HELP!!!! Anyone up late??? ! is there a way to rescue this cheesecake or is it a total loss?

M

mariadnoca

Moderator
I shudda used my 10" pan, because apparently my 9" springform pan isn't as tall or something because I had *a lot* of leftover batter (over 3 cups), which should've made me think twice, but I'm multi-tasking, so I went ahead and kept to the first 20 min timeframe, and with 8 minutes left I smelled it from the back of the house

>>>>The top of the cheesecake is the color of devils food cake!

I turned the heat down to the 300F right away and ended up baking the rest of the recommended times, but I haven't made many cheesecakes and haven't done one in a while (and never w/o a waterbath)...I really have no idea of timing at this point or even if it can be saved.

There is a bit of burnt in the house.

Help!!!

Do I just need to toss it? I don't know enough about cheesecakes...can you peel the burnt part off the top when it comes out or is it just ruined? (I don't want to serve something that tastes burnt - especially on Christmas.)

If so, any super quick ideas of something to replace Christmas dessert?

We are having Christmas tomorrow and I have to travel with dessert at noon, so I'm down to the wire. Kinda in panic mode at the moment....

Recipe:

RASPBERRY SWIRL CHEESECAKE -9” pan

Raspberry Sauce:

1 package (12 oz.) frozen Raspberries (not sugared), thawed and drained but reserve the juice.

1/3 cup sugar

3 tbsp cornstarch

Add enough water to the raspberry juice to make 1-1/2 cup. Mix sugar and cornstarch in a sauce- pan. Stir in the juice and raspberries. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring frequently. Boil and stir 1 minute; strain. Cool completely.

Crust:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup softened butter

2 egg yolks

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together the above and press 1/2 of the mixture onto the bottom of a greased springform pan (without the ring on it) and bake just the bottom for 8-10 minutes. Cool. Assemble springform pan around baked bottom crust and press the rest of the crust mixture on the sides, going up about 2-1/2". Make sure it blends onto the bottom over the "break".

Cheesecake:

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

3 Tbsp whipping cream

40 oz cream cheese

1-3/4 cup sugar

3 Tbsp flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup whipping cream

5 eggs

2 egg yolks

1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips- chopped

Increase the oven heat to 475 degrees.

Cut a circle of foil larger than the cheesecake bottom to wrap the bottom of the springform in for baking so nothing leaks out. Heat the 1 cup semi-s. chips and 3 Tbsp cream. "Paint" on the bottom and sides of crust. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour, salt, cream and 2 eggs until smooth. Add the rest of the eggs and extra egg yolks one at a time. Stir in the chopped chips. Pour 1/2 of the batter in the crust. Spread 1/3 of the raspberry mixture by spoonfuls onto the batter. Swirl through the batter with a spatula- be careful! Repeat with another half of the cheesecake batter and then bake the cheesecake for 20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 300 degrees and bake one hour. Turn off the oven and leave the cake in 15 minutes more. Spread reserved raspberry

mixture over top and cool. Refrigerate at LEAST 12 hours before running a knife around the inside of the ring before loosening the springform pan.

 
Yo, Maria, I'm still up - my husband's sick, so I'm taking care of him. It's probably too late, but

if you still need help, let me know.

 
I'm posting photos...here they are...and I cut off the top, which I think now was a mistake...

Sorry he's still feeling ill...poor guy! (Gosh, it's really late where you are.)

Here it is, I'm just feeling sick over this! and then because I was in panic mode, I cut the top off right outta the oven (when now that I see it's *soft* like an mushy omelet maybe I shudda let it sit/set-up more first). So I've stuck it back in the turned off (200F now) oven

>>>and am full "don't know what to do" mode.

I have never had something not turn out/we're ordering pizza before, and of course this is Christmas... I have the fruit topping I'd planned to slap on top, but the whole thing looks too soft/eggy right now, like it would sink if I tried that...because I cut of the top. Does it need to actually bake more?

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/IMG_1742.jpg

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/IMG_1744.jpg

 
Hey Maria, it should set up more when chilled overnight. But, there's no

guarantee it will firm up enough. Do you want to take a chance? If not, we can surely come up with an alternative dessert.
Or.. you could try baking it longer - you have nothing to lose, right?

 
Nothing to lose now...it's in a 300F oven...any ideas on how/what temp to try to bake?

The thing with cheesecakes, if I recall, which likely I'm wrong/can't recall/or whatever is they don't seem really set firm when they are actually done?

Yes?

No?

It' looks a teeny bit firmer but I get a full width wiggle when I shake it, but I only got a bit in the center when I took it out of the oven. However I cut almost an inch off the top when I leveled it with the pan.

So.

That released all the heat that would've let it set-up, doncha think? Again, at this point I have zero idea what I'm doing.

 
Sigh.

I don't even think I have a cake mix in the house.

And the crust fought me, it expanded and even though I thought I'd trimmed it enough, when I put the ring on, and closed it, it shattered and I had to make/bake it all over again.

It was a sign. A Winter Solstice Galactic Alignment Mayan Calendar Ending, but not World Ending, Cheesecake Ending Day...sign.

 
I took it out and am letting it cool

because it's 1am and I'm tired (I hope everyone is getting some sleep at your place now), so will let it cool a bit and stick in the fridge. Then in the am will put the topping on and just hope for the best.

 
Still up?! ...well it sorta collapsed, so much for pretty

1:40am
It sunk, pulled away from the crust and it cracked deeply in several places...this is one sad looking puppy. Still seems too warm for the fridge, but stuck it on a rack so air can circulate and calling it a day. Don't dare put topping on till it's cold. Pretty sure it would sink into the lumpy oblivion...doesn't it look more like an omelet/quiche than cheesecake?

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/IMG_1746.jpg

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/IMG_1747.jpg

 
Huh? What happened Maria? I have made this many, many times. I told you it was a deep 9" pan

mine is almost 4" deep...and I have no idea why you would cut off the top of the cheesecake instead of using foil if your oven browned the top too fast-or why you had these issues with it. The raspberry topping would more than fix any "flaws" you think there are.

Sort of collapsed? Cheesecake with a lot of eggs in it will puff up then "collapse" when taken out of the oven. That is kind of normal. I am sorry you had trouble with this recipe. I don't have trouble with this recipe. I hope you were able to rescue whatever you ended up with. i have one in the refrigerator now that turned out perfectly like always.

 
I think I missed the part about high-sided...

this 9" pan is taller than my 10-inch springform so thought I was ok, but maybe it's not officially a true high-sided pan (what brand do you have?) and I didn't catch the top before it burnt. smileys/frown.gif

Multi-tasking too many things tonight (like it took me 1 hr and 45 mins on the phone to get through to FedEx who screwed up mom's package delivery today).

I will try this again, because the batter tasted delish and so did the crust. Yes, I think I should've waited for it to cool some before trying to cut off the burnt part. User fail on that because I took off too much. Seriously, can't take me anywhere it seems!

What I will try to do now is in the am try to see if I can trim some of the crust on the edges level while in the pan and put on topping/chill till I need to leave. Without the normal sealed top I kinda think there is nothing I can do to keep the topping from sinking in, but hopefully will taste ok. Just worried that the burnt smell might absorb. At least I learned several things tonight.

You should take a picture of yours... love to see what it should look like!

 
Is that initial temp of 475

a cheesecake/cake recipe call for that high a temp w/out a bain marie.

Also, filling the pan to the very rim could contribute to the burnt top.

What is the purpose of blind baking only the bottom of the crust?

 
Yes. The entire recipe is correct. No water bath.

Usually if I see something is getting too brown on top I put foil on it. Blind baking the bottom crust assures you the crust will not be soggy. The sides bake just fine with the filling.

 
Update: it ended up coming out great - very yummy! (photos) and some notes/etc...

So when I thought all was lost, some how this cheese cake pulled through and you'd never know it ever had a problem...in fact it tasted so good I ate three slices (shhh don't tell anyone!)

So so lessons learned...

The bottom crust spread and even though I trimmed it, when I put the ring on it shattered and I had to remake it. This might've been caused because I got sidetracked and it had cooled completely. Next time I didn't press out to as close to the edge (because when you build the sides later, you can cover any gaps) so left a bit over 1/4 inch gap to the edge, then just let it cool for 10 minutes, then put the ring on when it was still somewhat warm.

Can anyone help me source a high-sided springform pan? My search skills must be lacking because I couldn't find a 9" one higher than my 3 inch pan and I'd really like to make this again. (Given I had 3+ cups leftover, do you think if I can't find a taller pan I'd need a pan larger than 10"? I'm just not that experienced at making cheesecakes.)

My 9" Kaiser pan locks really well and without doing a water bath not sure I'd need the foil wrap. For me, the two step crust, plus the painting on of the chocolate, seemed to create a leak proof interior.

I'm wondering if I should've adjusted my oven rack to the very lowest setting? Cathy, when you make it what setting to you have yours at? I wonder if it's because I have a wall oven.

On to the photos! (sorry kinda blurry as I forgot to set to macro)

Given I cut the top off when it sunk I had crust above the cake which I trimmed in the pan with a pizza wheel. By morning the whole thing set up nicely so trimmed and topped with the sauce. Since I was sorta worried about a burnt taste and looks, when serving I tossed on 3 stars I cut from fondant that I sprinkled with disco dust/sugar for a winter snow look. Since is was several hours before it was served it separated a bit (my fault for placing early), but still looked festive.

I must say this was a *very delicious* cheesecake that I will make again! Thanks Cathy!

These are some quick snaps I tried to get as folks quickly snatched this up!

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/IMG_1777c.jpg

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/IMG_1779.jpg

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/IMG_1781.jpg

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/IMG_1784.jpg

The flash kinda blew out this photo

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/IMG_1776c.jpg

 
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