The Grand Cheesecake Canyon?
Am I supposed to start screaming and crying when my very first cheesecake does this?
I swore to myself that I wouldn't get upset when (not if) this happened. I even told a coworker that I didn't care if it cracked, as long as it tastes good. But I'm sure the neighbors did hear my shriek when I saw what had happened to the center of the cappuccino cheesecake I made this afternoon.
The thing is, it was already cracked a little when I turned off the oven (15 minutes early, I must add). So I thought that would be it, not too bad. You can still see the small cracks along the sides, even though they're dwarfed in magnitude by the enormous crater in the center. I know I did everything wrong, though, so I'm definitely going to try again: I used a mixer to beat the batter, which incorporated a lot of air that turned to steam in the oven and needed a way to escape (apparently a food processor works better); I didn't use a waterbath (the recipe I had didn't call for one); I think I started it in a too-hot oven (the recipe called for a 450 oven for the first 10 minutes, then down to 200 for an hour, which seemed weird from the beginning, but who am I to question it?); and I overcooked it (there was no jiggly middle when I checked on it 15 minutes before it should be done).
I added some embellishments to try to camouflage the mess for the people I might ask to eat it:
Tomorrow we'll see. It has to chill for at least 8 hours before we can eat it. As long as it tastes good, I won't have to cry.
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cry? why on earth would you cry? this looks DELECTABLE. if you slice it into wedges and lay them decoratively onto little plates...NO-ONE WILL EVER KNOW.
We had a couple slices tonight and it was pretty good. Some friends are coming over tomorrow to help us eat it, so I'm going to use your idea. I'm not even going to let them get a look at it whole.
It's dangerous for us to have a whole cheesecake in the fridge. I have quite a sweet tooth. Looks aren't everything, I guess.
I think you should try it with a waterbath. My mom used to get this problem ALOT. Then she started using the waterbath all the time, and it solved the problem.
I also had this problem recently baking my very first cheesecake. But I used a waterbath, so I think my cracks were caused by over-beaten egg whites.
So my lovely new wife and I are hoping to find a place to go peach and raspberry picking this upcoming weekend to obtain my two favorite fruits so we can perhaps make a cobbler or a pie. When I typed "peach, pick, and new york" into google, I was delighted to see this great blog show up as the 5th site listed. Now, if we can actually find a place in the tri-state area to pick peaches in august, I hope we can try the peach ice cream with our extra peaches-it sounds delicious and yes, i too really do love summer. (By the way, Kim, those Greek meatballs were fabulous-I haven't forgotten to comment, just waiting until we have my friends over for dinner next weekend-we're going to make your meatballs as part of an all-Greek themed meal. We'll let you know how it goes. Glad you enjoyed our baklava.)
Hi, Eric
Ooooh, I am jealous of you. Todd and I went apple picking last year with Julie and David, but he hates that kind of thing because picking apples used to be one of his chores. Let me know where you ended up going, how you liked it, and if they have anything left. I might have to persuade Todd to take me sometime.