BY JOHN CROPLEY Gazette Business Editor
There are dozens of different types of cheesecakes, each one treasured by the region or culture that developed it. And yet there really are only two types: Those you make yourself and those you buy from a bakery.
It’s not a particularly diffi cult cake to make, requiring only a short list of ingredients and no specialized equipment or skills beyond those the casual home baker probably already possesses.
The wonderful smell of a cheesecake baking in the oven and the pride of presenting a homemade version for the closing act of a big holiday meal make it worth the effort for even the novice baker. As a bonus, it needs to be baked at least a day in advance, so it’s one less thing to do on the holiday itself.
Of all the cheesecake styles out there, we’ll focus on the familiar New York-style — super-dense yet still creamy. And for guidance, we turn to Jo Anne Cloughly, professor of culinary arts at SUNY Cobleskill.
Cloughly recently helped guide the Student Pastry Arts Club through its annual fundraiser, in which the 15 members created hundreds of cheesecakes to be sold before Thanksgiving. Every year, she fi ne-tunes the recipe a bit to make it just a little closer to perfection.
“This year my thing was, how do we eliminate some of the settling?” she said.
Why cheesecake for the annual fundraiser, and not, say, cupcakes or pies?
“One, it’s different. You’re not going to have it every day,” Cloughly explained. “Cheesecake is this super-delectable dessert that represents a special occasion.”
Students are willing pupils when cheesecake is on the curriculum, and Cloughly herself practices what she preaches, sometimes having a slice to accompany her morning coffee.
New York is her preferred style.
“I like a really heavy, heavy cheesecake,” she said. “I like a cheesecake that you have to really dig your fork into.”
This is accomplished with cream cheese, sour cream or heavy cream, and a thickener such as fl our or cornstarch.
Other styles such as French, Italian or German cheesecake are usually made with different cheeses and may also omit the thickener, depending on the baker. Classic French cheesecake, in particular, is known for being light and fl uffy, a world apart from New York-style cheesecake.
Cloughly learned her craft at the Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown and worked there many years as a pastry chef before baking at Union College and then the Holiday Inn Turf in Colonie. For professional development, she would take classes at SUNY Cobleskill, and eventually was invited to join the faculty there as an adjunct professor. She’s now a professor, helping train a new generation of culinary students.
Most of the Student Pastry Arts Club members are culinary students, though the club is open to the entire student body.
Cloughly offers the same guidance to her students in the big culinary laboratory as she offers to Gazette readers in their home kitchens.
It can be summarized succinctly — be accurate and be thorough — but the specifi cs below are worth knowing too, whether you are baking your fi rst cheesecake or fi netuning your hundredth, particularly if you are following the recipe that accompanies this story.
› Use quality ingredients. Cloughly likes Philadelphia-brand cream cheese (the foil-wrapped blocks, not the whipped plastic tubs, which are too light and airy for cheesecake). And she will sometimes replace the vanilla extract with the seeds from a single vanilla bean for a more delicate fl avor. This can get expensive — that single bean may cost several dollars. Stick with extract if you like, but use genuine extract, not imitation. Or try vanilla bean paste, which is between beans and extract in price and is less labor-intensive than whole beans.
› Eggs are a big variable. Four large eggs from a supermarket do not equal the four super-jumbo orbs from your local organic farmer. That’s why the recipe calls for a specifi c measure of eggs, rather than a particular number.
› Let the ingredients warm up before starting. That includes the eggs, the sour cream and especially the cream cheese, which is stiff and stubborn at 35 degrees. “You want room-temperature ingredients. They mix better,” Cloughly says.
› Mix slowly and thoroughly. Don’t rush this! That’s one of the important lessons aspiring bakers have to learn in the college’s culinary lab, Cloughly said: “The students want to get it done and move on.” But getting it done thoroughly is better than getting it done quickly. The eggs, in particular, should be added very slowly.
› Bake and cool the cheesecake in a water bath — wrap the bottom and sides of the springform pan in foil to keep it dry and then place it in a baking pan or dish half fi lled with water. This will keep the oven humid and will moderate the temperature of the springform pan itself, preventing unwanted changes in texture and moistness as the project turns from batter to cake.
› Don’t rely entirely on the timer — keep an eye on the cake in the oven. It will go from pudding-like to perfect to overcooked in a surprisingly short period of time. Remove it when it is no longer shiny wet on top but not yet over-browned. Then cool it gradually and completely, again in a water bath to moderate the temperature.
› Chill the cake completely before slicing but don’t wait too long — the crust will absorb moisture and start to get soggy after a few days.
› Slice the cake with a single downward motion with a wet knife, then draw the knife straight out from the bottom, rinse it off, and cut the next slice while the knife is still wet. Don’t use a sawing motion, and don’t lift the knife out of the cut — you’ll bring up crumbs from the crust.
› Many cheesecakes lose some of their creamy texture when frozen, and become crumbly instead of creamy once thawed, though the taste should be as good as ever.
› Follow the steps to create a good-looking cheesecake. “The biggest thing is, they crack when they’re baking or when they’re cooling,” Cloughly said. “That’s why we cook and cool in water.” But don’t fret if your cheesecake does crack. As long as they are not undercooked (too wet) or overcooked (too dry), cracked cakes taste the same as intact cakes. If you slice it creatively, your guests may not even know it was cracked.
› And never, ever try to shave calories by using low-fat cheese or substituting egg whites for whole eggs. “No, it’s not going to work!” Cloughly said. “The whole idea is to make it really decadent.”