Take Your Cheesecake's Temperature To Ensure It's Cooked Through

With so many cheesecake options, who can choose just one favorite? From La Viña Basque varieties to tiramisu cheesecake and the classic New York style to other types, such as ricotta cheesecake, it's a dessert loved by many all over the world. Truly, all over the world. Cheesecake has been around for thousands of years, per Jonathan Lord Cheesecake. The earliest recording of a cheesecake was in ancient Greece, credited to the physician Aegimus. Later, other Europeans discovered the rich dessert, and over time, as they settled in America, cheesecake came with them. It was in the 1930s that cream cheese replaced cheeses that were used in the earlier cakes (curd cheese), and the New York style cheesecake, which you may be most familiar with, was born.

Cheesecake is one of those recipes that can be a bit intimidating at first if you haven't baked one before. They can be a bit finicky — and after all of your hard work, you certainly want the cheesecake to turn out lovely. You can do it. Just follow some helpful hints. It's wise to bring all of your cheesecake ingredients to room temperature before you begin, to avoid lumps, and also mix your ingredients at a low speed for a creamy, smooth texture. Once you've whipped everything up and poured the batter into your springform pan, it's time to bake. Now comes the most stressful part. How do you know when the cheesecake is done?

No matter what your recipe reads as far as temperature and timing, it is always tough to know when the cheesecake is truly cooked all the way through. If you take it out too soon, you'll have a middle that is raw and caved in. If you leave it too long, you'll get an overdone, dried-out cheesecake. What makes it extra difficult is that baking a cheesecake isn't like baking other cakes. A cheesecake doesn't become stiff and firm or bounce back like cake would when you touch it. The middle of a cheesecake looks jiggly, even when the baking time is up. What is a cheesecake baker to do? One of the best tips you need to know when baking cheesecake is to check the temperature to see if it's done.

Pastry Logic explains that when it's time to see if your cheesecake is done, one of the best tests is the temperature test. Your cheesecake should be at from 150 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit when it's thoroughly cooked. Place a cooking thermometer through the center of the cheesecake, about halfway through. As long as the temperature is in the correct range, it should be done. The cheesecake will still look jiggly in the middle, but as long as it isn't rippling like it's liquid, your cheesecake is good to go.