"DigitalVinyl" > wrote:
>I wrote:
>>DV wrote:
>>> Anyone find a good recipe for tightening the texture up? I'm thinking
>>> additional eggs,
>>
>>I find using a mixture of whole eggs and yolks to be helpful - a 3:2
>>yolk:egg ratio seems to work best..
>
> I am using near the same ratio. 7:5 for a 10 inch. And my last two
> batches are showing better texture and better height & volume
> (especially now that I'm whipping the egg whites corrrectly!).

Heh. You're far more ambitious than I; whipping egg whites is something I
only do for meringues and if I have to. : )

I find that the higher starting temp that I mentioned before lends some
height as well; the heat causes 'em to puff up a bit. Have to watch 'em,
though, since they can crack that way too. But cracks can be fixed - put
the thing in the freezer 'til it's almost frozen, then use the edge of a
knife dipped in hot water to smooth the cracks out...go along the cracks,
THEN across.

> I've been reducing fat/calories by making them with
> 1/3 fat free cream cheese
> 1/3 neufchatel cream cheese (1/3 less fat)
> 1/3 regualr cream cheese
> and the fat-free stuff is mushy as all hell.

Hm. Have you considered low-fat ricotta? Nice texture, especially if you
run it through a food processor w/ some half&half first, and unlike fat-free
CC, it can still be called "cheese" without feeling like you're a liar. But
IMHO, cheesecake is one of those things that one eats fairly infrequently,
so you can afford to splurge on the calories.

On a related note, I was making tiramisu last night and made the mistake of
looking at the calories in the mascarpone cheese....EEK! It's *so* good,
though.

> Also I think I've found an insurance for the water
> leakage problem. Sit the springform in a layer of flour in the
> standard foil wrap around the springform. Any water that gets in is
> adsorbed by the flour and I think the flour gums up holes and slows
> leaks.

Part of the solution is also to buy good-quality springforms...they don't
tend to get out of round so easily. Kaiser's "Noblesse" line is very good;
their "La Forme" line even better. There are also loose-bottomed cheesecake
pans, which have no spring to them at all. See them he

http://www.cooking.com/products/shpr...0&ClassNo=0224

If you're feeling ballsy, you can even make 'em in a regular 3" deep cake
pan - just make sure to use a heavy pan, grease the bottom well, and put a
layer of parchment over the grease. Then you can *float* the damned things
in a bain-marie and they won't leak. : )

> I'm doing mini cheesecakes now. I'm using the foil cups-no muffin pans
> neccessary. Without a water bath they fell--still tasted good.

Aye, that's actually the one sort of thing where I *will* use a water bath -
otherwise you either get cakes that are rock-hard on the edges and raw in
the middle, or they go all to hell. Also have to bake 'em at a lower,
constant temp, like no higher than 280F.

Jason