I used to use loose-bottomed pans for cooking cheesecakes but these are not suitable for use in a water bath. They seem to work at first but in the end they always let water in.
So how to get a cheesecake out of a solid-bottomed pan in one piece? I tried carefully lining it with greaseproof paper, but this was a bit of a faff and still required some or all of the below to get it out.
My favoured method is to very carefully hold the pan under a stream of hot water, hitting the side and the bottom of the pan [but obviously not going over the top into the cheesecake]. This is straightforward enough with a 20x10cm pan as you have plenty of depth to hold on to. As it happens, deeper pans work better in a water bath as they are less likely to be overtopped.
Method:
- Ensure your cheesecake is thoroughly chilled
- Run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake to separate it from the pan.
- Hold the side of the pan under hot running water. Rotate the pan and make sure each “side” is covered.
- Put a plate [your “top plate”] over the top of the pan and invert the pan and plate in one smooth movement [if you are lucky, the cake will fall out on to the plate at this point].
- Slap the base of the pan a few times, drop the plate and pan together from a small height, etc. If that’s not enough to persuade it out, you may need to point a hairdryer/heat gun at the base of the pan to melt it out.
- Once out, place your serving plate on the base of the now-exposed cheesecake and invert again. You may need to insert a knife to break the vacuum between the cheesecake and the top plate.
If your pan is not deep enough, you may struggle to hold on to it under a stream of water.
If the cheesecake is not sufficiently chilled, it will not come out in one piece.