We keep going back to Sarah Rae's amazing cheesecake recipe with the increasing knowledge that won't be able to resist making it ourselves much longer! To her excellent instructions, we'll also add one more for getting that perfectly smooth, crack-free crust. A hint: it's all about how you add the eggs!
Fine Cooking also recently did an article on cheesecake, and their advice is to add the eggs last and one at a time, just until blended. The reason is because over-mixing will incorporate too much air into the cheesecake and make it puff like a soufflé in the oven. When it cools, the cake will collapse and the top will crack.
We also think it's a good idea to gently beat each egg before adding it to the cheesecake batter just to loosen the yolk. This will help it incorporate more easily and quickly.
Check out the article for other tips and ideas on adding other flavors and ingredients to your signature cheesecake!
• Recipe Maker: Cheesecake from Fine Cooking
Related: Quick Tip: How to Line a Cake Pan with Parchment
(Image: Flickr member zingyyellow licensed under Creative Commons)
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Comments (5)
Ahhhhhh! now I see... I add my eggs one at a time, but I probably beat it in the mixer for too long adding too much air! Thanks for the tip! Crack free cheesecake here I come ;o)
Good information!
wasn't that cheesecake recipe Martha Stewarts' not Sarah Rae's??
A cracked cheesecake is usually a sign of overcooking as well.
As an alternative, try the method below, because this is a sure-fire way not to have a cracked cheesecake top:
* bake your crust
* let the crust cool
* then butter the inside edges of the pan where the cheesecake mixture will touch the pan (either melted butter or just rub a quarter lb stick of butter)
* chill until the butter is FIRM again and won't be displaced when you pour in the cheesecake mixture
* THEN add the cheesecake mixture to your pan (it helps if you add it to the center of the pan and let it fill outward naturally so you don't tweak the buttered edge) and then bake that cheesecake immediately
This worked for me, over 400 times (at one point was selling cheesecakes as a fundraising effort), and I never ever had a cracked cheesecake. Of course that was after I had so many cracked cheesecakes that I bent to the task of resolving the cracking problem! There are times I want to beat the eggs longer, because it alters the texture of the cheesecake, or add other ingredients to the batter but I know when I've prepared the pan properly before baking that I won't have a cracked cheesecake top.
So I really don't think it's about how you add the eggs, or how long you beat the mixture, I believe it's about the SURFACE TENSION created between the mixture & the pan as the cheesecake bakes & cools (i.e., contracts & expands) and if it doesn't have a barrier between the mixture and the pan it tends to crack. That barrier doesn't have to be butter, a friend experimented with a parchment ring and said it worked fine too, but some sort of a barrier preventing the formation of any tension between the cheesecake mixture and the pan itself.
Happy Baking.