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📘 Put the foil tin back

You are standing at the supermarket freezer case with a foil tin of already-baked cheesecake in one hand and four bricks of cream cheese in the other. Someone wants a slice that stands, dense and tangy, with a cookie floor that actually sna

5
lessons
~25 min
to learn
Adults
level
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What you’ll learn

  1. Four bricks, not a tinPick four full-fat cream-cheese bricks and Susan Reid's sour-cream New York over a foil tin, a Basque cake, or a no-bake, and scale a 10-inch filling.Buy bricks, not a tub. Sour cream is the New York tell. Basque and no-bake are later. An adult owns the oven. You measure.
  2. Eggs are the wallsExplain cheesecake as a baked custard, name 140/150/175/185°F, and say why overbaking, overmixing, and a shock cool crack the top.Eggs are the walls. 175 at the edge is silk. 185 is a crack. Mix low. Coast in the oven. A water bath is later insurance.
  3. The cookie floorPress, dock, and prebake Susan's shortbread in a springform, and name graham crumbs as Stella's later 1928 floor.Shortbread tonight. Dock so it does not dome. 400 then 325. Graham is Stella's later cake. Three tablespoons of flour is insurance.
  4. Mix slow, pull at 175Warm the bricks, mix on low, add eggs one at a time, and pull the cake at 175°F while the middle still jiggles.Warm, scrape, one egg at a time, zest last. It will look underbaked. The probe does not crack it. Overbaking does.
  5. Coast, then waitCoast one hour in the dead oven, chill before cutting, store the custard on the two-hour clock, and tell Basque heat from New York heat.Door propped one hour. Fridge before the knife. Two hours on the table, three to four days cold. Cherries hide a crack. 500°F is a different cake.

Questions this course answers

Susan Reid turns the oven off when the cheesecake hits 175°F an inch from the edge. Why?

Susan: the middle will look underbaked. Heat keeps travelling inward. Cooking it more overcooks the eggs and cracks the top. Her 195°F test cake was grainy and dry.

In your own words, why does overbaking a cheesecake make it crack and turn grainy?

Susan Reid: whites begin to set around 140°F, yolks around 150°F. The more you cook past that, the tighter the proteins become. PJ Hamel: 185°F anywhere almost certainly cracks the top.

Match each move to the job it does in Susan's first cheesecake

Warm bricks are smoothness. Low speed is a whole top. 175 is silk. The hour is still the bake.

Put Susan's first New York cheesecake in the order that keeps the top whole

Crust first so it can cool. Filling next, slow. Oven after the probe says 175. Knife last of all.

PJ Hamel tested four ways to stop a cheesecake cracking. Which scored highest?

PJ scored a water bath 9.5/10. Steam was 5.5, strips 7, a plain oven 5. Tonight Susan's first cake still uses the thermometer and the coast instead of requiring a bath.

USDA FSIS leftover guidance: after it is cold, homemade cheesecake keeps in the refrigerator about how many days?

USDA FSIS: leftovers 3 to 4 days in the fridge, or freeze 3 to 4 months. The two-hour clock starts when the cake leaves the fridge. Illinois Extension puts egg-and-dairy pies on that same two-hour clock, never on the counter overnight.

Grounded in trusted sources

  • Susan Reid, NY Cheesecake, King Arthur Baking, 10-inch springform, shortbread crust of 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 8 tablespoons soft butter and 1 egg, baked 15 minutes at 400°F, filling of four 8-ounce packages cream cheese, 1 3/4 cups sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, zest of 1 lemon, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 5 large eggs and 1/2 cup sour cream, all at room temperature, mix on low, eggs one at a time, bake 45 to 50 minutes at 325°F until edges set one inch in and the middle jiggles, 175°F an inch from the edge, door propped, coast 1 hour, cherry glaze of water, sugar, cornstarch and tart cherries, https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/ny-cheesecake-recipe
  • Susan Reid, NY Cheesecake, King Arthur Baking blog, 15 September 2008, cream cheese warmed overnight or in 20-second microwave bursts on low until it stirs with no cold spots, eggs in warm water, mix cheese sugar and flour on low and scrape before adding eggs, zest last so it does not stick to the paddle, egg whites begin to coagulate around 140°F and yolks around 150°F, sugar raises that only a little, overcooked eggs shrink and weep like scrambled eggs, a 195°F test cake cracked and baked up grainy and dry, a 175°F pull an inch and a half from the edge with a one-hour coast was silky, https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2008/09/15/ny-cheesecake-to-die-for
  • PJ Hamel, Why did my cheesecake crack?, King Arthur Baking, 9 May 2024, overbaking is the biggest cause because overheated egg proteins go stiff and the cake cracks as it rises or sinks, overmixing puts in air that becomes steam, a sudden cool makes the shrink tear the top, creamy cake 165 to 170°F one to two inches from the edge and 150 to 155°F at the center, firmer cake no more than 175°F at the edge and 165°F at the center, 185°F anywhere almost certainly cracks, cool in the turned-off oven with the door propped 4 to 5 inches, https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2024/05/09/why-did-my-cheesecake-crack
  • PJ Hamel, Baking trials: What's the best way to keep cheesecake from cracking?, King Arthur Baking, 5 August 2024, tested on the NY Cheesecake recipe, plain oven 5/10, steam pan on the lowest rack 5.5/10, wet cake strips 7/10, water bath of hottest tap water halfway up the sides 9.5/10, wrap older springforms in foil, recipes with extra sour cream or cream crack less than cream-cheese-eggs-sugar alone, thinner cakes crack less, https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2024/08/05/how-to-keep-cheesecake-from-cracking
  • Stella Parks, BraveTart's Epic New York Cheesecake, Serious Eats, 8-by-4-inch loose-bottom pan, graham crust of 7 ounces crumbs, 1 ounce melted butter and a pinch of salt, cookie-crumb crusts date to 1928, 32 ounces full-fat cream cheese such as Philadelphia plus 8 ounces fresh goat cheese about 11 percent by weight for texture, mix cheeses without sugar first to limit air, sieve 6 eggs, stream in 6 ounces boiling heavy cream, 20 minutes at 450°F, door ajar 10 minutes, then 250°F until a wobble no more than 3 inches across remains, center about 145°F, thermometer does not cause cracks, over-baking does, no water bath, https://www.seriouseats.com/epic-new-york-cheesecake-from-bravetart
  • USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours of cooking or removing from a warm appliance, 1 hour if the air is over 90°F, leftovers 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator or 3 to 4 months in the freezer, https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/leftovers-and-food-safety
  • Lisa Peterson, Do I Need to Refrigerate the Pie?, University of Illinois Extension, 22 November 2019, fruit pies loosely covered at room temperature up to two days, pies with eggs, cream, milk or other dairy refrigerated and not left out more than two hours, https://extension.illinois.edu/news-releases/do-i-need-refrigerate-pie

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