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Baking a Pumpkin Cheesecake in a bad oven





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  1. I am in Egypt and have just had similar problems baking a cheesecake. My oven doesn't seem to have a thermostat so the temperature just keeps going up. The cheesecake came out OK, but I have to say, not as good as it is when I make it at home. Part of this was due, I think, to the fact that the cream cheese here is denser than that in the US. The other part is that I had to keep opening the door to regulate the temperature -- and the flame int the oven even went out once because I had turned it down to low. So it wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad. I think that you can feel free to rotate the cake, and I would definitely try a lower temperature. If there is a draft, perhaps you could form a little cover using aluminum foil, which might hold the temperature in. I wouldn't put foil over the cake though. Could you put some sort of shield between the cake and heating element? Something like the bottom of a heavy disposable roaster cut to size? You don't want the cake to brown or char from the heating element. Does the oven retain heat? I leave the cheesecake in the oven after I turn it off.

    If you go to Gourmet.com, you can search pumpkin bourbon cheesecake. It's a great recipe and apparently one of their most requested ever.

    1 Reply
    1. re: roxlet

      Thanks for the tips. I can find all of the right ingredients locally (Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Libbys packed pumpkin etc.) so I am not too worried about that aspect. I will definitely look up the Gourmet recipe.
      The oven does retain heat it is just uneven....it gets very hot, then cools down, then reheats etc. And the heating elements may sear/brown the top so I will try and build some kind of tent in between the top of the cake and the elements (rather than cover the cake with foil as I was thinking of doing).

      Thanks again!

    2. The Trick to making Great Cheesecake is to bake it in a Water Bath. Say you have a 9 x 3 inch round pan [not Spring form, they leak] get a 13 x 3 inch round pan for the Bath. Place the Lager pan in the oven, place the smaller pan with the cheesecake batter and crust inside the larger one, then fill the larger pan with about an inch and a half of boiling water. The Water will help regulate the amount of heat which goes into the Cheesecake and allow it to cook more evenly.

      To See the Process look Here


      4 Replies
      1. re: Mattapoisett in LA

        Great I will check to see if i can fit a 9" AND a water bath.
        Thanks for the youtube link but unfortunately you tube is blocked by the Great Chinese Firewall. Will search around for another video site.

        1. re: Agordo

          To use a springform pan in a waterbath, wrap it in 2 layers of foil.

          1. re: stilton

            Agree with this. You get the best of both worlds - the water bath to cook it evenly and the springform to keep the cheesecake intact after baking. The water bath should really help if the oven temperature is uneven.

          2. re: Agordo

            the link was from Food network's show Good Eats with Alton Brown. The episode was called the Trouble with Cheesecake

            A transcript can be found here:

        2. I would use a waterbath but do it on a low temperature overnight, along these lines:


          The recipe doesn't use a waterbath (it really is beautiful and creamy w/out one at a low temperature) but you want to retain the temperature in the oven so the waterbath would help there. The other option would be to use a terracotta pot, some kind of pizza stone idea that would help retain the temperature in the oven, even if it does get colder. I don't know if you can get them where you are but a home store carries unglazed tiles that work great. The one thing you want to be careful of is that the pot or whatever you use doesn't have lead.


          1. Does it have to be one large cheesecake? Maybe making a couple of smaller cakes or individual tarts would be easier to work with.

            1 Reply
            1. re: morwen

              This would be my suggestion too... make one as a test to check your baking time.
              Good luck with this endeavor :)

            2. At the risk of making a bad "baked" cheesecake, why not play it safe and make a "no-bake" cheesecake?

              Use a graham cracker crust, combine some canned pumpkin (not pumpkin filling), cream cheese, vanilla, nutmeg, cinammon, pour onto your crust, chill and serve.