Intro and question

[imshasta]

Hey all! So glad I found this website... I love cooking (when I have the time, that is! LOL)

Anyway, I have a recipe for an awesome cheesecake and my problem is it calls for a 8" springform pan... I have a 9" and I can't get the cooking time right. If I cook it for the same amount of time as the 8", it's overdone. Any ideas??? (I've listed the cooking directions below)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Spray the springform pan with nonstick vegetable oil cooking spray. Set aside. In a shallow roasting pan big enough to fit the cake pan, pour about 1-inch of water and place it on the center rack of the oven to preheat.
Pour batter into the greased springform pan. Place pan into the heated water bath. Bake for 15 minutes, and then lower the oven temperature to 275 degrees F. Continue baking for 1 1/2 hours, or until top is light golden brown and cake is pulling away from the sides of the pan. Turn the oven off when finished cooking and leave the cake in the oven to cool for 3 more hours. (This will keep the cake nice and tall.) Then remove cake and refrigerate before serving. Serve chilled.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Andy M.]

Hi, Shasta, welcome aboard.

The simple answer is to cook it less.

Specifically, cook it until the cake is firm when you jiggle the pan. It should be firm almost everywhere EXCEPT the very center of the cake-maybe a 2"-3" circle in the center. Then shut off the oven and allow it to cool in the oven for an hour and remove it to a cooling rack and let it cool to room temp. before refrigerating. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

You're going to have to watch as it cooks and note the cooking time when it reaches the point I described above. Then change the recipe to that cooking time.

Of course, another alternative is to buy a smaller pan, but you already now that.

 

[bandonjan]

Andy's advice is good, one thing I would add is to run a thin
knife around the edges about 20 minutes after it is done so
when it cools it doesn't stick to the sides and crack. I even
do this with non-stick, probably out of habit.

 

[shpj4]

Hello Shasta and welcome to DC. As for the difference in the size of the pans just cook it a little less like Andy M. pointed out.

 

[JoAnn L.]

Welcome Shasta. I know you will have a good time here. The members are the best anywhere.

 

[imshasta]

Thanks all for the warm welcome and the advice

Of course I knew I'd need to cook it less ... I guess I was just looking for an easy answer.... you know like "oh yeah... cook it for X minutes less" or some such. Just being lazy I guess ..oh well, I'll just have to watch it next time I cook one. And btw... thanks Andy so much for the tip about the center of the cheesecake being jiggly. I never knew that.