Thanks for the response JeanneCake! Sorry for the lack of details in my original post. This is a New York style cheesecake so yes, it is dense. This was my first time baking a cheesecake in my professional convection oven. Before this, I made cheesecakes in my conventional oven in a bain marie and had no problems. This was the first time I used the method with buttered paper on top and a pan of water on the bottom shelf rather than the bain marie. The texture and taste of the final product were fine. There are what I would consider small indentations making it look like the surface of the moon rather than the nicely flat cheesecake that I am accustomed to. My first guess is that perhaps there was too much air in the batter which escaped during cooking and rather than being able to escape the paper caused the air to create the defect in the surface. Thinking that I need to let batter sit in the pan for a few minutes to settle or tap the pan. OR - is it better to cover the pan rather than the surface of the cake as I need to do with my chocolate cake? I realize trial and error is a part of the game but would like to minimize the error side of the equation. I would appreciate your input. . .
