How to Make a Cheesecake

Many great home cooks are simply afraid to try baking a cheesecake. They have bought in to the idea that baking a cheesecake takes great skill and that only a baker with culinary training can bake a truly good cheesecake. These home cooks either settle for buying cheesecake or making the very simple kind that doesn't even need baking. Home cook, fear no more. Baking a great cheesecake takes less skill that pure attention to detail. If you can follow certain guidelines and read a recipe for cheesecake, you are well on your way to wowing your friends with a great cheesecake dessert.

One real caveat is to always buy the best ingredients for your cheesecake. Do not substitute the cheap brands for name brands when you are baking cheesecake. Use the best cream cheese, eggs, chocolate, white chocolate, fresh lemons, real vanilla, and whatever other ingredients you need. If your recipe calls for sweetened condensed milk, you must only use this type of milk. Regular or condensed milk will not work. The sweetened condensed milk adds moisture and the sweetness. Follow your recipe exactly until you become proficient enough to feel like experimenting.

The next good tip is to put all of your ingredients out on the counter in the order they are to be used. That way you will know if you are missing anything. You wouldn't want to be half way through mixing your cheesecake and realize that you didn't have enough vanilla or that your husband had bough plain old condensed milk by mistake. Having all the ingredients in place is a great idea. You may even have all of the ingredients already measured and ready to be used.

To make a smoother and creamier cheesecake, you should have all ingredients at room temperature. Depending on the temperature in your house, this process usually takes at least an hour. Take the cream cheese out of the wrapper and cut into small pieces before putting it into a bowl. The smaller pieces will make mixing the cream cheese much easier and will give you a smoother texture.

When you are mixing the cheesecake ingredients, never set you mixer above medium. You don't want to over mix because the cheesecake will be tough. There is a fine line between mixing the ingredients until they are incorporated and beating too much. This is a trial and error technique. As long as the cheesecake mixture is smooth, you should be fine. While you are mixing, frequently scrape the sides and the bottom of the mixing bowl. You want to make sure that you have even and complete blending. You don't want to be pouring the cheesecake just to notice that you have unblended cream cheese on the bottom of the bowl.

When you are baking the cheesecake, you should never open the oven until the cheesecake has baked for at least thirty minutes. If you obsess about your oven, have the temperature tested to make sure it is right. If you must open the oven after the thirty minutes, be quick. When you pre-heat your oven, always place a large pan of water on the bottom rack of your oven. Make sure that there is enough water for the baking period. This water will create much needed moisture in your oven and help your cheesecake top not to crack. If it does crack and looks unsightly, put some whipped cream on the top. Whipped cream is a great addition to cheesecake and it covers any over browning or cracks.

If you love cheesecake, you will love your home made cheesecake even more. Don't be afraid. Fight the fear. Cheesecake baking is really pretty simple is you are careful to follow the guidelines and buy only the best ingredients. Happy baking.



Ricotta Cheesecake

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Baking - how to make cheese cake

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