Cheesecake Cracks

[alexr]

What's up with my cheesecake. It cracks as it cools. Seems I should remember this one. Anyone care to enlighten me???

[Svadhisthana]

To prevent cracks I use a baine marie, allow the cheescake to cool in the oven with the door slightly ajar, and run a knife along the outer edge of the cheescake to prevent it from sticking to the sides of the pan. The good news is, a cracked cheescake still tastes yummy.

[W.DeBord]

Cracking can happen for several reasons.

Also if you incorporate too much air while mixing. Over bake it. Chill it too fast or in a draft. I always run a knive around the edge too.


I bet we have acouple of previous threads you could read where we really talked about this topic. I think you just enter 'cheesecake' in the search box and you should find alot of info.


There's alot of ways to decorate the top and hide that crack...


Also, I've cut quite a few cheesecakes and to tell you the truth I'd rather slice one with a crack, because their always completely baked then one that looks perfect. Sometimes under that perfect exterior is a cheesecake that's still soft in the middle. My old employer baked lovely looking cakes, but they were always wet in the middle

[phatch]

Some people use a tablespoon or two of flour in the recipe to help hold the cake together. I think this clouds the flavor a bit and they still might crack.

My cakes usually crack a little bit, but when they are completely cool, the cracks heal themselves. Running a knife around the edge helps too.

Phil

[thebighat]

A cheesecake is nothing but a big custard and really benefits from the hot water bath. And if you add the flour, just like adding flour to a pastry cream, you could practically bring it to a boil and it won't curdle. All of the previous tips are right, but I find the most helpful thing is not to paddle the heck out of the cheese while adding the sugar. I let it get really soft, then mix it by hand.

[chiffonade]

Originally posted by phatch
Some people use a tablespoon or two of flour in the recipe to help hold the cake together.

I used to do this then switched to equal amounts of corn starch in my master recipe. It's absolutely undetectable in flavor and gives a much silkier mouthfeel than flour.

I think out of all the reasons given here, the biggest culprit in cheesecake cracking is the "souffle effect" caused by overmixing. I use a food processor to mix my batter as opposed to a KitchenAid which might blow too much air into it.