Cold set cheesecake qustion

Gelatin has the downside of being non-vegetarian. I think most people assume all desserts are vegetarian, and so get very angry when they are told that they mousse they're enjoying has animal in it.

That said, I have never found a great cold-set cheesecake that didn't have at least a little gelatin in it. I have heard that Absolut Mirroir (not sure about the spelling, but its a pectin-based mirror glaze), can make a great cold-set cheesecake, but I haven't looked into it farther than that.

Our recipe uses 10 sheets of  silver grade gelatin to 3# of cream cheese.  Our servers know it is gelatin set so they speak up if someone who ordered a vegetarian meal inquires about the cheesecake. 

The gelatin produces a fabulously smooth product with more room for error than starch,  agar or guar gum

I have a question, I made a cranberry coffee creme brulee for work.  the recipe was one they used to make a peach creme brulee.  it did not set up and curdled when it was cooked. 

recipe

2c heavy cream

2 c half and half

2c cranberry juice

1 tsp coffee extract

2 c liquid yolks

14 oz sugar

the cranberry taste wasnt quite there so we used IQF cranberries (about  1 c) that we chopped and added to the mixture after it was tempered into the egg/ sugar mixture.  I strained the berries out before baking. 

cooked in a water bath at 350 in a conventional oven

It started bubbling and did not setup

Does the cranberries have something to do with it not setting??

should i have cooked the cranberries first?

Do they contain a enyzme to prevent it from setting?

Should i have increased the yolks?

Lower temp in cooking?  They have used this temp to cook all other creme brulees that set fine

HELP PLEASE!!

Cranberry coffee? That's a strange flavor combo. 

Cranberries are very acidic and it doesn't surprise me that the brulee did not set up. Acidity curdles milk products. I found a recipe here for Cranberry Vanilla Creme Brulee, and noticed that it called for cranberry sauce to be spooned into the bottom of the ramekins BEFORE adding the vanilla mixture on top. Interesting to note that the brulee mixture was NOT infused with cranberry whatsoever. So you could copy this recipe and just pour the coffee flavored brulee mixture on top of the cranberry sauce in the ramekins and voila! You have coffee cranberry brulee, and have no worries about curdling or set-up issues.

Here's the recipe link:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ming-tsai/cranberry-vanilla-creme-brulee-recipe/index.html

PS. next time, post your question as a new topic rather than hiding it within a topic that has nothing to do with the original question.