Cheesecake cracked

Why it cracks

The edges of a cheesecake set before the middle does. As the set portion cools it contracts, and if the centre is still soft the surface tears along the line of greatest stress — usually straight across the middle, sometimes around the edge.

Anything that makes the edges set faster than the centre makes cracking more likely: too hot an oven, no water bath, a dark metal tin, or a cheesecake baked until firm in the middle rather than taken out with a wobble.

Air beaten into the filling makes it worse. Air bubbles expand in the oven, lift the surface, and then collapse as it cools, which tears it.

If it has already cracked

• Soured cream topping. Mix soured cream with a little sugar and vanilla, spread it over while the cheesecake is still slightly warm, and return it to a low oven for ten minutes. This is the traditional fix and it looks deliberate.
• Fruit compote, curd or a caramel sauce poured over.
• Fresh fruit arranged over the top.
• Whipped cream piped around the crack, or over the whole surface.
• A dusting of cocoa or crushed biscuit.
• Serve it in slices from the kitchen and say nothing.

The tin, the base and the chill

The parts of a cheesecake this page has not otherwise covered, and each of them contributes to whether the top survives.

A springform tin

Effectively required — a cheesecake cannot be turned out. The join is also where a water bath leaks in, which is the usual reason people avoid one.

Waterproofing it

Two layers of wide, heavy-duty foil pressed up the outside, or the whole tin inside an oven bag. A single layer of standard foil tears on the tin edge and lets water through.

A light tin over a dark one

Dark metal absorbs more radiant heat, so the edges set faster than the middle — which is the mechanism behind cracking in the first place.

The biscuit base

Pressed firm and pre-baked briefly. An unbaked base goes soggy under a wet filling, and a loosely pressed one collapses when sliced.

The chill

Several hours at minimum, overnight preferably. A cheesecake is not finished when it leaves the oven — it firms substantially in the fridge, and cutting one warm gives a slumped slice whatever else you did right.

Cutting it

A hot dry knife, wiped between every cut. A cold knife drags the filling and tears the surface you just protected.

The method that avoids it

1. Bring the cream cheese, eggs and any soured cream to room temperature before starting.
2. Beat the cheese and sugar smooth first, on a low speed, until there are no lumps at all.
3. Add the eggs one at a time on the lowest setting, mixing only until each disappears.
4. Pour into the tin and tap it firmly on the worktop several times to release trapped air bubbles.
5. Bake at 150 to 160C in a water bath, or with a tray of hot water on the shelf below.
6. Take it out while the middle third still wobbles as a single mass, then cool it in the switched-off oven with the door ajar.
7. Run a thin knife around the edge as soon as it comes out, so it can shrink without gripping the tin.

Common questions