Greetings!

I have been happily and successfully baking with Rose’s books since my teen years but I am posting in this forum for the first time. I humbly apologize if the call to join a community as prompted by need for advice is in poor form.

I am in love with the taste and texture of the Cordon Rose cheesecake, but have had the same problem with the water bath all three times I’ve baked it. Although I use two layers of heavy-duty foil between the springform pan and water bath, I end up with water in the bottom of the cheesecake - enough to cause the bottom of the “cake” to be soft and mushy. Much of the water drains when I unmold the cheesecake, but by that time, the damage is done. I’ve rolled this over in my mind without resolution.
I use a pan for the bath that is lower than the cake pan. I keep the water level below batter level. I use very hot tap water for the bath. I also drain any water from the sour cream before adding it to the batter. By the way—is “batter” the correct word for this mixture?

I thought that perhaps the water was evaporating, then condensing into the cake, but that doesn’t seem entirely logical to me. My most recent thought was that the “dull” side of aluminum foil is more liquid permeable than the “shiny” side (I’ve been using the foil “shiny-side-in,” mostly out of irrational habit), an idea that also does not strike me as reasonable.

It would be great if I could see this issue resolved. It’s a top-notch recipe that I’d like to be able to use repeatedly.

Best regards,

Adam

Rose recommends using a silicon pan instead of foil to line to the pans now. You can pick one up for 6 or 7 bucks on Ebay—free shipping.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lekue-9-Silicone-Cake-Pan-Layer-Baking-Cook-Blue-NEW-/350407844725

Adam, I have two suggestions. 

First suggestion:  Throw away your springform pans and buy Magic Line removable bottom cake pans.

http://cooksdream.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=BE

Two reasons for this suggestion:

1.  There will be no ‘buckle’ to tear your aluminum foil wrap.
2.  It is so much easier to ‘unmold’ your cheesecake with one of these pans than from a springform pan.

Second suggestion:  Go to your grocery store and buy some crock pot liners.  They come 3 to a box.  When you are ready to bake your next cheesecake, lay the empty pan inside an open bag and cut away enough of the bag to come up the sides of your cake pan, but not sticking over the top.  Then wrap your pan in a double layer of foil as well to hold the bag in place.  I have never had a leak issue using this method. 

And yes, I did throw away all my springform pans and bought several sizes of the removable bottom cake pans.  And I only use these same pans for baking layer cakes as well, they come in various heights, and there is never a problem getting the cake out of the pan.  They come square, round and rectangular, I have many of them in various heights and sizes.

Oh, one more thing. I highly recommend AGAINST the Fat Daddio pans.  They do not have perfectly square corners like the Magic Line ones do, and also, the Fat Daddio pans I bought, the bottoms bulged up a little, and I had leakage, not fun or pretty.  I returned them promptly and only buy Magic Line pans now.

Adam - 01 November 2010 01:07 PM

Although I use two layers of heavy-duty foil between the springform pan and water bath, I end up with water in the bottom of the cheesecake - enough to cause the bottom of the “cake” to be soft and mushy.  My most recent thought was that the “dull” side of aluminum foil is more liquid permeable than the “shiny” side

Neither side of the foil will be liquid permeable.  I bought the extra wide foil for this purpose; when I relied on two layers of the narrower foil to protect the cake, it wasn’t very effective.

Hi Adam, I don’t think anyone here worries too much about form, so you shouldn’t either!  Don’t give up on the foil…just go for the Reynold’s, extra-wide, heavy duty…and use 3 layers, not two.  I’ve found that to do the trick.  I also cut it way bigger than I need to and then crumple up the extra and kind of roll it outward, which provides another “lip” so water won’t somehow get in.  Good luck, and that’s cool that you’ve been baking from Rose’s books since you were a teenager!

Thank you so much MrsM for the fantastic link - that supplier has the best line of pans! I will be covetting the whole line!