This blogger says that after baking, run a knife around the rim of the cake to dislodge it so that it doesn't form a waist. Perhaps similar to why bloggers drop the cake once the oven is switched off and also remove the water bath. Could these tips be the solution to all my woes? I would have to do them just after turning off the oven but before letting the cake sit inside the closed oven.
https://www.anncoojournal.com/recipe/cranberry-cheesecake/
Try 6 - Zebra cheesecake
Tried new timings and added chocolate.
https://simmetra.blogspot.com/2018/11/chocolate-zebra-cheesecake.html
Try 5 - New temps
Came across a new recipe so I thought I'd try to vary the temps to see if I can get it cooked through but without forming a waist or cracking.
https://japan.recipetineats.com/japanese-cheesecake-cotton-cheesecake/
Method (abbreviated)
1) Melt cheese in bain marie with butter.
2) Remove bowl and add (in turn) sugar, yolks, milk, lemon juice, zest, flour + cornflour.
3) Add whites in batches that have been beaten until soft peaks.
4) She only butters and lines the bottom but not side of the tin to avoid cracks and creases.
Every thing else remains the same.
Her recipe only contained 3 eggs and she advises that for a 8 to 9" tin, to increase the ingredients by a quarter or third, which ends up awkward in terms of the cream cheese inclusion. However, her advice on timing is important. So after incorporating her advice, here are my adjustments for 7 eggs but using my original recipe: Bake 30 min at 160 deg C, 40 mins at 140 deg C, leave with door closed for 30 mins. Remove from water bath, then back into oven with door open for 20 mins. Remove from oven and run a spatula around the edge of the cake to prevent cracking when the cake shrinks.
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| Small crack developing but nice rise |
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| Cracked! :( But minimal shrinkage |
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| Crack disappearing as it shrinks slightly. No waist and nice browning. |
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| Very slightly eggy centre but cake is more fluffy (hence crumbly) than cooking at higher temp |
Try 4 - Finalising temps
Not much different from the previous attempt except the temps were:
1) 180 deg C for 8 minutes
2) Turn down to 150 deg for 56 mins (my oven refused to stay at 155 deg C but did spend some time at 160 deg C, so I guess it averages out at 155 deg C)
3) Turn off for 30 mins but oven door closed
4) Open oven door for 25 minutes before bringing to the counter top to cool
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| No eggy centre at all! |
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| Rising tall |
Recipe feedback: The results were that there wasn't ANY eggy spots left! Hooray! But it did develop a waist. I noticed that after the 30th minute, I had rotated the cake tin slightly in the baking tray as far as it would go in the baking tray before catching on the cloth placed under the cake pan. The cake rise more evenly on that side. The side that wasn't rotated however, it didn't rise and developed a waist! There was just a tiny crack on top but that's ok. The top was particularly brown and the heat seemed to have concentrated on the side that rose. Next time, I might try to remove the water bath after the oven is switched off. I'm hoping this will even out the temp and not cause the top to shrink compared to the bottom.
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| Rising on the left but not the right |
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| Didn't get to rotate this side (right). Waist. Not as brown. |
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| Browner on this side (left) which I rotated and it rose. Minimal waist |
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| Slight crack |
No change to the ingredients, just a change in technique and especially the temperatures.
Ingredients
250ml milk
250g cream cheese, room temp
65g butter, room temp
7 eggs, separated
58g cake flour
23g corn flour
133g sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
Method
1) Prepare: a) Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. b) Heat the milk till hot to the touch. c) Prepare the tin by buttering the sides and place a disc of parchment at the bottom. d) Sift the corn flour and cake flour twice with the salt until well combined.
2) In a pot on very low heat, melt the cubed cream cheese and butter until well combined. Slowly add milk and incorporate until no lumps remain.
3) Whisk the egg yolks with ½ of the sugar until well combined.
4) Pour in the cream cheese mixture and vanilla and whisk until smooth.
5) Sift in the flour in 3 batches and fold, be careful to avoid lumps. If necessary, sieve the batter into a new bowl.
6) In a very clean bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy and opaque. Add the sugar in 3 batches. Add the lemon juice. Continue beating until near stiff peaks.
7) Add ⅓ of the meringue into the batter. Use a whisk to stir it in until no white streaks remain. Add in the second third of meringue and do the same but this time more carefully. Finally, invert the batter into the remaining meringue. Carefully fold in until no white streaks remain. Drop the tin containing the cake batter from a height of 10cm onto the table to dispel big bubbles.
8) Pour the batter into the cake tin. Using zig zag motions, slash the batter to dispel big bubbles. Smooth the top of the batter. Drop the cake tin again if required.
9) Place the oven tray in the bottom third slot rather than at the bottom-most slot of the oven. Place into a water bath such that the water comes up 1.5 inches up the side of the cake tin (by the end of the whole process, almost all the water was gone!).
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| Rising nicely before it cracked |
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| Crack visible |
10) Bake at 180 deg C for 10 minutes until the top is brown. Turn down to 155 deg C and bake for a further 50 minutes (total 60 minutes baking time). Turn off the oven but leave the door closed for 30 minutes until the oven's internal temp drops to 110 deg C. Open the door and leave ajar a further 25 minutes to cool before removing the cake from the oven to cool fully on the counter top.
11) To unmould, run a spatula around the rim to ensure that the cake has fully shrunk away and detached from the tin. This will prevent the tin from tearing the cake when removing the cake tin side. |
| No waist on this side. Note the waterline. |
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| Waist visible from this side |
Recipe feedback: The top cracked again even though the temperature was mostly only 150 deg C (instead of 155 deg C which my oven stubbornly did not want to maintain) in a water bath. Perhaps I should whisk until just past soft peaks rather than just before stiff peaks so that there's less air inside and it won't rise and dome as much? After it deflated, the top wrinkled but sadly, the crack didn't close.
Sadly too, a slight 'waist' formed on one side, probably from letting to stay in the closed oven after turning off the heat. But it's a tough balance - if I don't do leave it to cook in residual heat then more of the inside remains eggy, but if I do, it forms a waist. How? Luckily, the eggy centre was very minimal (about lowest 1cm and mostly in the centre of the cake) and the top of the cake was moist and not overly cooked, although you can see the waterline from the picture. However, nice brown top so 180 deg C for browning is the correct temperature.
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| Centre wasn't too eggy. Top layer of cake was moist! |
Try 2 - no water bath
Decided to try with 7 eggs again, but with slight changes in ingredients and method. Crucially, I decided not to use a water bath after seeing some recipes online, put back the corn flour as heavier cheesecake recipes have, and varied the temp 3x.
Ingredients
250ml milk
250g cream cheese, room temp
65g butter, room temp
7 eggs, separated
58g cake flour
23g corn flour
133g sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
Method
1) Prepare: a) Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. b) Heat the milk till hot to the touch. c) Prepare the tin by buttering the sides and place a disc of parchment at the bottom. d) Fill 4 ramekins nearly to the brim with water and each at a corner of the oven on the same shelf. e) Sift the corn flour and cake flour twice until well combined.
2) Whisk the butter and egg yolks until well combined.
3) Cube the cream cheese and whisk the cream cheese in until the batter is smooth.
4) Add the salt, vanilla, and milk and whisk until smooth.
5) Sift in the flour in 3 batches and fold, be careful to avoid lumps. If necessary, sieve the batter into a new bowl.
6) In a very clean bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy and opaque. Add the sugar in 3 batches. Continue beating until near stiff peaks.
7) Add ⅓ of the meringue into the batter. Use a whisk to stir it in until no white streaks remain. Add in the second third of meringue and do the same but this time more carefully. Finally, invert the batter into the remaining meringue. Carefully fold in until no white streaks remain. Drop the tin containing the cake batter from a height of 10cm onto the table to dispel big bubbles.
8) Pour the batter into the cake tin. Using zig zag motions, slash the batter to dispel big bubbles. Smooth the top of the batter. Drop the cake tin again if required.
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| Rising nicely |
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| Cracked! |
9) Bake for 7 minutes. Reduce the heat to 155 deg C and bake for 43 mins (ie remainder of 50 minutes). Rotate the cake tin at 35 minutes (and no earlier because you don't want the cake to collapse) to ensure even browning. [The centre did not wobble but a tester came out crumbly.] Reduce to 130 deg C and bake for another 10 mins (ie total 60 minute baking time)
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| Fresh out of oven. Deflated a bit after leaving door open |
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| Didn't sink any further in the middle. Had a waist on half of the cake |
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| ⅓ gummy at the bottom |
11) Take out the cake tin and drop it onto the table from a height of 10cm. This will prevent further shrinkage of the cake. Use a knife to run around the edge of the tin so that when it shrinks, it won't stick to the side and tear the cake, leaving a huge crack across the top of the cake. Leave it to cool completely in the tin on a wire rack, preferably chill in tin for at least 2 hrs before unmoulding.
Recipe feedback: Cracked! Sank a bit in the middle! These are new problems that I've never had before, but probably have to do with the lack of a water bath. Bottom ⅓ of cake was eggy but the top layer seemed to have dried out. However, no waist and the side of the cake was a beautiful even shade of brown. Seems like even 155 deg C is too high if there is no water bath and temp of 180 deg C is too high which causes the top layer of the cake to dry out. However, this cake had a lot more browning which significantly improved the taste (Milliard reaction?)
So next time I will reintroduce the water bath. Bake at 180 deg C for 10 minutes for colouring, reduce to 155 deg C for 50 mins (total 60 min baking time), switch off oven for 25 minutes without opening door, and finally, open door for 15 to 20 minutes to cool down. I also would not drop the cake the next time because I think it caused the cake to sink.
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Try 1 - no corn flour
Adapted from my last successful attempt where the recipe was based on Diana's desserts, I decided to add an egg because otherwise the cheesecake is too short. The original recipe was for a 8" pan but mine is actually a 9" pan. Therefore, everything else has to be tweaked. Most importantly, I decided to use all cake flour instead of mixed with corn flour as the previous successful attempt turned out to be too soft unless you let it set overnight in the fridge. (Updated with technique tips from JOC)
Ingredients
250ml milk
250g cream cheese, room temp
65g butter, room temp
7 eggs, separated
70g cake flour
133g sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
Method
1) Prepare: a) Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. b) Heat the milk till hot to the touch. c) Prepare the tin by buttering the sides and place a disc of parchment at the bottom. If you don't have a one-piece cake tin or a Pushpan like me, triple wrap the bottom of the two-piece cake tin with foil to prevent seepage. (d) Place a pan with 2 inches deep of water in the oven, ideally at the base.
2) Whisk the butter and ¼ of the sugar until pale and smooth.
3) Cube the cream cheese and whisk the cream cheese until the batter is smooth.
4) Add the egg yolks one at a time and whisk after each addition.
5) Add the salt, vanilla, and milk and whisk until smooth.
6) Sift in the flour in 3 batches and fold. Using the whisk, fold to ensure no lumps remain. If necessary, sieve the batter into a new bowl.
7) In a very clean bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy and opaque. Add the sugar in 3 batches. Continue beating until near stiff peaks. Add 1 tsp lemon juice to stabilise.
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| Not very smooth, 'mo bing' top but at least no cracks |
9) Pour the batter into the cake tin. Using zig zag motions, slash the batter to dispel big bubbles. Smooth the top of the batter. Drop the cake tin again if required.
10) Bake for 7 minutes. Reduce the heat to 155 deg C and bake for remainder of the 55 to 60 minutes. Rotate the cake tin at 35 minutes (and no earlier because you don't want the cake to collapse) to ensure even browning. The centre of the cake should still have a bit of wobble.
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| Shrank a bit but taste is ok. |
13) Take out the cake tin and drop it onto the table from a height of 10cm. This will prevent further shrinkage of the cake. Use a knife to run around the edge of the tin so that when it shrinks, it won't stick to the side and tear the cake, leaving a huge crack across the top of the cake. Leave it to cool completely in the tin on a wire rack, preferably chill in tin for at least 2 hrs before unmoulding.
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| ½ eggy bottom. Why? |
Recipe feedback: Yay no 'waist'! It deflated a bit, which is ok but it still has the eggy thick bottom. I don't think that adding only cake flour made any difference but more and more I'm becoming convinced that the water bath is the issue. The depth of the eggy part in this attempt and previous all seem to coincide with the water bath. Maybe I really have to wrap the bottom of the tin in order to disperse the effect of the water bath OR bake without a water bath but perhaps put a tin of water in the oven somewhere near the floor just to create a humid atmosphere.
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