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Cheesecakes "packages"


CurlySue

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Sue, you did a great job!!!  I love it!!  While the sides might not look exactly like Elegant Cheesecakes,  it is fabulous.  YOu have created your own signature style....Great job!

I agree completely, your version is beautiful, too!

Here's a suggestion for the future--take a cardboard box or piece of styrofoam the size and shape of your cake and make a paper template, folding a large piece of paper as if it were the fondant/choc plastic. Then you can see where the folds can be removed by cutting before you drape it, you can cut out the pattern and place it directly on the cake with no lumps! Better yet, if you make the same size cake all the time, you can reuse the template over and over by tracing it onto a piece of acetate, sheet vinyl (clear tablecloth material, etc) or some other reuseable material.

Yeah, if I did these a lot I think that would be one of the two things I would change. First, I would use chocolate plastic, not fondant. The fondant just seems too heavy for this, and as Wendy said... stretchy. Second, a template would definitely help because I'm guessing that EC does cut their plastic before they apply it (and they know how to do it like the back of their hand, no doubt!) to avoid "the bulge".

Every cake is a learning experience... even those I've done a million times. It's what keeps things interesting! Next comes building gumpaste beach furniture. :wacko:

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  • 1 year later...

I want to be able to make cheesecakes and give them as gifts (also I may soon be selling them *insert a little happy dance*. What is the best way to do this without also giving them my pan. I know that I can line the bottom with parchment so that it won't stick to the bottom of my springform, but I am terrified that moving it will cause the cake to break. Any hints???

Also - is there any really reliable way to tell that a cheesecake is cooked completely. The last time I took a cheesecake to a party, it was undercooked. Still tasted good, but it was a bit loose and gooey - the cut pieces looked like crap. Thanks, Kim

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What I do that works super well is to put one of those silver cake board in the spring form pan. Then you put your crust on top as usual, then filling, and bake the cheesecake. The cake board is fine after baking, you just have to cut it to size to fit properly in the pan, making sure you have a nice clean cut when you do so. As for telling if it's properly cooked, I can't help you there, other than to say that it's usually done when it doesn't look like it's done.. :blink:

... and I've had problems with sloppy looking pieces too. I still get great reviews on them and I can't stand cheesecake, so I'm not tasting it!! :raz:

Don't waste your time or time will waste you - Muse

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When I made cheesecakes as a caterer, I chilled the finished cake overnight, removed it from the springform, and placed it on a heavyweight pastry circle made of thick cardboard ... it never was a problem and I still had my pan ... for me, chilling it overnight was the key.

Melissa Goodman aka "Gifted Gourmet"

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It's actually very simple.

You freeze it. It will NOT hurt the cheesecake. I repeat. It will NOT hurt the cheesecake.

Then, if you've used a springform pan (I never do), you just run a warm knife around the inside to release the sides of the cake (or you can run the knife along the inside before you freeze it), and then gently warm the underside of the pan with a torch or set it on an oven burner for a second, and the bottom will release. The cheesecake will be hard enough that you can handle it with your hands. You could even throw it at the neighbors dog and it will still be ok. Put it on a cake circle that you have covered with foil, or even better, florist's polyfoil, or use commercially available gold scalloped cake circles.

You can even let it thaw for 20 minutes or so, and use a warm knife to create beautifully clean slices.

Freezing is a beautiful thing. Really. :wub:

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You freeze it. It will NOT hurt the cheesecake. I repeat. It will NOT hurt the cheesecake.

:biggrin:

I agree. But I do use a springform pan. I chill it in the cooler so that I can remove the outer ring, then freeze it. Lined with parchment, the bottom comes right off.

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So all that's left is my question of how to tell when it is really done biggrin.gif !

This is the best I can describe it.

When your cheesecake is done, the middle will still jiggle. But it won't be a liquidy jiggle. More like a unified "Jello jiggle". It won't jiggle in "waves".....it'll jiggle as one unit. If you bake it to the point where it stops jiggling altogether, when it cools it is very likely to crack. Overbaking is the number one cause of cracking.

Hope this helps.

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You freeze it. It will NOT hurt the cheesecake. I repeat. It will NOT hurt the cheesecake.

:biggrin:

I agree. But I do use a springform pan. I chill it in the cooler so that I can remove the outer ring, then freeze it. Lined with parchment, the bottom comes right off.

Also adding my agreement for lining pan and freezing. If I used a one piece 3" pan I lined with parchment circle and after cooling I freeze only for a couple of hours and then remove from pan and finish chilling overnight before cutting. If using a springform pan, I wrap the bottom in foil and spray with nonstick spray and after cooling, freeze for a couple of hours and then remove outside and firm cheesecake will lift right off the foil. And of course chill overnight before cutting. This way, I can reuse my pans for the next batch (was doing 2 batches of 4 each in just my home oven and had to reuse the pans.) The cheesecakes were placed on cardboard circles after removing from the pans and put into 10X4 cake boxes and either further refrigerated or frozen before cutting. Cheesecakes slice well when partly frozen or very, very chilled. I would run my tap water hot and have a clean towel ready and between each slice rinse the knife (long, thin, very sharp straight blade) and dry and make the next cut.

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You freeze it. It will NOT hurt the cheesecake. I repeat. It will NOT hurt the cheesecake.

:biggrin:

I agree. But I do use a springform pan. I chill it in the cooler so that I can remove the outer ring, then freeze it. Lined with parchment, the bottom comes right off.

Also adding my agreement for lining pan and freezing. If I used a one piece 3" pan I lined with parchment circle and after cooling I freeze only for a couple of hours and then remove from pan and finish chilling overnight before cutting. If using a springform pan, I wrap the bottom in foil and spray with nonstick spray and after cooling, freeze for a couple of hours and then remove outside and firm cheesecake will lift right off the foil. And of course chill overnight before cutting. This way, I can reuse my pans for the next batch (was doing 2 batches of 4 each in just my home oven and had to reuse the pans.) The cheesecakes were placed on cardboard circles after removing from the pans and put into 10X4 cake boxes and either further refrigerated or frozen before cutting. Cheesecakes slice well when partly frozen or very, very chilled. I would run my tap water hot and have a clean towel ready and between each slice rinse the knife (long, thin, very sharp straight blade) and dry and make the next cut.

shaloop, that is exactly how I sliced your gorgeous and crazy good Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake and the slices were beautiful. I took (and posted) a picture of the whole cake, but forgot to get a picture of a slice :rolleyes: !

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I freeze, then wrap.  Thaw, then top.

Wow. Really? Hm. That's precisely the opposite of everything I've ever learned (which, admittedly, is very little) about freezing, which has always insisted that one must wrap, wrap, and then wrap again before freezing, otherwise,... well, there's never been much explanation of the apparent "otherwise," only that it must be done.

But I'm feeling way vindicated right about now because I baked a ricotta cheesecake two days ago to experiment with freezing, and because I knew I'd wreck the top if I just wrapped it after it had cooled and had been sitting out for a few hours, I stuck it in the freezer for about 20 minutes praying I wasn't being ridiculously stupid.

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I always freeze cakes/tortes first, then wrap. But you have to be careful not to let them sit in the freezer unwrapped too long. As soon as they're frozen, onto cakeboards (if they're not already) and wrapped in plastic.

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If you have Baking Illustrated I think they list an internal temperature. I'll try to remember to look it up later for you unless someone else beats me to it.

Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Orison Swett Marden

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