Cheesecake for Dummies

• Various styles of cheesecake are found in dairy-producing regions around the world. Older recipes are often savory, intended to provide a hearty and protein-rich meal when meat was unavailable or on religious fast days. In America, however, cheesecakes are almost always prepared as a dessert. Some no-bake versions are set with gelatin, but most are baked in a springform pan. New York-style cheesecakes use cream cheese as their base, while Italian-style cheesecakes use ricotta. Both are made in much the same way.

Soft but Firm

• Baked cheesecake is made by thickening the sweetened cheese mixture with eggs. The eggs' proteins disperse throughout the filling as it's mixed, mingling with the cheese, cream, sugar and other ingredients. When the filling is heated, the proteins in the eggs become firm, as they would in a frying pan. Because they're spread throughout the other ingredients, the chains of egg protein form a fine mesh that "sets" the cheesecake to its characteristically soft but firm texture by immobilizing the other ingredients.

Not Too Hot

• Red velvet cheesecake is a form of custard, and like any other custard, it's sensitive to the effects of heat. If the eggs in your cheesecake reach temperatures above the boiling point, they'll begin to shrink and contract. That can make your cheesecake crack, and in extreme cases you'll be left with an uneven mess of cooked eggs and watery cheese. Baking your cheesecake in a water bath limits it to a safe temperature, because the water can't reach a temperature above the boiling point and its surface will be cooled slightly by evaporation.

Bath Basics

• Most springform pans won't reliably keep the water out of your cheesecake, so wrap the pan carefully in a single large sheet of heavy-duty foil. This protects against leakage. Press your crust into the pan, then pour in the prepared filling. Set your springform pan into the middle of a larger pan or baking dish, and place it on the middle rack of your preheated oven. Taking care not to splash onto the cheesecake, pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Close the oven and bake your cheesecake until the edges are set but the middle is still slightly jiggly. It will finish setting as it cools.