edge aluminium rounds are by far my 1st choice.



5. Use a hot water bath in the oven.  This means using a cake pan, not a springform.  (Actually, you can try lining a springorm with tinfoil but if it leaks... yeah, cheesecake soup - not a happy thought.)  It also means tipping the cake out of the pan to serve.  I was very scared of this step but it turns out relatively easy.  There is so much comfort in that springform latch but the end result of using the water bath is SOOOOO worth it, I don't think I'll ever use it for cheesecake again.  Use a high edge 9 inch round cake pan, mine is annodized aluminum, and a roasting pan or another oversized high sided cake pan (I use a 13 in round).  Brush the 9 inch with a little melted butter and line it with parchment.  The easiest way to get the round shape parchment is to set the pan on the paper and then trace it and then cut it out - easy.  Then you just need a length of it for the edge.  Make it wide enough so that it will stick up above the edge of the pan.  Make sure your oven is pre-heated.  Put a small towel or dishcloth in the bottom of the oversize/roasting pan, this will add insulation to the bottom and make it easy to move the cake. 

Place the oversize pan in the oven before
you put the water in it.  Set the cake in
the large pan off-center so you have
room to pour in the water.




Pour boiling water into the edge up to the
level of the batter making sure not to
splash into the cake.

Center the cake in the water bath.
It should slide easily over the wet towel.



Carefully move the rack into the oven
to bake.

Bake for about 1 hour and 10 min at 300 degrees  (This will vary from oven to oven and altitude to altitude. I don't know that there is anyway to narrow the time down other than to just do it and see how it turns out.  You can't really tell if it is going to be done at this point but you will know for next time.)  Then turn off the oven and open the door for a minute or so to let the warm air out and close it back up and let it sit  in the oven as it cools for another hour before removing it from the oven.  It will still be fairly hot when you remove it (due to the hot water) and it won't quite look done but go for it.  Let it cool before you cover it and put it in the fridge.

6.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours but it is really best if it can chill overnight.  It is great in the fridge for days.

7. Bake 1/2 your crust w/broken pecans to serve with the cake.  This will need to be cooled so don't wait until you are serving it.  I usually bake 1/2 the crust normally, pressed into the cheesecake pan and put the other half in a separate baking dish with some pecans.  I bake them at the same time but then I take the nutty crust, let it cool, break it up and keep it in a ziploc until I am ready to serve it.  Then, I will lightly press it into the sides of the cake on the serving platter.  If you live in a humid climate make sure you keep the extra crust in a completely air tight container or you may have to re-bake it to get it crunchy again.

8. Make that raspberry sauce.  It doesn't actually have to be fresh raspberries, when they are out of season it can be worse than frozen (not to mention expensive).  Frozen work great, but don't cook them, just add a couple spoons full of sugar and a little splash of lime juice.  If you can use fresh then you want to just mash them up a bit and add the sugar and lime just the same.  Let it sit for a bit so the sugar can draw the juices out of the berries. 

9.  Tips for turning it out of the pan.  Just before serving, make another hot water bath (tap hot, not boiling) in your sink and set the cold cake in for just 10-20 seconds.  It doesn't take very long you just want to melt the butter that you lined the pan with.  Run a knife around the edges and pull out the parchment.  Then, take a small cutting board or other flat stiff surface and place it over the top of the pan, flip it quickly and let it sit for a second upside down.  You should hear it kind of thump when it slides down onto the board.  Pull off the pan and place your platter on top of the now showing crust and carefully flip it again.  I am surprised that it doesn't stick to the cutting board but for whatever reason, it doesn't.  If you are worried about it sticking you could cover the board with plastic wrap.  Press your crumbled crust into the edges.

Beautiful!

Just in case the philly cream cheese you get doesn't have the recipe in the box (I think they cycle through recipes) here you go (obviously without my long winded suggestions, you'll have to decide for yourself what you want to incorporate):

Original New York Cheesecake

1 cup graham cracker crumbs (I just use a 1 pack)
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

5 (8ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon vanilla (I have also added vanilla bean seeds and that is good if you want to be extra fancy)
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs

Bring all ingredients to room temperature.

MIX crumbs, 3 tablespoons sugar and butter;.
press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.
Bake at 325°F for 10 minutes.

MIX cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.
Blend in sour cream. mix well
Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition, just until blended.
Pour over crust.
BAKE 1 hour and 5 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until center is almost set. 325 °F for a silver springform pan 300 °F if using a dark nonstick pan.
Crack oven door open slightly and allow cheesecake to temper for about 30 minutes.
Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake;.
Remove rim of pan.
Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Top with cherry pie filling and garnish, if desired.

I should also give credit where credit is due.  I honestly don't remember where I got all my opinions from, some are mine some I picked up along the way, but most of the baking in a hot water bath tips come from Alton Brown (The Food Network).  I don't love his recipe, it is very sour cream tasting instead of cream cheese and it is really short but these tips were great.