To Bake or Not to Bake: Differences Between the Two Cheesecake Preparations
Consider the bitter cons and sweet pros of each style
Cheesecake: The cake you can exclaim “cheeeeese” to on your special day — without things getting cheesy. Loud and proud, others are sure to join in. Yet for every other calendar day or special occasion, the treat makes just about any sweet tooth smile and dance.
You’re probably salivating at the thought of the delicious, decadent dessert. But you’ve also got some sticky questions. How should you go about preparing a cheesecake in the first place?
Oven versus fridge: Two schools of thought exist in the baking world on whether cheesecake should or should not be baked — a warranted worry with the current dairy prices.
While you may have a stronger preference for one style over the other, or a love for both, some aspects never change — and they’re the core components of every exquisite cheesecake.
Ingredient Differences Make a Difference
In the popular North American sense, a cheesecake starts with a toasty graham cracker crust or a beautiful, buttery biscuit base. The remaining 95% — or 80% for those who adore a thicker foundation — of the classic consists of a thick, creamy, and sweet cheese mixture.
The exact ingredients and measurements that go into the rich filling, however, differ between the two styles of preparation. Besides the obvious difference in cooking methods, baked cheesecakes always include eggs in the filling — hence the oven’s role.
With no heat involved, the no-bake variants need not require eggs. As recipes don’t need to call upon cracking eggs — are you a bowl or a counter cracker? — the resultant structure and density are decidedly dialled down compared to their oven-baked counterparts. A tasty side-by-side comparison would demonstrate this point.
In an egg nutshell — pardon the pun — proteins from both the yolk and the white help provide structure and stability to the bake. In the case of a baked New York-style cheesecake, where the rich density forms the main attraction, eggs aren’t preoccupied with a leavening job but a structural one.
This chemistry underpins the key textural difference between a baked and an unbaked cheesecake. While both are certainly creamy and tasty in their own right, the latter will come out as fluffier and lighter with a mousse-like texture. Yet the former will have a firmer finish, reminiscent of a custard — thanks to the eggs and the heat.
Without any eggs in the picture of the no-bake types, the fridge rather works alone in setting the cheesecake. And since you can’t truly overbake in this way, not a whole lot can go wrong. And so, this reassurance makes the no-bake cheesecake much more forgiving — not only beginner-friendly but also hands-off.
Toward a Vegan-Friendly Dessert Without Baking
As an added bonus, the no-bake cheesecake route remains easy for novice bakers and vegan ones alike to follow. As eggs do not feature, you’re free to explore the alternative likes of tofu and cashews. Even dairy-free cream cheese works well in creating the filling. In essence, the product is made for this dessert.
Related: The 8 Best Vegan Cream Cheeses That Will Fool Even the Most Devout Dairy Lovers
Maybe you’re wondering how the no-bake cheesecake could possibly hold up without any eggs or cream cheese. In most situations, coconut oil is often employed for this purpose: As a binding agent, the oil helps tie together the rest of the ingredients, firming up in the fridge.
Because butter’s banned from these premises, a vegan cheesecake base — typically raw without the need for baking — would also call for coconut oil to help keep the crust from otherwise falling apart.
The Unbaked Version Comes with Benefits
On keeping things cool, a no-bake version makes terrific sense when your place already feels like an oven. On a hot summer’s day, you can turn to your trusty fridge for some baking magic — a luxury which did not appear at the time of the earliest version of the cheesecake.
If you’re also looking for a quick and easy dessert to bring over to a last-minute get-together, you don’t need to worry about turning on the oven, waiting for the appliance to preheat, and baking the item. You do not need to break a sweat.
And you’re free from pacing back and forth in front of the oven — that is, the anticipation of seismic shifts in the surface of your cheesecake, a concern for wide and deep crevices.
Similar to how “temperamental,” delicate, and technical soufflé bakes can be, baked cheesecakes challenge most with the chemistry of eggs at stake, plus the other variables of time, heat, and moisture.
At the end of the day, a no-bake cheesecake does away with most of those variables and respective anxieties. Sitting in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours, unbaked cheesecakes do not need much time to firm up.
Either way, to bake or not to bake, the delightful indulgence of cheesecake is undeniable. And many wonderful recipes, posted on websites or printed in cookbooks, make a case for each style.
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