Well, what can I say. I am totally unimpressed with the cheesecake. I thought it was overly fluffy, kinda dry and just missing a zip of some kind. It needed a fruity topping or something to make it sing. The crust was the other half of the pate brisee recipe from the chocolate tart, but it didn't live up to it's first half. Just dry and brittle.
Now believe me, there is a VERY high probability that I totally screwed it up and all of these flaws are completely my fault. In fact, I would probably bet on it. And I have a few ideas of where things went wrong...
First...
I don't ever really bake so I'm not sure when the egg whites have reached the point where they "hold stiff peaks". I dumped them into the mixer, cranked it up, and let it go for a while. They may possibly have been overwhipped. Could that be the cause of the "over-fluffyness"?
Second...
the crust directions were kind of vague. "Press into the bottom and a little bit up the sides". I pressed it about 2 inches up the sides because there was enough dough to do so. When it pre-baked, it shrank a little away from the sides, which is pretty normal. But when the batter was ready, I poured it in to the top of the crust and still had half the batter left. I think I was supposed to fill the springform pan to the top, but it would have started overflowing over the edge of the pre-baked crust, into the space between it and the edge of the springform pan. Then what? When I unmold it, wouldn't there be a small layer of cheesecake, then crust then the rest of the cheesecake? Wouldn't that be weird? So, I stopped half-way then threw together a quick graham cracker crust for the other half.
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| half the batter left! WTF!! |
Finally, the directions were to bake at 325F for 1 hour. Then turn off the oven and let it sit in the oven for an additional 1 hour. I followed these directions for the first version with the pate brisee crust in the springform pan. But the second, emergency version went into the oven about 20 minutes later. So, it only cooked 40 minutes, then sat in the oven for the requisite hour rest period.
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| finished cheesecake. doesn't look to bad, right? |
This second one turned out much less dry and had a bit more life to it. So, I obviously overcooked the first one. And, this probably wouldn't have happened if I had used the entire batch of filling for it. So, did I screw up the crust? Or should I have just poured it all in, damn the weird consequences? Or was that the intended result and it wouldn't actually have been weird?
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| time to try some! |
Who knows... and I don't intend to try and find out :) Call this one a fail and move on. I have Romain Hearts with Caesar Salad Dressing to make. YUM!
If you make a dessert and your husband enjoys eating it, is it really a failure? Not in my opinion :)
ReplyDeleteVery true! You were lucky and got a slice of the good one :) I just have high expectations.
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