Food Safety and Cheesecake

[vondy]

So I took my cheese cake out of the oven last night, set it on the counter to cool, and forgot about it until this morning.... 7 hours later.

The house was around 77 degrees. The cheesecake was still warm when I set in on the counter. It consist of eggs, cream cheese, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, and sour cream. With a gram cracker crumb crust.

So.... is it safe to eat?

Thanks!!!!!

[MarkV]

Of course the answer depends on the amount of bacteria, (if any) that you started with when remnoving it from the oven. Even if none, random post-oven bacteria have a shot at it now and you're smack in the middle of the 40-140 degree hot monkey love for bacteria zone. 7 hours of those little buggers doing the horizontal bop! (Or which ever orientation they prefer).

I'm leaning toawrd being icked out. But I guess you could smell it and give a small piece to the dog and see if he holds it until his normal fecal-frolic time.

Sorry. my sleeping pull ios starting to kick in.

Nitey night.

Mark

[chefalexander]

There are a couple a factors to consider--is the cheesecake for home use or public service. If it is for the public, the best rule of thumb is "When in doubt, throw it out." For the home, the biggest factor would be--how strong is your constitution? Some people are more suseptable to food-borne illness than others. At home, I occationally disregard 'Servsafe' protacol and will use something if it still smells (and tastes) etible.

If considering using Servsafe rules for the cake--the cheesecake should be cooled to a temp of 70F (21C) within 2 hours, and then to 41F (5C) within an additional 4 hours--Total recommended cooling time 6 hours.

Hope this helps--personally, growing up, Mom often left cakes/pies, etc out to cool overnight, and I'm going on 45.