Help! My mini cheescakes always fall!

meownstuff

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Some time ago I worked at a coffee/sandwhich shop filling in for the baker. I had no prior experience just a love for sweets.


Anyho, one of the things I was asked to make for the shop was cheescake. Yikes! Quite an ambitious project for a novice. After a few failed attempts I decided to try individual cheescakes made in cupcake papers. They worked out pretty well and were quite tasty if I do say so myself.

I don't have the best oven (elec.) in the world at home but I decided to try them anyway and they all sunk.
Not sure what I did wrong. Do you have to have a convection oven to make good cheescake? or maybe theres some little trick one of you experienced bakers would care to share.

Here's the recipe I used except I ground the wafers to make the crust.

1 package Vanilla Wafers
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Line a 6 cavity muffin tin with cup cake liners. Place 1 Vanilla Wafer in the bottom of each cup cake liner. Cream together the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way up. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes
 

pee-cleaner

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I would leave them in the oven after they are done. Removing/cooling too quickly can cause them to fall or crack. Perhaps experiment with the timing and turn them off before they are "quite" done and allow them to sit and cool before removing from oven.
 

mrblanche

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Maybe you need someone like me there to eat them promptly, or at least taste-test them!
 

duchess15

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I've never made mini cheesecakes so I don't know how much help I will be. I just know that you are not suppose the open the oven once they go in. As soon as you take them out, it will fall a little - which is normal.
 

KittenKrazy

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Nope, you don't have to have a convection oven to cook cheesecakes, we cooked oodles of them here at home before we opened our catering business. The best I can tell you is to be sure they're done...firm enough that when slightly jiggled they jiggle all over, (kind of like a jello jiggle as opposed to a water jiggle, if that makes sense), and be sure to place your pan in another pan with water in it, and be sure the water doesn't all dry up before they're done..

That being said....sometimes the darn things STILL will fall, lol!
 

pee-cleaner

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And if they fall, have some cherry or blueberry pie filling handy to "fill the cavity!" :p
 

emrldsky

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Nuh uh...might give me away!
Not sure how cheesecakes compare with regular cakes, but if it were a regular cake, I would do the following:

Drop the temp 25 degrees to 350 (I bake ALL my cakes and cupcakes at 325) for a little longer. Also, is there a window in your oven door? If not, try not to open the door too often, as that can cause sinking.

Now, if there's no baking similarities between cheesecake and regular cake, it's all moot.
 
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meownstuff

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Originally Posted by pee-cleaner

I would leave them in the oven after they are done. Removing/cooling too quickly can cause them to fall or crack. Perhaps experiment with the timing and turn them off before they are "quite" done and allow them to sit and cool before removing from oven.
I'll give this a try if I can manage to keep the SO away from the oven. He's always bird-dogn' me and bugging me to "check em."



Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Good advice! Also -- you used regular cream cheese, right? Not low-fat or anything?
Yup. I don't go low-fat for anything involved in dessert.


Originally Posted by mrblanche

Maybe you need someone like me there to eat them promptly, or at least taste-test them!
Yeeeeeah, umm some how I think the in-house taste tester is hindering my progress so I'm not currently looking for recruits.


Originally Posted by KittenKrazy

Nope, you don't have to have a convection oven to cook cheesecakes, we cooked oodles of them here at home before we opened our catering business. The best I can tell you is to be sure they're done...firm enough that when slightly jiggled they jiggle all over, (kind of like a jello jiggle as opposed to a water jiggle, if that makes sense), and be sure to place your pan in another pan with water in it, and be sure the water doesn't all dry up before they're done..

That being said....sometimes the darn things STILL will fall, lol!
Watch it wiggle. lol. I think I witnessed this phenomena when I attempted the other night. I was spinning them (which I now know is a no-no) because my oven cooks hotter on one side. I'll also try the extra pan with water. Totally didn't remeber that probabally important step.


That was the process I was using at the coffeee shop but I didn't wrap my pan well enough with aluminum and ended up with a wet cheesecake. *whispers* which they actually sold.


Originally Posted by pee-cleaner

And if they fall, have some cherry or blueberry pie filling handy to "fill the cavity!" :p
Yup, cheeries ended up being the remedy for my failed attempt. I myself don't like any bells or whistles with my cheescake. If anything at all a few fresh cut strawberries. Ummmmm, making me hungry.


Originally Posted by emrldsky

Not sure how cheesecakes compare with regular cakes, but if it were a regular cake, I would do the following:

Drop the temp 25 degrees to 350 (I bake ALL my cakes and cupcakes at 325) for a little longer. Also, is there a window in your oven door? If not, try not to open the door too often, as that can cause sinking.

Now, if there's no baking similarities between cheesecake and regular cake, it's all moot.
No window in my oven.
I guess I'll just have to cross my fingers and time them from now on.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I'll keep you posted with my *crosses fingers* progress as I plan to try again some time this week after I make a trip to the grocery store.
 

KittenKrazy

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Lol at the "wet" cheesecake, truthfully it probably wasn't hurt.....just, ahem..."moister" than normal. I have to agree with the dropping of the oven temperature, sometimes cooking them slower helps......as far as the "spinning" its actually a good idea if your oven cooks hot in spots to slowly turn them around, and unless you slam it, opening and closing the door a few times won't hurt (now, if you do it every five minutes and it cools the oven down, then you have a problem, lol!
 
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