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cheesecake woe...what to do?

post #1 of 10
7/17/12 at 8:38am
Thread Starter 

as part of a special birthday celebration at the restaurant i recently made a lemon cheesecake topped with lemon curd and lavender creme fraiche swirl.....it was absolutely divine in taste and light as a feather in texture...however it was too soft to cut properly. the only oddball ingredient was thawed lemonade concentrate.  the party was cancelled so i froze it.  when the party was re scheduled i thawed and topped it. would freezing it too soon cause it to be too soft?  should i have let it 'settle'  in the fridge overnight before freezing it? it was completely cooled before freezing, but countertop cooled...not refrigerator cooled.  i have been requested to make another one for the same person....what should i do differently?  thanks...

joey

when i took it from the oven, it was perfectly cooked...slightest of jiggles and no cracks

food is like love...it should be entered into with abandon or not at all        Harriet Van Horne

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post #2 of 10
7/17/12 at 8:44am

Interesting.

 

Did you account for the extra liquid volume of the lemonade concentrate? It would probably need an extra egg to help it set up. On a related note, with the extra volume, it would take longer to cook as well so perhaps that was another factor.

 

I can imagine where the acidity may have played into it,but that usually makes dairy curdle more, not less.

more than taste fine
me eat it all the time
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post #3 of 10
7/17/12 at 9:01am
Thread Starter 

well, it was a recipe that i followed, so i assume everything was 'factored' in.....i do live at 8500 feet though, so if the recipe was for sea level perhaps i should add another egg this go round. i don't think it was the baking time...as i said, it was perfect when it came out of the oven...another thought though...maybe i should bake it in a water pan.....any thoughts about that?

joey

food is like love...it should be entered into with abandon or not at all        Harriet Van Horne

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post #4 of 10
7/17/12 at 5:08pm

I don't know much about high altitude baking since I live at sea level,  so I can't contribute there.  Freezing wouldn't have affected it.  I  usually completely chill a cheesecake before freezing, but I still don't think that would have caused it to get soft.

And I never used a water bath, so that wouldn't make a difference either.  

I looked around for a lemon cheese cake made with the concentrate, and the recipe I found was made with 2# cream cheese and only 2 eggs.  That seems pretty low to me.  The cheesecake I make at work is 2# cream cheese and 4 eggs.  So, I'm thinking it just didn't have enough egg to help it set up.  

 

This is from a recipe that is supposedly good for high altitude, and sounds similar with the concentrate.

 

Ingredients for filling
4 8 ounce packages Philly cream cheese
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons corn starch
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large room temp eggs
1/4 cup frozen OJ concentrate
1 teaspoon orange extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange zest

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post #5 of 10
7/17/12 at 6:26pm
Thread Starter 

the recipe i followed called for 1# of cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, 3/4 cup of sour cream, 1/2 cup of lemonade concentrate, 2 eggs, and 2 tsp. lemon zest.....i doubled it to make 2 cakes...maybe something happened in that translation, quien sabe....maybe i overbeat it but living at this altitude i am usually pretty aware of what eggs can do in the oven...i have had more than one explosion for sure...since i have to make this tomorrow, i think i will just add another egg...you think one is enough? two too many? thanks all (two of you) for the feedback...will let you know what happens.....say hi to the seals rlyv....

joey

food is like love...it should be entered into with abandon or not at all        Harriet Van Horne

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post #6 of 10
7/18/12 at 5:53am

Joey,

 

Because of the liquid ratio , would it be safe to use even 2-3 eggs extra ? It won't hurt, just stabalize.

 

I have never used lemonade concentrate in a cheesecake so I am just going with a feeling....amiga to amiga.

 

Petals.

Petals
Réalisé avec un soupçon d'amour.

Baby Cake
(4 photos)
Fruitcake - decorated
(5 photos)
Victorian cupcakes
(10 photos)
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post #7 of 10
7/18/12 at 9:02am
Thread Starter 

merci amiga! yes, i will just go with the extra eggs...maybe reduce the lemonade concentrate a bit as was suggested to me....

just curious though...why is it soo important that eggs be at room temperature before adding? i can see that they might release differently....more wholly when at room temp...is that true? i don't use room temp eggs to make caesar dressing though.....or is it just in baking that it counts? 

joey

food is like love...it should be entered into with abandon or not at all        Harriet Van Horne

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post #8 of 10
7/18/12 at 9:58am

Joey,

 

In school they taught us that eggs had to be at room temp . , less viscous than cold eggs, which makes it easy  for the ingredients to mix well and  so  that the batter can rise better.

 

When making a cheesecake, all my ingredients are at room temp. The eggs are added one by one into the cheese, a guarantee of no lumps. I do use a water bath (but everyone has their own technique)

Another thing I do is mix my flour and sugar together. (very little flour but mixed together just the same)

 

My recipe has 4 - 8 ounce cheese and 5 eggs and the usual. Towards the end of cooking I top off the cake with 500ml of sour cream and finish cooking it.

 

Petals.

Petals
Réalisé avec un soupçon d'amour.

Baby Cake
(4 photos)
Fruitcake - decorated
(5 photos)
Victorian cupcakes
(10 photos)
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post #9 of 10
7/20/12 at 12:40am

Eggs supposedly whip up better at room temp but i never ever remember to take them out in advance and have had no problems with cold eggs. 

It sounds like a very delicate cheesecake, and i think most cheesecakes are dense enough that freezing doesn;t affect them, but maybe in this case, the freezing made it get a little watery - some creamy things seem to separate when frozen.  Of course, the recipe could be defective, and maybe lemon concentrates could be different from each other too.  More eggs would certainly make it more compact

And then you have the high altitude, which you certainly have a lot more experience with than i do.  There are temperature changes and time changes that usually take care of that.

"Siduri said, 'Gilgamesh, where are you roaming? You will never find the eternal life that you seek...Savour your food, make each of your days a delight, ... let music and dancing fill your house, love the child who holds you by the hand and give your wife pleasure in your embrace.'"
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post #10 of 10
7/27/12 at 9:32am
Thread Starter 

hi all,

just wanted to share the results with you...

as i felt the texture of the first cheesecake was so close to perfect in its delicateness and didn't want that to change much, i only added one extra egg for the second go round.

my friend sent along a note(hand written, sent the old fashioned way), thanking me for his birthday dinners(2 nights, 2 groups), and wrote this...." the lemon cake was out of this world. joey, you should patent it or copyright it or something, then sell them all over the world and get rich and famous".... so, that's good enough for me

hindsight being everything i think that baking 2 at the same time was the culprit, even though done in a commercial oven.  some day when i have absolutely nothing else to do i will try the original recipe again without the extra egg, one to an oven

thanks to all who contributed their time and input.....

joey


Edited by durangojo - 7/28/12 at 10:04am

food is like love...it should be entered into with abandon or not at all        Harriet Van Horne

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ChefTalk.com › ChefTalk Cooking Forums › Cooking Discussions › Pastries & Baking › cheesecake woe...what to do?