Cheesecake problem (w/ pics)

[fawn]

This is my 2nd time to make a japanese cheesecake souffle. And the middle sunked after cooling!!

I'm not even sure if i have the right texture:
The top was fluffy, while the lower part was egg custardy. Am i on the right track?

Here's the recipe:
Makes one 20cm cheesecake.
250g cream cheese
200ml thickened cream (35% milkfat)
40g (1/3 cup) cornflour
4 egg yolks
75g (1/3 cup) caster sugar (A)
finely grated zest from 1 lemon
40ml (2 tablespoons) lemon juice
4 egg whites
75g (1/3 cup) caster sugar (B)

Apricot Glaze:
Heat 1 tablespoon Apricot Jam with 1 tablespoon water, then sieve to get a smooth glaze

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line bottom with baking paper.
2. Dissolve cream cheese with thickened cream in a bowl placed over simmering water (or in a double-boiler). Remove from heat. Whisk until smooth. Cool slightly.
3. Beat egg yolks with caster sugar (A), lemon zest and juice. Gradually whisk the warm cheese mixture into the yolk mixture. Fold in cornflour.
4. Beat egg whites until foamy with uniform tiny bubbles. Gradually beat in caster sugar (B), spoonful by spoonful, until firm but not to stiff peaks stage.
5. Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the cheese mixture. Repeat two more times with the rest of the meringue.
6. Pour batter into the prepared tin. Place the cake tin in a deep roasting tray and fill the tray with hot water to halfway up the sides of the cake tin.
7. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, or until the top of the cake starts to colour. Then turn oven temperature down to 150°C and bake for another 25 - 30 minutes, or until cooked. Let cool completely before turning out. If the cake is hard to turn out, assist it by placing the tin over warm water briefly. Glaze the top of the cheesecake before serving.

--------> i baked mine 325º first 15min then lower to 300º for the rest of bakign time: total of 1hr 15min w/pan at the bottom of the rack. The cake was domed (above the rim) I let it cool in ajared oven door. AFter a few min, i was surprised the center sunk!


One question regarding Whipping eggwhites: Whenever i whip, there's always egg whites lying at the bottom of my mixing bowl, does that mean that the whip doesn't reach the bottom of my bowl?

The first japanese cheesecake i made, i didn't have a whole cake picture, but i gurantee that it doesn't have sunken center. What did i do wrong?

REcipe for this cheesecake:
7 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup superfine sugar (caster sugar)
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup cornstarch (don't use flour)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 1/2 cups boiling water
For the glazing
2 tablespoons jam (Apricot or Strawberry)
1/2 tablespoon water



1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray a 9-inch cake tin with cooking oil spray.
3. Beat cream cheese with milk to soften.
4. Add half of the sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch and lemon juice.
5. Beat until smooth.
6. Beat egg whites in a separate bowl until foamy.
7. Gradually add remaining sugar and cream of tartar, beating on high speed until soft peaks form, about 8-10 minutes.
8. Gradually fold beaten egg whites into the cream cheese mixture, stirring gently.
9. Pour into cake pan and smooth the surface.
10. Place cake pan into a larger roasting pan and place in lower rack of oven.
11. Pour enough water into the roasting pan to come half way up the side of the cake pan.
12. Bake 35-40 minutes, until a pick inserted in the middle of the center comes out clean.
13. You can eat like this, or you can put jam on top of it.
14. Put the jam in a sauce pan with the water on a low heat and warm up until it's melted.
15. Then spread the glaze on top of the cake.
16. If the surface becomes too dark while baking cover with a piece of tin foil, but be careful not to open the oven door until it has been in the oven for at least 20 minutes.

First Japanese cheesecake made:

 

[SNPiccolo5]

If it is an actual souffle, then I think it _should_ fall. Most souffle's I've made fall, and that's why lots of restaurants will rush them out to you so that you can see it before it falls. Do you know if it should fall? Either way, it looks DELICIOUS!!!

-Tim

 

[txoldshirley]

I'd eat that, it looks great.

 

[kfarrell]

If it is an actual souffle, then I think it _should_ fall.
-Tim

Yeah I agree, it looks fine. It looks to me like it should fall, and you should add goodies to the top of it.

Try this, lay strawberry jam, then lay Whipped Cream with a dash of Vanila Extract, then spinkle with halved strawberries.

Then go outrageous and melt some milk chocolate, and pour over the top with a spoon in straight lines, so you get a criss cross pattern. mmmmmm

 

[texasgirl]

If it taste good, who cares!! LOL
I'm with kfarrel, fill the center with something. I would put fruit pie filling myself.
I love cheesecake, no matter what it looks like. How did it taste??

 

[amber]

I've never made a souffle before, so I dont know if it's suppose to fall or not. I think with cheesecake your suppose to turn off the oven before it is done and let the cake come down in temperature(and finish cooking) so that when you take it out of the oven, the cool air does not make it sink (fall).

 

[Big Al]

Over whisking your whites and/or the sugar in the whites has not been disolved completely can cause souffles and other egg white based desserts to collapse. Make sure you egg white with added sugar is not grainy when you rub the meringue between your fingers. And DONT take the meringue past soft - medium peaks.

 

[fawn]

thanks for all the replies.

I'm not sure if i'v beaten my eggwhite correctly. Though i think i've beaten it at a soft peak

The first japense cheesecake i made also calls for folding the beaten eggwhites, how come that cake didn't fall?

 

[SNPiccolo5]

It took a little bit for me to get the egg white thing until I saw it on Food TV. When you remove a wisk or spoon from the beaten whites, the peak it leaves after removing it falls softly (bends over a little), then it's soft. If it stays up, then it's stiff; same idea as whipped cream.

Did you fold a lot with this recipe? There's a gentle balance between folding just enough and over-folding. Also, usually, I don't find egg whites in the bottom of my bowl after beating them. I add the sugar in the middle of beating the egg whites; this allows the egg whites to absorb the sugar without losing volume (like would happen if you added it immediately), but allows enough time for the egg whites to be beaten with the sugar so that the sugar dissolves (it would be grainy, like Big Al mentioned).

Good luck, and let us know if you fix it!

-Tim

 

[fawn]

thanks, i may have underfold the batter.

and the whipped whites bends a little when the whisks were lifted. I may have underbeaten it.. i added sugar gradually , by the time i was finished adding the sugar, i immediately stop the whipping because i'm afraid of overbeating the eggwhites

 

[mish]

thanks, i may have underfold the batter.

and the whipped whites bends a little when the whisks were lifted. I may have underbeaten it.. i added sugar gradually , by the time i was finished adding the sugar, i immediately stop the whipping because i'm afraid of overbeating the eggwhites

Noticed from your pics, the bottom appears denser - or is it my eyes? Will try to troubleshoot. The batter should be incorporated, nothing should be left at the bottom of the bowl, and the whites should form peaks (according to the two recipes I looked at below & from souffles that I have made) - rather than foamy.

For the bain marie - did you use boiling wate, rather than warm water? Noticed the two recipes call for whole milk - rather than 2% - that may make a difference. It should be a little wiggly/custardy-like (from my experience). Also, incorprate the mixtures gently - I think the reason being you don't want to burst the air bubbles.

Mine has puffed up in a dome (mushroom like), and fallen a wee bit, but not by much. Noticed you said you lowered the temp & inserted a toothpick. Just my opinion, I would keep it at a consistent temp (unless the recipe calls for lowering temp), & no toothpick. Another thought - was the oven preheated?

There are some good tips in both the recipe links - one having to do with the gas vent when cooking with a bain marie. Make sure no yolks get into the whites - it inhibits the rising. Beaters and bowls should be clean. I bring my eggs to room temp - the whites seems to form peaks more easily. Never used cream of tarter - the whites, apparently, were stiff enough. Taking a guess, was the pan large enough to let the souffle expand? The sunken part, makes me wonder after it rose, did it then collapse into itself. Take a look at the two links below, there are some good tips humidity etc. Hope that helps.

http://www.kyokoskitchen.com/recipes/recipe.php?filename=soufflecheesecake

http://starbulletin.com/2004/04/14/features/request.html

For Beating the Whites:

http://www.baking911.com/howto/egg_whites_beat.htm

This recipe is a little different - not a souffle. I noticed the bain marie water is warm, but it calls for cake flour -- more like a cake, than souffle, IMHO:

http://home.earthlink.net/~sugoodsweets/blog/2005/02/east-meets-west-green-tea-cheesecake.html

Don't give up. Give it another go. To me, a souffle is worth the effort. THE Ultimate dessert

 

[fawn]

mish I use a steam method. I place a pan of cold water on the lowest rack while i preheat the oven. And by the time i place the cakes, i add boiling water into the pan I didn't insert a toothpick to check if its done. i just estimated 1 hr 15min of baking time since its the time used by the poster of the recipe The cake rose at 30min, and more at 45min, then decreased in sized after 45min until the end of the baking time.. it stayed decreased in size. I let it cool in oven door slightly open, then i took a peek after a few min and was suprpised to see the sunken cake Thanks for the links, i'll have a look on those!

 

[Chef_Jimmy]

a souffle made correctly should NOT fall

 

[southerncooker]

How did it taste? It looks good to me. I also though souffles are supposed to fall in the middle.

 

[txoldshirley]

I've never made a souffle. Was wondering if humidity is a factor as I live in a very humid climate. Also, is the type of cheesecake pictured considered a souffle? I was a little confused here.
I'd like to try to make something like the dessert pictured.

 

[fawn]

southerncooker, it has a fluffy top, while the bottom is more custardy/eggy. Didnt' taste like the regular cheesecake.

Why don't you give it a try

 

[Banana Brain]

Beautiful.

 

[rdcast]

WOW!!! japanese cheesecake souffle. Sounds difficult to do. The cross-section of the slice looks more dense at the lower half. Did you whip that portion more vigorously than the top half ?

 

[FryBoy]

The bottom looks undercooked to me, perhaps too cool of an oven -- check it with a good thermometer. However, all cheesecakes I've ever made do collapse in the center -- it's normal.

Problem could also be the egg whites not being fully beaten. But 8 to 10 minutes for soft peaks, especially with cream of tarter added, sounds excessive. By then, the peaks should be very stiff. But you say they aren't all being whipped, that some of the whites remain in the bottom of the bowl. That's just WRONG!

Are you using a Kitchenaid mixer? They look nice and are very trendy, but in my opinion, they're highly overrated, precisely for the reason you mention: the beaters don't come close to the bottom of the bowl, leaving large amounts of unbeaten ingredients. I sold mine on eBay and bought a Sunbeam Mixmaster, an updated version of my mother's stand mixer -- problem solved.

 

[rdcast]

Once I baked souffles in a muffin pan and they rose real high and beautiful like. But because the suggested baking time had not yet been met, I left them in. The next time I went to check they had all fallen looking just like yours ! ew. I mixed the filling in two batches. The bottom layer was with raspberry extract and the top layer with cocoa. They were ugly as sin but very tasty. I think by over baking them caused the resulting collapse, not sure. Also, the first layer was mixed in a blender and the second by hand and the cross-section looked just like yours with the bottom being more dense than the top.