Lemon Cheesecake, Plus 5 Tips for Making Cheesecake!

Cheesecake is one of my husband’s favorite desserts. It also happens to be one of my daughter’s favorite desserts. Needless to say, cheesecake is always a request whenever a special occasion comes around. As an amateur baker, I always used to cringe a little whenever they would ask me to bake one. In the past, my cheesecakes would always come out of the oven cracked, deflated or both. As I handed out the slices of cheesecake, I would warn them that I wasn’t sure the sad little cheesecake was going to taste very good. After the first bites were had, they would exclaim that it didn’t matter how it looked – it always tastes delicious.

Knowing that my cheesecake still tasted great, made me a little less concerned with the appearance of it. For me, cheesecake is a bit complicated to make. It has a lot of different ingredients and a decent amount of time goes in to making one. As a visual person, it was always a big bummer that it emerged from the oven looking like a deflated football. I mean, who wants to eats something that slightly resembles a bakery cheesecake? Apparently, my family 🙂

This past weekend, we planned on celebrating my husband coming home from a long business trip. I asked my kids if they could help me think of something special to do for their dad. My daughter immediately replied “Let’s bake him a cheesecake!” I was determined to match her enthusiasm and I quickly agreed that cheesecake would be a great idea. That night after they had gone to bed, I began looking for ideas on where I was going wrong with my cheesecakes and cobbled together these 5 tips for making cheesecake for you.

It turns out, there is a lot you can do to prevent your cheesecake from looking like an old party balloon!

5 TIPS FOR MAKING CHEESECAKE

• Room Temperature; make sure all of your ingredients to come to room temperature before using them. (Eggs, sour cream, cream cheese – everything!) This makes it easier for everything to mix together smoothly.
• Don’t Over Beat; over beating your cheesecake mixture will cause air bubbles in the mix. (When you bake your cheesecake the air bubbles are what cause the cracks.)
• Water Bath; before making the crust in your springform pan, cover the bottom with aluminum foil. Make sure it comes up the sides of the pan. (I wrapped the bottom in 3 layers to make sure it was waterproof.) Add water to the pan making it about 1/4 inch deep.
• Cut Around the Edges; as soon as the cheesecake is done baking, take a paring knife and gently slide your knife around the edges. Releasing the cheesecake from the sides of your pan prevents it from collapsing in the middle.
• Leave in the Oven; instead of removing your cheesecake from the oven when the time is up, turn your oven off. Leave the cheesecake in the oven for an hour. Letting the temperature regulate will also prevent it from collapsing.

LEMON CHEESECAKE RECIPE
Adapted from the Fanny Farmer Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Quaker® Oatmeal Squares Cinnamon
• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 pound cream cheese

Directions:

Step 1: Wrap your springform pan in aluminum foil. Crush the Quaker® Oatmeal Squares Cinnamon. Combine cereal, melted butter and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl and mix. Butter a 9 inch springform pan liberally and pat the mixture over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Chill while you prepare the filling.

Step 2: Preheat oven to 325F. Beat egg yolks with electric mixer until they are thick and pale yellow. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, sour cream, flour, salt, 3/4 cup sugar and beat until blended. Add the cream cheese and blend until just smooth.

Step 3: Beat egg whites until foamy. Add 1/4 cup sugar gradually. Beat until thick and shiny. Fold egg whites into cream cheese mixture and spoon into springform pan.

Step 4:  Place springform pan on a baking sheet and add water to the pan. Don’t overflow the pan.

Step 5: Bake for one hour. Do not open the oven to peek on it. After one hour, turn off the oven and allow to sit in the oven for an additional hour.

Step 6: Cool and then chill in the refrigerator.

Thanks for reading,
Daniele

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and Quaker. All opinions are mine alone. #CollectiveBias #LoveMyCereal #QuakerUp