I have a fabulous recipe that I used to make years ago. My daughter just bragged to her fiance that I made the best cheesecake, so I made one for Christmas. I had to throw it out - just awful. The "cheesy" layer is supposed to be smooth as silk, but it was curdled or grainy. That happened a couple of times before, but mostly turned out perfectly. I always chalked up the failure to the kind of lemon juice I used. I HATE to have baking failures! Any thoughts?
Jennifer: if you send me your recipe at susan.reid@kingarthurflour.com I can take a look at it for you. Curdling is usually a sign of the cake being overbaked; are you using a different oven then you used to? Does it have an independent thermometer? If the temperature in it swings a lot it might be overcooking it at the high end of the range. Is the pan darker, or not in a water bath? If I can see what your recipe is saying I can give you a better "guesstimate". Susan
December 30, 2008 at 1:22pm