Vivi makes it easy
With this trick, cheesecake won’t collapse
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If the cheesecake collapses after baking, the frustration is great. Editor Vivi can help and reveals a trick from TV confectioner Christian Hümbs that will keep your cheesecake fluffy after baking.
Who doesn’t know it: the anxious minutes after you’ve taken the cheesecake out of the oven and you just hope that it doesn’t collapse completely. We’d better forget this horror show right away. So that this doesn’t happen, I’ll tell you a trick that the excellent pastry chef and TV confectioner Christian Hümbs gave me, with which you can make the cheesecake like grandma made it.
Cheesecake collapses: That could be the reason
Before I tell you the trick with which the cheesecake is guaranteed not to collapse, but to bake nice and high and stay on top, we have to prevent small mistakes from creeping in beforehand.
For your cheesecake, make sure you…
- Mix starch into the dough: Starch provides stability in the cheesecake batter. You can add them to the dough, for example, in the form of custard powder, cornstarch, flour or semolina.
- used the right curd: For a classic cheesecake, it is best to use low-fat quark. It has less fat than cream quark and therefore does not weigh down the dough as much.
- the ingredients thoroughly: Gently but thoroughly fold the ingredients into the batter, not mixing too vigorously. This gives the dough more volume and makes it nice and fluffy at the end and does not collapse.
- using the right baking pan: It’s best to use a metal springform pan and make sure it’s leakproof. I advise against silicone molds because the cheesecake is very difficult to get out of there.
- Grease the springform pan thoroughly: To prevent the dough from sticking to the mold after baking and causing unsightly cracks in the surface of the cheesecake, you should grease the springform pan thoroughly with oil, margarine or butter. To be on the safe side, line the entire pan with parchment paper.
- choose the right temperature: Cheesecake needs some time and, above all, even heat from all sides. It is best to bake cheesecake slowly at 150 degrees to 160 degrees. Temperatures above this are not recommended. Otherwise, the surface will darken quickly while the cheesecake will remain raw on the inside. Also uses top/bottom heat instead of forced air. Experience has shown that this ensures better baking results.
Tip from TV pastry chef Christian Hümbs: This is how cheesecake doesn’t collapse after baking
Cheesecake collapses as soon as the fluffy quark mass becomes too heavy. This often happens when the cheesecake is undercooked. TV pastry chef Christian Hümbs therefore recommended that I bake cheesecake in stages. He told me that above all, a good cheesecake needed rest and patience.
So proceed as follows:
- Prepare the cheesecake according to the recipe and put it in a springform pan.
- Place the cheesecake in the preheated oven at 160 degrees and bake for about 30 minutes.
- Take the cheesecake out of the oven for about 5 minutes and let it sink so that it can set. Then put it back in the hot oven and bake for another 10 minutes.
- Repeat this process three to four times until the cake has a nice baking color.
The Bake in stages ensures that the cake batter is really cooked through on the inside without burning the cheesecake on the outside. The technique is complex, but the result is worth it. Because finally you get a delicious and beautiful cheesecake! Be sure to try it. Here you will find many different recipes for Cheesecake in all kinds of variations.
Vivi’s top tip: Here’s how to save your cheesecake when it’s caved in
If your cheesecake collapses despite your best efforts, don’t panic! With a few visual embellishments, your cake can be saved. For example, you can fill the crater with some whipped cream and fresh fruit or fill it with pudding. Somewhat dark cheesecake can be quickly and easily covered with powdered sugar.