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What is Cheesecake?
Cheesecake is custard based dessert with crust on the bottom that is typically made of graham cracker crumbs. Cheesecakes typically consist of some type of soft cheese (Cream Cheese, Marscipone, Ricotta) Eggs, Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt, Heavy Cream and Sugar. The ratios and ingredients that are used will change the taste and texture of the cheesecake. Making different types or styles.
The Different Types of Cheesecake
When it comes to cheesecakes, there are a many different kinds. Much like so many other kinds of food, many different regions want to get in on the fun and make their own version.
No Bake Cheesecake
No-Bake Cheesecake is one of the most simple types of cheesecakes to make. It is typically made by combining cream cheese, sugar, and sour cream or greek yogurt. Then folding this mixture into some whipped cream. Then the crust is prepared and the batter is poured on top, covered and left to set in the fridge.
Baked Cheesecakes
A baked cheesecake is the traditional or standard way to make a cheesecake. It’s as I said before, a custard style batter that is baked in the oven. There is more to the process. But we will get into that later.
New York Style Cheesecake
New York Style cheesecake is one of the most popular types of cheesecake. The ingredients include cream cheese, eggs and sometimes extra egg yolks, heavy cream, sometimes flour, sour cream or greek yogurt and of course sugar. The final product is richer and denser due to the extra egg yolk.
Chicago Style Cheesecake
Chicago style cheesecake is very similar to the New York style cheesecake and is known for it’s firmer outside and creamier and softer center. This texture is achieved by adding a higher ratio of cream cheese. Also the crust is typically made with shortbread crumbs mixed with butter and sugar.
Burnt Basque Cheesecake
A Burnt Basque Cheesecake is a creamy and dense cheesecake with a toasty, burnt and cracked outer crust. Burnt Basque cheesecake is arguably the easiest type of cheesecake to make. Period. It’s definitely the easiest type of baked cheesecake.
When you are making a cheesecake there a few things that you don’t want to happen. You don’t want it to burn, you don’t want it to crack, and you don’t want it to sink. In a Burnt Basque, if you don’t have those things, it’s not a Burnt Basque Cheesecake. It’s kind of the anti – cheesecake if you will. There is a reason that I call this cheesecake the “Abomination Cheesecake” on my blog.
If you are intimidated by making cheesecake, this is the one start with. No worries about cracking, no water bath. no crazy cooling methods, no worries if it get’s too brown on the top. Perfect for a beginner.
Japanese Jiggly Cotten Cheesecake
Now, we transition from the easiest cheesecake to maybe the hardest. From my experience, this is very true. You can read my “cake fails” article for more information on that if you would like. That was a journey.
A Japanese Jiggly/ Cotton Cheesecake is a cheesecake with the taste of a cheesecake but the texture of a chiffon cake. It’s spongy, soft and cottony. This texture is achieved by whipping up some egg whites and folding those into a batter of cream cheese, egg yolks, butter and milk.
If the heavy and dense texture of a traditional cheesecake isn’t for you, try this. Just be patient with it. It can be a challenge. I recommend checking out my cake fails article as well as my Jiggly Cheesecake post for more information.
Italian Ricotta Cheesecake
Remember how I said that cheesecake is made using a soft cheese and I listed Ricotta as being one of those. This is why.
Italian Ricotta Cheesecake is just as it sounds. It just uses ricotta cheese in place cream cheese.
Ricotta cheesecake has a much lighter texture than tradition cheesecake and is sometimes baked with a pastry crust as opposed to a graham cracker crust. Although a regular graham cracker crust is totally fine as well.
Vegan Cheesecake
It’s amazing to me how well people are simulating things like dairy and eggs now a days. You would think that there is no way for a vegan to have cheesecake because well, cream cheese is cheese right? Not to mention the eggs.
Vegan cheesecake is made with tofu, cashews, vegan cream cheese, and plant based milk/yogurt.
Vegan food is a lot about replicating textures. That’s where the tofu comes in. When silken tofu is blended it gets very smooth and creamy. That is why tofu is becoming more popular in vegan cheesecake.
Also, if you want to skip baking all together, a very easy no bake cheesecake can be made by blending soaked cashews, plant based milk, and sugar or dates. Just pour that filling into your prepared crust and frozen.
European Cheesecake – German, Polish, Austrian, and Swedish Cheesecakes
These versions of cheesecake use different types of cheese:
Austrian and German cheesecakes use a cheese called Quark. Austrian is also a little different because the cheesecake filling is sandwiched between 2 layers of sponge cake.
Polish Cheesecake is made with a cheese called Twarog and the crust is a sponge cake.
Swedish cheesecake is a little different. It’s made with resset mixed with milk. What is resset you ask? I’ll let you find that out for yourself……..
Anyway, that mixture is then mixed with all the other typical cheesecake ingredients.
How To Make Cheesecake
Now, that you have a little more information about which type of cheesecake that you might like to make, let’s talk about how to do it. Some of this information (particularly the batter) will only pertain to New York style and Chicago style cheesecakes just because those are the most common types of cheesecakes that you will come across.
If you are looking to make a burnt basque or a jiggly cheesecake or a no-bake cheesecake, you can check out those posts. Unfortunately, I don’t have a recipe for vegan cheesecake or any of European cheesecakes. Let me know in the comments if you would like a recipe for any of these.
How To Make The Batter For A Cheesecake
When it comes to the batter, It’s one of the easier kinds of batter. But there are some things to remember.
- Take your cream cheese out of the fridge about an hour before you are ready to use it so that it can soften. This makes for a smoother, lump free batter. I have heard people say that in all baking it is better when all your ingredients are at temperature, that they incorporate in better that way. I personally don’t find that accept for with cream cheese and butter.
- To prevent overheating your batter, just add the eggs at the last stage and one at a time So add an egg, beat until incorporated, add another egg, repeat.
Choosing the Right Pan To Make A Cheesecake
Preparing the pan is an essential part of making a cheesecake. First, you have to chose which pan you will use. The 2 pans that could be used are a springform pan that is traditionally used for a cheesecake and a regular cake pan.
I personally use a springform pan. A springform pan is a metal pan with a bottom and sides that detach. This makes it easier to get the cheesecake out. However, because this pan is detachable it has a small space that water can seep through if you chose to use a water bath. So because of this, you have to wrap the bottom and sides of the pan in aluminum foil.
Some people also use a regular cake pan. That’s great for the cheesecake staying dry but not as great for getting the cheesecake out of the pan. I have heard of people turning the pan upside down and the cheesecake just sliding out as long as the pan is greased real well. But cheesecake is pretty delicate so you run the risk of it breaking. Just be warned.
Preparing The Pan For Making A Cheesecake
So all that being said, I elect to use just a traditional springform pan. First, turn the pan upside down and wrap tin foil around the bottomed the sides. I like to have 2 layers of tin foil. 1 going in each direction to make sure it’s good and durable and no water seeps through.
Additionally, what you can do that I would strongly recommend is invest in a silicone springform pan sleeve. It’s a silicone sleeve that fits around your pan. This way you don’t have to worry about water seeping in.
After that is addressed, it’s time to line the bottom of the pan with a parchment paper circle. To do this. Start with a piece of parchment paper big enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Fold that piece of parchment paper in half then in half again.
Then when the paper is folded into a square, you will then take the 2 opposite corners and bring them together, forming a triangle. Do this one more time to make a thinner triangle.
Then turn your pan over and line up the only clear point of the triangle with the middle of the pan. Mark the paper where the pan stops and cut off the excess. Spray the pan to make the parchment paper stick.
Then just line the sides of the pan with parchment paper. The way that you measure how much you willed need is you multiply the diameter of your pan by pi (3.14). That will be the length of the strip that you want to cut as for the width. The walls a standard cake pan are about 3 inches
Here’s a video of how to complete the process if you are a visual person like me.
What is a Water Bath? When/why do I need it to make a cheesecake?
Like I said at the beginning, cheesecake is a baked custard. And custard needs to cook super gently and evenly. A water bath allows that to happen.
You absolutely don’t have to use a water bath. Many people bake their cheesecakes just normally.
However ,if you don’t use a water bath your cheesecake might not bake evenly causing it to crack on top. A water bath also helps with the creamy texture of a cheesecake. That’s why I like to use one just to be on the safe side.
I use a water bath when I am making a New York, Chicago, Ricotta or jiggly style cheesecake. A waterbath is not needed in a burnt Basque or of course a no bake cheesecake.
A water bath sounds really in-depth and scary but, I promise you it’s not. A water bath is a pan that is big enough for the cheesecake pan to fit into. This pan is then filled with water until it reached half way up the sides of your cheesecake pan.
First put the water bath pan in the oven and then place the cheesecake inside. That way you can measure how much water need without running the risk of dropping anything.
I don’t pay much attention to the temperature of the water when it goes in the pan. They say it should be boiling when it goes into the pan. I have tried both and it didn’t make a difference in anything so I always go with cold or luke warm so I don’t run the risk of burning myself because again, I’m a klutz.
How to Know It’s Done
After about an hour of baking at 350• Just take the pan and jiggle it a little. If the sides or outside of the cheesecake stays set and the center jiggles slightly, your cheesecake is done.
How To Cool a Cheesecake
Another crucial step in making a cheesecake is how to cool a cheesecake. These steps can mess up the look and texture of your cheesecake if done incorrectly.
When the cheesecake is done, it needs to cool gently. To do that just turn the oven off and crack the oven door. Leave the cheesecake to cool for 1 hour. What this does is allows the cheesecake to decrease in temperature gradually with the oven gently cooling.. If it was to come out of the oven and cool at room tempter, the rapid change in temperature could cause it to crack on top.
How To Set A Cheesecake
Then, after 1 hour, take the cheesecake out of the oven, and take the tin foil off. Cover it place it in the fridge overnight. This allows the cheesecake to set, helping with that creamy texture, and making sure it doesn’t just fall apart when taken out of the pan.
How to Make Cheesecake – Un-molding The Cheesecake
After your cheesecake sets overnight, it’s ready to eat. We just have to un-mold it. First, we have to separate the sides of the cheesecake from the sides of the pan. That’s what the parchment paper is for but I recommend running an offset spatula in between the parchment paper and the walls of the pan just to make sure that nothing is stuck before you unlatch the sides.
Once you unlatch the side you can just find where the parchment paper starts and pull that off. Let me know in the comments if you think that part is as satisfying as I do. It’s like pealing the plastic off of a new tv.
Once all that’s done. You have to take the bottom off. Here’s how I do it. I take one more piece of parchment paper and place that on top. Followed by a light weight cutting board.
Then with one hand on the cutting board and one hand on the bottom of the cheesecake pan. I flip it upside down.
Then put the cutting board back on my work surface. At this point you can take the bottom off and peal the parchment paper circle up. Another satisfying task.
Lastly, just chose whichever serving plate you want and place that on the crust. Then exactly how you did it before, just flip the cake back over.
You Did It!!
You did it! Congratulation! You made your first cheesecake! I mean you can top it with something for decoration and flavoring of course if you want but that’s it.
I hope this was helpful. See cheesecake isn’t so hard. There are just a few things to remember but please don’t be intimidated. It just takes practice like everything else. If you have any other questions, feel free to leave them down below or you can reach me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube or Snapchat. And remember if I can do it you, you can absolutely do it. Happy Baking everyone!
Sources
https://momsbakingco.com/types-of-cheesecakes/#The_Main_ingredients_of_cheesecake
http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-new-york-cheesecake-and-chicago-cheesecake
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