| The baked New York style cheesecake recipe, on its | | | | crackers, cookies or other baked goods. |
| surface, looks like one of the more simple dessert | | | | Then there's the composition of the cheesecake |
| recipes. It's a fairly simple set of ingredients, and the | | | | itself. The baked New York style cheesecake begins |
| mixing and baking is fairly straightforward. | | | | life as a very thick batter that bears a vague |
| So why does it so often go wrong? Well, part of the | | | | resemblance to traditional cake batter, except for |
| problem is in the name: cheesecake. Right there, you | | | | the fact that it contains little or no flour depending on |
| expect it to act like a cake in the baking process. | | | | your recipe. |
| The problem is, it's not really a cake at all. If you | | | | The baking is different, also. One of the secrets to |
| were to take a hundred cooking school graduates | | | | New York style cheesecake success is a fairly moist |
| who had never heard of cheesecake and present | | | | baking environment, which means using a water bath. |
| each of them with a slice of baked New York style | | | | Have you ever seen a cake recipe that called for the |
| cheesecake, all of them would most likely identify it | | | | pan to be placed in a larger pan with water in it? |
| as a pie... or at best a custard. | | | | So, for cheesecake success, you might want to stop |
| Let's start with the crust. Cakes don't normally have | | | | thinking about it as a cake. Think of it as a pie-cake |
| a crust other than what bakes up when they cook, | | | | hybrid, or better yet as custard that needs some |
| right? Well, your cheesecake needs a crust or you're | | | | extra care in the preparation, but will yield sweet |
| going to have containment issues. This is not usually a | | | | rewards when it's done. The baked New York style |
| traditional piecrust, but rather a blind baked | | | | cheesecake recipe is simple, but can be unforgiving if |
| mashed-together construction made of graham | | | | you don't treat it right. |