cheese cake

I have found it's always best to add them whole and gently fold them in the cheese mix. I believe the idea here is to not make the eggs fluffy by beating them and adding to much air to the cake itself. Hope this helps.

"They" don't want you to overbeat anything. Taken separately, overbeating the cheese would probably be a bigger problem than overbeating the eggs.

I don't know the answer to whether it's a good idea to beat the eggs separately, and incorporate them already beaten. In any case, they should not be added all at once though. The reason is to make sure they incorporate evenly.

It's easy not to "overbeat" when adding the eggs. Just add them one at a time with your mixer running at a low speed; waiting to add each successive egg for its predecessor to completely disappear in the mix. Once you've got them all in the bowl, finish fully incorporating them at medium low.

Overbeating cheesecake can be something like over-kneading biscuits or over-handling pie dough. That is, you can go too far in the direction of safety.

You're not going to overbeat at a speed low enough that it doesn't beat air in to the batter. If you want your cheesecake rich, creamy and silky, just don't beat too fast, and there won't be any problem.

Thus, there's probably not much benefit to mixing the eggs by hand, and adding them in several additions. But, what could it hurt?

Overbeating requires not just "too long," but also too fast. It's interesting that if you do overbeat, there are three likely consequences. One of which you might find attractive. That is, you may be willing to accept the resulting, lighter texture in return for the slight grainiess and greater likelihood of surface cracks during baking.

Sometimes I overbeat on purpose. Sometimes combining lighter, "fresh" cheeses (farmer, ricotta, "queso fesco," quark, etc) with creamcheese to make a lighter (and grainier) variation.

Indeed, there's a traditional Italian cheesecake called crostata ricotta which is all about getting that texture intentionally.

FWIW, crostata ricotta is a cheesecake in a pie crust. When I was catering (long, long ago), it was one of my primary dessert offerings and it got a lot of positive attention. It's an incredibly nice way of doing "cheese and fruit" for dessert. There's nothing better you can do to set off green grapes and vice versa. Siding it with fruit, further lightens the dessert.

I believe the recipe was posted fairly recently on CT, since I know petalsandcoco tried it with excellent effect. But, if you want to try it and can't find the recipe here, let me know.

Vee haff vays of zendink zee rezzipees,
BDL

As with so many things, I'm a heretic. I mix it all up in my food processor with a final pass with my handheld blender to eliminate any cheese lumps. All the eggs at once, cream cheese in large cubes. 2 pounds cream cheese, 3 cups sour cream, 4 eggs, sugar and vanilla

Thump the bowl on the counter 10 times to force out most of the air. Into the springform pan with a bain marie and I don't get cracks. Fast and easy.

If I had a blender I'd use that so i could skip the final hand blender pass.

But yes, this incorporates air so you have to do a minute of work at the end to get it out.

I'm a heretic too and I go even further. I cover the cheesecake with foil and cook it without a bain marie! Yes I get a couple of cracks sometimes but they get covered by lemon curd or cherry compote. So what.

I have George Geary's "125 Best Cheesecake Recipes" (available through Amazon.com). In his Basic Techniques for Perfect Cheesecake, he recommends beating the cream cheese thoroughly using the paddle (not the whip) on a stand mixer. Then slowly add the sugar and beat thoroughly again making sure the mixture is creamy with no lumps or sugar granules, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Then add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition, and scraping the bowl again as needed.

Here is the blurb about George Geary from the back cover of his book:
"George Geary CCP has taught cheesecake techniques in more than 72 cooking schools across North America. A regular contributing editor to several magazines and newsletters, he has also been the pastry chef and production manager for the Walt Disney Corportation and the Marriott Corporation ". click here-> Main - George Geary

I have made a number of his cheesecake recipes, following his techniques, and have yet to be disappointed.

Well, as long as we're citing. I hear this guy's pretty good. Cheesecake of the New York Persuasion | Cook Food Good

BDL

So I think we can all agree that the key to successful cheesecake is to be sure the ingredients are all incorporated well without over-working them...that would be neither beating at too high a speed, nor for too long of a time.