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I was thinking about doing something a little different with the cheesecake filling, and thought you would be a good one to ask about this.

If I were to place a thin layer ( lets say 1/2" thick )of a cheese cake filling on top of a graham cracker crust. How long would it take to bake and at what temperature should I bake it at ?

Gary:

It sounds like the depth of the filling would be pretty equivalent to what you would have in a cream cheese dessert or a mini cheesecake. You could probably bake it at 325-350 degrees but I would start to check it at around 15 minutes to see if it is done and then increase by a few minutes until it appears to be done.

Please contact me again to let me know how it turns out with less batter and maybe you could submit the recipe for others to try.

I really suggest that you urge caution when advising to leave eggs in particular out to reach room temperature. Also warming them in water has the same effect as leaving them out to let themwarm.

As I stated before eggs develop bacteria once they reach a certain temperature. All foods do but with most foods cooking them fully to the proper temps. kills that bacteria. That is why Poultry is cooked past 165* or until the juices run clear.

Eggs have a higher chance of that bacteria growing and seldom get cooked over the recommended temperatures. So in order to reduce that threat, eggs must be kept cold until using them in a recipe.

As for the cream cheese, it is safer to allow it to warm. I will continue to use my eggs from the Refrigerator and deal with any problems it may cause.

Please do not trust me and check this out yourself a call to your local health Dept. should explain what they suggest for the proper handling of egg products.

Gary:

Thank you for your comments. I definitely don't want anyone to become sick from doing anything unsafe. I usually don't leave the eggs out for more than 10-15 minutes.

I would caution anyone to not leave eggs out for longer than 30 minutes. The eggs are not as much of an issue to blend into the batter as the cream cheese so I urge you not to leave the eggs out if it is a concern for you. I also hope others contact me if they have any more input for this topic.

According to www.eggsafety.org: How should eggs be refrigerated?

Refrigerate raw shell eggs in their cartons on the middle or lower inside shelf, not on the door, and away from any meat that might drip juices or any raw produce that might contact eggshells. Cover or wrap well any egg mixtures or leftover cooked egg dishes. For all perishable foods, including eggs and egg containing dishes, allow no more than 2 hours at room temperature for preparation and serving, 30 minutes to 1 hour when it's 85°F or hotter without refrigeration.

I was happy to have you contact me again and I appreciate any suggestions and comments that anyone may have for me and want to submit on my contact me page.

Hi, I was wondering how I could get thecheesecake recipe that has Reese Peanut butter Cups all around the Cheesecake? I make Cheesecakes for friends and family and I'd love to make this one for them. Thanks and have a Blessed Day.

Kathryn:

That picture is just to show a way to decorate a cheesecake. A good recipe that you could decorate that way is the Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake I recently made that recipe and I decorated it with chunks of peanut butter cups surrounded by whipped topping. That is one option.

You could also make the cake and just drizzle with melted chocolate as well as putting melted chocolate around the edges and pressing halved peanut butter cups into the melted chocolate like in the picture you are referring to.

You could use almost any recipe you would like and decorate with the peanut butter cups and melted chocolate. If you really like chocolate, an idea might be to make a chocolate cheesecake and decorate as shown in the picture with the peanut butter cups.

The great thing about cheesecakes is that you have many options on how to make and decorate them. I try different things depending on what my mood is at the time.

Thank you for taking the time to contact me and I hope to hear back from you to let me know how your cheesecake turned out.

I really love your site and only wish, that it would cover other areas of baking. Although I know staying within an area that you know best makes your site different from all the rest, and branching out into other areas may not be practical for you.

Oh I almost forgot do all spring form pans leak ? I have Wilton spring form pans and wrapping them in foil sounds like a good idea I'll try that.

Also you recommend that eggs and cheese be at room temperature. I know from our health dept. in Florida they do not allow egg and cheese products to sit at room temps at all because of bacteria forming. How can we allow eggs to sit out when bacteria forms if we do ? In Florida some Counties have to post warnings on the menus stating that bacteria may form in any egg products that are not fully cooked.

Gary:

Thank You for getting back to me. As for the spring form pans leaking, I have noticed a bit of leaking most times that I bake.I have one pan that I have used for years and I don't remember where I got it. I also have a pan from Pampered Chef. Both leak a slight amount. That is one reason I always put them on a cookie sheet before placing in the oven.

As for the ingredients at room temperature. I just make them in my own home and not to sell. The reason to have the ingredients is for easier blending.

Usually about 30 minutes at room temperature will soften the cheese enough to blend well. For eggs, I have read that they can be at room temperature for up to 2 hours with no problem but I never leave them out for that long. In fact, one tip I read about many years ago and usually follow is to place the eggs in a bowl of room temperature water for 10-15 minutes before blending into the batter. I have not had any problems doing that. I also recently did that with cream cheese that I forgot to soften. I placed the cream cheese in room temperature water (still wrapped in the foil) for a few minutes and it was soft enough to blend without any difficulty.

I hope I have answered all of your questions and good luck with your next cheesecake. I would be happy to have you contact me again with any questions you may have.

Let me know how your next cheesecake turns out!

The recipe was not one on your site, but I remember it.

8 oz. cream cheese

3/4 cup of sugar

2 eggs large

2 egg yolks

4 oz. cream cheese

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp lemon juice

zest of one lemon

Cream the cream cheese until smooth and fluffy then add sugar and mix well scraping down bowl. Add 2 eggs and mix well, add 2 egg yolks mix well, scraping down bowl between eggs. Add sour cream and blend well, then add lemon zest, lemon,and vanilla and mix well scraping down bowl.

Pour mix over prepared shell in a 8" spring form pan. Place in water bath 11/2" deep in a preheated 350 * oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until edges of cake have a light brown color. Remove from oven and cool completely on wire rack.

As I look over this recipe I see a few things wrong already. First are the eggs, this seems like to many for this size cake, plus when I took it out of the oven the crust was really wet actually gooey at one point. It did dry out as it sat but I don't think it should have came out of the oven wet like that. Also I was expecting a thicker cake. This cake was only about 11/4' thick so there was not enough mixture.

After writing this to you I think I have figured out what happened. First the egg content was to much, I think it was a mistake in math the egg amount was probably for a full recipe and was written down wrong. Then when baking in the water the crust got wet somehow as it baked. If the water seeped into the mix that darn sure didn't help the flavor very much.

I told you that I have have never made cheesecake before and I have no idea why I said that. I was a pastry chef for a number of years down here in Florida and baked cheese cakes about 2 times a week, 5 at a time for all those years. I guesswhat I meant was I have never ran across something like this problem before.

Which brings up another question why bake a cheesecake in a water bath? I do that when I bake custard cups, and I know why but what good is it to bake cheesecake in a bath? Just turn the temp. down.

Debbie thanks so much for your help and your web site is great. Do you think I have most of my problems with this recipe answered myself ? My next cheesecake will be from one of your recipes.

Gary:

I think you answered your questions on my contact me page. Too much egg and not enough cream cheese would definitely do that. I'm glad you figured it out and I hope you have better luck if you try some of the recipes on my site. Do you mind if I put your questions and answers on my site? The reason for a water bath is basically just to make sure there is more even heating of the cheesecake. Not all recipes call for a water bath. The one thing to keep in mind if you use one again is that the outside of spring form pan needs to be wrapped securely in aluminum foil to keep out the water before placing the pan in the pan filled with the water. I'll wait to hear back from you before posting your questions and answers. I think questions like this are helpful to others who might face the same problem so I hope to hear from you again when you get the chance to contact me.

I made my first cheese cake today and messed it up some way. The taste is letssay over the top. To much egg flavor mostly it even penetrated the crust. Iused a recipe that called for sour cream, because I understood it made thecheese cake crumbly. That didn't happen either. It also had me bake it in abath, and I think that was why the egg flavor was so strong. What happenedhere, cheesecake is easy to make yet this was really messed up. The only thingI can think to do is scrap that recipe. But I would like to know what happenedwith this. I can't believe someone would post a cake this bad.

Gary:

I read your question but I have a few questions. Was the recipe one that you found on my site? If it was, please contact me with which one it was and I will look at it. If you found it somewhere else, send the recipe to me and I will try to see where the problem came about. I appreciate you taking the time to contact me and I hope that I can be of some help to you after I hear back from you.

"I like your picture and your writing!

Good Luck!!"

Christa:

Thank You for submitting on my Contact Me form. I hope you check back regularly for new recipes and information. Please contact me again if you have any more comments or suggestions.

"Hi, nice site, found it from searching via Google! Please could you tell me how to make a chocolate toffee cheesecake?

Look forward to hearing from you!"

Ali:

Thank you for the compliment and the request on my contact me page. I have a recipe for a Chocolate Toffee Cheesecake Recipe on my Best Cheesecake Recipes page. Just click on the name above and it will take you to the page. This recipe was actually one of the first ones I ever tried and I have made it many times. It looks a bit complicated but if you take your time and follow the directions, you shouldn't have any problems. I would love to have you contact me again with any questions, comments or suggestions. Enjoy!


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