I made my first NewY ork Style Cheesecakes over the holidays (4 actually) .... They all turned out wonderful and were DELICIOUS ! The only problem i've had is that around the outside of my cheesecakes it gets kind of burned ? The top is fine its just around the outside . I am using a spring form pan and they come out nice and clean but noone wants to eat the outside because it looks really dark , is tough and tastes all burned . I tried baking them in another pan full of water but still burned . I followed the directions on the recipe I had and even tried turning the oven down and baking for a shorter time . Any tips , tricks or pointers ?

pam, keeps it from burning.

k

I've used PAM to keep them from sticking and I tried butter . Still no good .

coming from a cook here, greasing a pan will not keep it from burning, that keeps it from STICKING. most cheesecakes have this problem for beginners. it's an easy fix, your cooking too hot, too long. new york style should almost look like a liquid in the center and a very light tan around the edge. it will harden up to the right texture as it cools. your cooking it till it looks done in the center which is way to long......

hm, have you tried pam/butter, then coating the pan in flour?

azrae1l your probably right . I was cooking it until the center felt firm . The recipe I was following says to cook at 500 for 18 minutes and then for an hour at 200 . My oven must cook really hot because the first one I made following the cooking time exaclty ended up cracking all over . So I shortened the time and temperature and now its just the outside rim i'm having a problem with ...... maybe if I put the crust all the way up the outside ??

no, just cut the time down. when i cooked cheesecakes all the time i (don't remember exactly how long) 350 for about 30 minutes then cooled in room tempeture for about 2 hours. they'll keep cooking after you take them out fromt he heat trapped in them for a while longer. watch your edges as your cooking, when it looks like it's barely starting to brown around the outside pull them and let them cool.

you don't need to change anything else.

I have seen people wrap a collar of aluminum foil around the top of the pan too, don't know if that would help. But it does sound like lowering the oven temperature would be key here, 500 to start out, sounds really high. I have heard of some recipes cooking them for awhile in the oven and then turning the oven off and cracking the door and leaving them in the oven and allowing the left over heat in the oven to cook them also. Good information though.

best way is in water like you said, but to prevent burning when you think it is done cover outside with a leaf of lettuce and cook till fully done.

Lower oven temperature to 250 degrees F. Place cheesecake into a preheated water bath, in the oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and open the door for one minute. Close the door for one more hour. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and place in the refrigerator for 6 hours to completely cool before serving.

i had that problem too once... my oven was off by 50 degrees..<too high> yea ill never forget the burnt lasagna dinner i made for guests geesh!!!!! took a few times of burning things to adjust the temp right....was a home i bought and a old oven... hence i got a new one shortly after i figured out how to adjust it

i recall it doing it to a lovely homeade carrot cake i baked too!!! outside was fabulous!!! inside was still raw batter! was worse on baking than cooking too...

You can also clean your oven really well and get a thermometer for inside the oven. Then you can trust the thermometer instead of the dial.

Thanks everyone ..... I revised the cooking time and oven temperature and found something that works . I also totally changed the recipe I found intially and came up with something totally delicious .

Brandy's New York Style Cheesecake

Crust
1 Cup Grahm Cracker Crumbs (About 1 1/2 packages)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 Tablespoons butter

Filling
3 Packages Cream Cheese
1 Cup Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Tablespoon All-Purpose Flour
4 Eggs
2 Egg Yolks
1/2 Cup Sour Cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees .

Spray the bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan w/PAM . In a mixing bowl, combine grahm cracker crumbs, butter and sugar . Mix well . Press into bottom of spring form pan and bake until golden (10 minutes). Set aside and let the crust cool completely .

Increase oven temp to 400 degrees .
In a large mixing bowl combine cream cheese , sugar , vanilla and sour cream with an electric mixer beat until light and creamy . Add the flour , then the eggs and yolks one at a time . Mix until smooth . (Be careful not to over mix.)
Butter the sides of pan and pour mixture over crust . Shake cake to smooth out and get out air bubbles . Bake for 10 minutes on 400 degrees . Reduce the oven temp to 200 degrees and bake for an aditional 45 minutes . Remove cake from oven and allow to cool completely . Refrigerate cake for atleast 5 hours (Overnight if possible) before serving .

Serve with topping of choice .
(Strawberry sauce , blueberry pie filling , pineapples , cherry pie filling)

To prevent cracking you may wish to cook cheese cake in a water bath .

try baking them in a water bath