Account for Volume

• Review your cheesecake recipe ahead of time to find out it calls for a springform pan. If so, note that springform pans accommodate a larger volume of crust and batter than a regular pie dish, so you may not be able to fit the entire cheesecake recipe in one standard pie dish. Instead, split the cheesecake recipe between two pie dishes, or halve the recipe if you only need one small cheesecake.

Cooking Time

• As pie dishes are shallower than springform pans, your cheesecake will need less time to bake. Start checking the cake after 20 minutes in the oven, although it may take 30 minutes or longer to bake; you'll know the cheesecake is done when you gently shake the pan and the center barely jiggles. If the cheesecake's edges start to brown too early, protect them by gently covering the rim of the pie tin with an aluminum foil collar.

Slicing and Serving

• A springform pan's removable collar makes it easy to slice and plate a cheesecake for serving. To do the same from a pie dish, you can use a nonserrated knife and traditional cake server -- a wedge-shaped offset spatula -- to lift the slices out of the pan. Heat the knife first; dip it in hot water or run it under a hot tap, quickly wipe it dry and slice the cake in one direction rather than a sawing motion. Do this before each cut for best results.

Alternative Methods

• You can apply these same principles to baking a cheesecake in regular round, square or rectangular cake pans. A round cake pan holds about the same volume of cheesecake as a springform pan, but lifting individual slices out of it can be challenging. You also can make individual cheesecake servings in muffin or mini muffin tins. Line the tins with cupcake liners for hassle-free removal. These tiny cheesecakes cook in less time, so start checking them early, especially if they're mini muffin size.