The first time I made cheesecake, it was a pumpkin variety, with beautiful orange brown swirls skating over the perfectly smooth top. No cracks. I didn't even realize how incredible that was, but then I started reading recipes online, with a myriad of tips for preventing cracks, and I was astounded at my luck. Reading these tips cursed me. Every time I have made cheesecake since then, it has cracked. Sometimes I use the tips, sometimes I don't. Last fall I made the pumpkin cheesecake for Chad's co-workers, and I was so anxious about it's appearance, I tried every tip in the book (water bath, don't overmix, don't open the oven door while cooking, etc), and it when it was done it was split in about a dozen directions. I swear the vainer I get about my cheesecake, the deeper the cracks.
A couple of nights ago I made a new recipe from allrecipes.com that has an incredible reviews. I tried to ignore the tips given by all the reviewers, and instead followed the only one given my the original author. She said that after you bake it for an hour, turn the oven off and then leave it in the oven for 5-6 hours. Then refrigerate it. This allows it to cool slowly.
Did my cheesecake crack? Yes, it did. Only once though. I was making it for Enrichment, and the request was for all-white desserts because it was about the temple (isn't that such a Relief Societyish request?). I wanted to liven it up a little (I usually like toppings on cheesecake) but I didn't want to desecrate it's purity, so I came up with something white that also conveniently covered my crack (in the cheesecake). I took a Lindt, white chocolate with coconut bar, and used a potato peeler to shave the chocolate over the top. I was quite impressed with the effect.
Oh, and it tasted wonderful too! Here are my cousin-Olivia-like pictures of it, although I am not nearly as talented as she it.
And now you all know way more about my cheesecake making than you ever cared to.
