After Eight cheesecake recipe | Sainsbury`s Magazine (2024)

FAQs

What happens if you over beat cheesecake? ›

When making your filling, overmixing can lead to incorporating too much air into the batter. Once baked, the air bubbles will burst, and the cheesecake will fall and crack. THE FIX: The number one reason why you'd overbeat your batter is because you're having dificulty incorporating cold ingredients.

Top with candy – spread a layer of whipped cream on top of the cheesecake and scatter chopped peanut butter cups, Heath Bars, Snickers or your favorite chocolate candy bar over-top. Make a quick compote of strawberries and garnish with some mint sprigs.

Make sure to add eggs one by one on low speed and mix until just combined. Over mixing the eggs will incorporate too much air into the batter, which will result in the cheesecake deflating and possibly cracking when it comes out of the oven.

The ancient Greeks, by the fifth century BC, made the earliest known rudimentary cheesecakes (plakous meaning “flat mass”), consisting of patties of fresh cheese pounded smooth with flour and honey and cooked on an earthenware griddle. In late medieval Europe, cheesecake remerged in tart form with a pastry base.

It will look like it's quite runny, or becoming more runny – but the texture will have soft lumps inside it. (Almost like split cake mix!) Cheesecake can split or curdle for a few reasons – often it's down to the temperature of ingredients.

Avoid Overcooking

DON'T overbake. Overbaking a cheesecake can cause cracks on the surface. The center of the cheesecake should still be a little wobbly, the filling still pale, and the outer ring slightly puffy and firm. It will continue to cook as it cools and maintains that smooth and rich texture.

Eggs: Three whole eggs hold the cheesecake together. I also add an extra yolk, which enhances the cake's velvety texture. (Whites tend to lighten the cake, which is actually fine — if you don't feel like separating that fourth egg and don't mind some extra airiness in the texture, just add in the whole egg.)

In the case of cheesecakes and other batters with a high fat content, adding cold eggs could re-harden the fat, making the batter appear curdled or lumpy, possibly affecting the texture of the baked product. To avoid this, make sure you use room temperature eggs for baking.

Regular cheesecake relies on heavy cream and sour cream to thin the batter and create a silkier, creamier texture. New York cheesecake is heavy on the cream cheese which is why it's so dense and rich. Extra cream cheese isn't the only thing that makes New York cheesecake so special.

While many assume cheesecake originated in New York, it dates back much much further! Over 4,000 years ago in the fifth century BC, the ancient Greeks on the island of Samos created the earliest known cheesecake.

Why is a New York cheesecake called? ›

“My grandfather said, 'If you're going to open a restaurant in New York, you've got to have great cheesecake,'” says Alan Rosen, third-generation owner at Junior's. Over the years, scores of restaurants and bakeries would follow this thought and tout their cheesecake as New York cheesecake.

And beating your cream cheese and eggs vigorously can ruin these crucial components of a cheesecake. For example, Just One Cookbook notes that a recipe for a Japanese soufflé cheesecake may call for high-speed mixing for stiff peaks, but even over-whipping could lead to a cracked result.

Over-beating breaks down the fats in the cream cheese and makes it more liquid. Luckily, there are solutions. Putting cream cheese frosting in the fridge for a few minutes is the best way to stiffen it up. There's also adding powders like corn starch or omitting liquid ingredients like lemon juice.

Overcooked cheesecake will be dry and grainy instead of silky and smooth, which nobody wants to serve their diners.