A Novice's Guide to Cheesecake

If you make your own cheesecake, you have two choices: bake, or no-bake. 

No-bake cheesecakes are more foolproof, because without the baking stage, you won't have to worry about the dreaded cracking.  However, although some people prefer the more creamy texture, it isn't "real" cheesecake.    Most no-bake cheesecakes are made with cream cheese, a sweetener, heavy or whipping cream, and lemon juice.  Some recipes use a can of sweetened condensed milk for both the sweetener and the cream.

Both  no-bake cheesecakes and baked cheesecakes require an equally long run time.  No-bake cheesecakes need to set up in the refrigerator for 5-6 hours.  Baked cheesecakes should be left in the oven to slowly cool for several hours.  There is no quick route to delicious cheesecake!

Baked cheesecakes are a little more delicate, and run the risk of cracking.  There are two schools of thought on cracking: some people feel that it happens when you over-beat the ingredients.  Others, that it results from cooling the cheesecake too quickly.  It's entirely possible that both are true, so you should avoid doing either!

The cheesecake filling should be beaten just enough to mix the ingredients properly.  Many cheesecake experts recommend that you beat the filling by hand with a wooden spoon, rather than using a mixer.  It's far easier to over-beat if you use an electric mixer, and the mixer blades are more likely to introduce air bubbles.

To ensure that your cheesecake doesn't get overheated in the oven, most recipes recommend you bake the cheesecake in a water bath, or bain marie.  This simply means setting your cheesecake pan inside a larger pan, and adding water to the larger pan.  Since water boils off at a relatively low temperature, as long as there is water inside the bain marie, your cheesecake is safe.  (You will want to check the bain marie several times while baking, and top it off with water if necessary.)

If you use a springform pan, you will need to wrap it with foil before putting it in the bain marie, to keep the water out.  But speaking of springform pans, you don't really need one.  The springform pan gives a far more elegant presentation, but you can bake your cheesecake just as well in a regular pie pan.  (And who needs a whole entire extra piece of kitchen equipment which can ONLY be used to bake cheesecake, cluttering up their kitchen cabinets?)

After you have reached the recommended cooking time, simply turn off the oven and leave the door shut until it is fully cooled, several hours later.  This will cool the cheesecake gently, to help prevent cracking.  

Do not be alarmed if the center of the cheesecake isn't fully set when you reach the end of the baking time.  As the oven slowly cools, the center of the cheesecake will continue to slowly cook.  Leaving your cheesecake in the oven will help ensure that it sets up fully.

If you develop small, superficial cracks in the surface of your baked cheesecake, you can smooth these out with a heated knife.  Or you can pour on the topping, and call it good!  Large and small cracks can be unsightly and upsetting, but remember that the cheesecake will be delicious either way.