Cheesecake internal temp

[Beanery]

Has anyone ever determined the ideal internal temperature for a flourless style cheesecake?

[scott123]

I think personal preference plays a large role. Whenever I used to eat other people's cheesecakes I always like the gooey, creamy, slightly undercooked middle the best, so when I started making my own, I set out to make as gooey cake as I could. I'm still a few cakes away from baking what I'd call an ideal cheesecake. Here's what I've learned so far.

Because this is an egg product, when you get in to the area of undercooking, safety becomes an issue. Just as many food safety sources will tell you different temperatures to cook meat to make it safe, the same thing goes for eggs. I go by what the american egg board has to say:

http://www.aeb.org/safety/egg_handli...are_guide.html

Cooking eggs and egg-based products to 160 degrees is the magic number for killing salmonella instantly - 140 for 3.5 minutes will do the trick as well.

As an undercooking advocate, I'd say you want to shoot for somewhere between the minimum for safety (140 for 3.5 minutes) and the point where the proteins will coagulate - 160. That will give you the creamiest cake, I think. I've given a shot at 145, and, from a consistency perspective, I think it was a little too goey. They next time I think I'm going with 155. I think I'm a few cakes away from perfection (could be 150 or even 160) but once I get there, the cheesecake guessing game will be over.

[kthull]

I've always gone more by sheen and jiggle versus internal temperature. As the edges puff and the center is no longer shiny, but still wobbly, it's done.

Too much and it's over done. And don't forget that it continues to cook after you remove it from the oven. I've tried leaving it in the oven an additional hour after the oven is off, but found that it's more dried out that way. So now I just let it set on a rack for an hour or so on the counter before setting it in the fridge.

And never cover it like most recipes say. I always get condensation. I chill it uncovered overnight and then cover it.

Mmmm...cheesecake.