Hey everyone,
I apologies in advance for what will likely be a very long drawn out post.
I've come here looking for some advice from anyone who knows anything about baking cheesecakes. I'm not much of a baker myself, or even much of a cook either. But when I do bake/cook, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and tend to overthink it until I get it right. A couple of weeks ago, I had the best baked cheesecake I've ever had at a fish restaurant. I've been there multiple times over the years and the cheesecake is always amazing (along with every other course). Recently I decided to try and find a way to replicate it as I've never managed to find a similar cake from any local shop.
The culprit is pictured below, its a baked white chocolate cheesecake with raspberry ice-cream and coulis (I've also had it with a butterscotch ice-cream). The flavor is perfect but its also very moist and creamy. Not like a no-bake cheesecake, but almost like you're cutting through a soft butter. Definitely creamier than your average supermarket cheesecake where I'm from anyway.
Someone recommended that I give this recipe a try, so I did. The only notable difference was that I used a total of 200g white chocolate instead of 225g for no other reason that they come in 100g packs and I was trying to save money and waste. I also used a 7" tin instead of an 8".
General it went fairly well, everything happened as I expected it. The only confusing part for me was the baking, as I found it hard to decide when it was done. I ended up baking for about 55 mins as, by 45 mins, it still rippled like a thick cream when I tapped the tin. I'd also noticed that the sides had risen but not the center, so I took that as a sign that it wasn't cooked. Having now looked at some videos on YouTube I now feel like that might not be an accurate indication.
Overall I think it went well, but I was a tad disappointed. It was drier, "almost" crumby, a bit more likely your average cheesecake I guess, and I couldn't really taste the white chocolate enough, the cheese overpowered the chocolate. Here are some pics..
So if you've made it this far.. I'm after some tips on how I might achieve something closer in terms of taste and texture to my first photo.
The most obvious one for me is increasing the white chocolate. I know I was 25g short of the recipe but I don't feel like that much would have made the difference. I'm thinking more like 250 - 300g and reducing the cheese to compensate? (though that might not work out exact volume as the chocolate is likely denser).
Also considering a water bath? I've read a lot about them helping to avoid cracks but do they do anything that might help me achieve a creamier texture?
I've seen recipes swap between sour cream and double cream, would there be any noticeable difference if I swapped to double cream?
Also just generally thinking I could turn the oven off a bit sooner too. I think that looking at the fact that the middle hadn't risen and taking that as a sign that it wasn't done was a bad judgment.
Any other tips and advice would be hugely appreciated
Thanks
Stuart
I apologies in advance for what will likely be a very long drawn out post.
I've come here looking for some advice from anyone who knows anything about baking cheesecakes. I'm not much of a baker myself, or even much of a cook either. But when I do bake/cook, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and tend to overthink it until I get it right. A couple of weeks ago, I had the best baked cheesecake I've ever had at a fish restaurant. I've been there multiple times over the years and the cheesecake is always amazing (along with every other course). Recently I decided to try and find a way to replicate it as I've never managed to find a similar cake from any local shop.
The culprit is pictured below, its a baked white chocolate cheesecake with raspberry ice-cream and coulis (I've also had it with a butterscotch ice-cream). The flavor is perfect but its also very moist and creamy. Not like a no-bake cheesecake, but almost like you're cutting through a soft butter. Definitely creamier than your average supermarket cheesecake where I'm from anyway.
Someone recommended that I give this recipe a try, so I did. The only notable difference was that I used a total of 200g white chocolate instead of 225g for no other reason that they come in 100g packs and I was trying to save money and waste. I also used a 7" tin instead of an 8".
General it went fairly well, everything happened as I expected it. The only confusing part for me was the baking, as I found it hard to decide when it was done. I ended up baking for about 55 mins as, by 45 mins, it still rippled like a thick cream when I tapped the tin. I'd also noticed that the sides had risen but not the center, so I took that as a sign that it wasn't cooked. Having now looked at some videos on YouTube I now feel like that might not be an accurate indication.
Overall I think it went well, but I was a tad disappointed. It was drier, "almost" crumby, a bit more likely your average cheesecake I guess, and I couldn't really taste the white chocolate enough, the cheese overpowered the chocolate. Here are some pics..
So if you've made it this far.. I'm after some tips on how I might achieve something closer in terms of taste and texture to my first photo.
The most obvious one for me is increasing the white chocolate. I know I was 25g short of the recipe but I don't feel like that much would have made the difference. I'm thinking more like 250 - 300g and reducing the cheese to compensate? (though that might not work out exact volume as the chocolate is likely denser).
Also considering a water bath? I've read a lot about them helping to avoid cracks but do they do anything that might help me achieve a creamier texture?
I've seen recipes swap between sour cream and double cream, would there be any noticeable difference if I swapped to double cream?
Also just generally thinking I could turn the oven off a bit sooner too. I think that looking at the fact that the middle hadn't risen and taking that as a sign that it wasn't done was a bad judgment.
Any other tips and advice would be hugely appreciated
Thanks
Stuart
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