i like to make cheesecake to give as gifts but what is devastating about this matter is that it always cracks in the middle.... is there a solution to this problem???? plz help!!!! thanks
I bake mine in a water bath and when almost done I turn the oven off and let them cool in the oven. So far no problems with cracking since I started doing that.
Melanies right, place your prepared cheesecake in its pan onto a larger baking pan (I use a sheet pan) with about 1/2 inch of water in it and bake as normal. As your cheesecake bakes, the steam from the water in the bottom pan will keep the cheesecake from cracking while it bakes. Leaving it in the oven and cooling it in the water bath pan is probably optional but its a good idea because it minimizes the risk of splashing the hot water everywhere when removing the pans from the oven. If you do this, you might want to turn the oven off just a couple of mins early since they will continue to cook for a couple of minutes while the oven cools down.
thank you for the replies but i already bake the cheesecake with the water bath and it still cracks.... i know for certain that im not overbeating it i do bake it at the temperature of 350 degree and for 1hr and 10 min, can that be wrong????? and i also do leave it in the oven for an hour or 2 once i turn it off.
I bake mine in preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Then I turn the oven off, and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for 5 to 6 hours.
It sounds pretty similar to how you bake yours.
This is what I put in my cheesecakes, maybe it's an ingredient?
4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Poured into a graham cracker crumb crust lined springform pan.
Cheesecake can be tricky and cracking is very common.
No matter what the recipe calls for, I always add 1/4 all purpose flour the the batter. Also, your ingredients need to be at room temp., especially the eggs, before you mix them together. If you mix your batter too long after you add the eggs, this will crack a cheesecake also. Always gently blend the eggs in a separate bowl with a fork then add to the batter towards the end of mixing. Cheesecakes will crack from over beaten eggs, excessive water in the batter (this is what the flour is for), and over cooking. I also use the rule that an oven is for baking not for cooling.
This is a tip from Americas test kitchen. It has helped me in not cracking.
Once you take out the cheese cake from the oven run a knife around the edges and do so every half an hour. This really helps from cracking. Of course this helps only if the cracks are occurring after they are baked. If they are occurring while baking then may be you need to tweak the recipe a bit.
My cheesecake recipe calles for marscapone cheese, And you have to beat it a long time otherwise the cheesecake comes grainey, I make my cheesecake the same way all the time, Also baking in a pan with water, And sometimes it cracks and sometimes it dose`t, So I don`t know what the problem really is. Most of the time it dose not, So I wish I knew what it was,
It sounds overcooked to me (which does also cause cracking), I only bake mine for about 50-55 min. It should have a slight jiggle in the middle when you take it out.
I agree with others ..... have ingredients at room temp. Also I put a pan with water on the rack below my cheesecake while it bakes. Perfectly level and no cracks.
There is one other thing that I do that I do not see in the other responses. I spray the pan with cooking spray. This helps the cheesecake from sticking to the sides. I cannot remember the time I had a cheesecake crack in the middle.
Goreti, I do this too and thats a good point, if your cheesecake sticks to the sides it would make sense that as it bakes and begins to pull away from the sides but cant, it might cause cracks.
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