Cheesecakes are among the most frequently overcooked foods because they are the most deceptive when trying to figure out when they are done baking. When it’s done, it never LOOKS done. To test if a cheesecake is done baking, gently shake the pan. The top of the cake should move as one solid piece, but its center should still be wobbly (not soupy) in about a 3-inch circle in the center. You may be removing the cheesecake from the oven a little earlier than the recipe suggests, but baking times are not always exact due to variations in ovens.
HOW TO PREVENT CRACKING CHEESECAKES: The truth is that cheesecakes tend to crack even if you do everything right. Small cracks in my homemade cheesecakes never bothered me, but the large one that occasionally developed through the middle of it meant it was over baked.
Cheesecakes with cornstarch or flour do not crack as easily from over baking. The starch molecules will actually get in between the egg proteins preventing them from over-coagulating. No over-coagulating, no cracks. Some bakers add extra insurance to a cheesecake recipe without starch, by simply adding a tablespoon to a 1/4 cup of cornstarch to the batter with the sugar.
With today’s trend to produce larger and higher cheesecakes and to bake them without the benefit of a water bath, they tend to over bake at the edge before the center of the cake has reached the temperature necessary to set (coagulate) the eggs. Here, your cheesecake will tend to form deep cracks upon cooling.
Don’t bake your cheesecake at too high a temperature. The egg proteins will over coagulate from too much heat which eventually shrink when cooled, causing cracking usually in its center or tiny cracks all over its top. If you heat it up to fast or cool it down too fast you’re also going to get cracks.
Stay tuned for part III
