My lack of skill in correctly slicing cheesecake has been one of my weaknesses from the beginning. When I tried to cut into the cheesecake with my knife, I found that a significant portion of the cake adhered to the blade. After that, I got to thinking: What is the most efficient method to slice a cheesecake? Is there more than one option to choose from?
How should a cheesecake be cut? Place your cheesecake in the refrigerator so that it can set. Put some hot water on the blade of a razor-thin, razor-sharp knife. After wiping the knife clean with a fresh towel, cut the cheesecake all the way through to the bottom, and then move the knife in the direction of you. To achieve a clean cut with each successive slice, you need to go through the same procedure again.
It has been challenging for me and a lot of other people to ever learn the art of cutting a beautiful piece of cheesecake. However, during the many years that I’ve been making this delectable dessert, I’ve picked up a few tricks for properly slicing a cheesecake. Here are a few of my favorites. The following are some of the most effective strategies that may be used to create the ideal cheesecake slice.
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Use The Hot Knife Technique
Acquiring the skill of using a warm or hot knife to cut a piece of cheesecake has proven to be a very useful technique. It has prevented over a dozen of my cheesecakes from crumbling into a mess when I cut them into slices. By passing the knife through a stream of hot water, you may make it less difficult for the cheesecake crumbs to not stay to the knife. establishing a smooth and unobstructed passageway for it to go through.
I just treated myself to a brand new three-piece set of springform pans, and they are just what you need if you like to make cheesecakes in a variety of sizes, as I do!
You can get this three-piece set on Amazon, which includes nonstick springform pans with the following diameters: 4, 7, and 9 inches.
Keeping the knife submerged in the hot water for at least a minute and a half is an important piece of advice that I would provide to everybody. This will make it possible for the knife to really warm up, which will result in improved cutting performance. This will ensure that your knife stays heated throughout the whole process of cutting if you keep doing it over and over again.
Find a tall glass or container that can cover the full blade of the knife if you are cutting your cheesecake at the table and do not have a sink nearby. You may use this if you do not have access to a sink. It should be filled with hot water, and then the process should be repeated at the tableside.
Cheesecake is an extremely delicious but delicate dessert. Because of this, selecting the appropriate knife to use while cutting the cheesecake is a very important step in the process. There is a wide selection of knives available, some of which may be suitable for cutting other types of cakes but are not suitable for cutting cheesecake.
If you want to avoid cutting this delicate cake with a sawing action, you should try to avoid using serrated knives on your cheesecake. Instead, you should make use of a sharp knife with a flat edge to complete the cutting.
Make sure to remember that you should never cut a cheesecake using a motion that is back and forth, and to apply a small amount of pressure with this knife all the way down to the bottom of the cake. No matter how hot you get the knife, this will damage your cheesecake. It doesn’t matter.
Watching this video will give you a better understanding of how to implement this strategy:
Use The Wax Paper Technique
This approach of slicing a cheesecake is, by a wide margin, my favorite of all the available options. It is not often utilized or even discussed in the cheesecake community, which is one of the reasons why it drew my interest. Learning about this method has helped me to enhance the entire appearance of my cheesecake. I have a lot of people over to my home on a weekly basis, so the presentation of my cheesecake needed some work.
Even while you will still be using your knife, unlike the previous way, this one does not need you to warm it up using any hot water. This strategy demands somewhat more preparation on your part in advance if you want to leave a positive impression on your visitors.
The following are the steps that you’ll need to follow in order to successfully cut the cheesecake into slices:
- Take a knife with a sharp edge and a flat side, like the one we discussed in the previous paragraphs.
- Take strips of wax paper that are about 2 inches by 4 inches or 2 inches by 5 inches (Depending on the height of your cheesecake)
- Take a single strip of wax paper and fold it in a manner that is even and symmetrical around the pointy end of your knife (Be extra careful while doing this step)
- Check to see that the wax paper is enveloping the knife in a manner that is even and snug from both sides.
- To cut a piece of cheesecake, take the knife and the wax paper that was hanging above it and carefully work your way through the cake.
- After it is finished, you are going to want to move the knife out towards you while keeping the strip of wax paper inside the cheesecake.
- Repeat this process until the whole cheesecake has a piece of wax paper placed in between each slice.
- If the wax paper is too long and is sticking out from around the edges of the cheesecake, grab some scissors and snip off the bits that stick out. If the wax paper is too short, the cheesecake may not turn out properly.
At the conclusion of the process, you should be left with a nicely cut cake that has wax paper placed in between each slice to give the cheesecake an official appearance.
This makes your cheesecake seem more professionally produced, which is helpful if you want to serve it to your family or to visitors. The wax paper has an attractive appearance, which will leave an impression on your visitors. It is possible that using this process may take you a little bit more time, but the end result will be a cheesecake that is much more beautiful.
Use The Dental Floss Technique
Yes, I said it. Dental Floss. In spite of the fact that this peculiar way could seem to be a straightforward answer to the problem of how to cut a clean slice of cheesecake, it is important that you be aware of how to apply this method appropriately.
The following is a list of the actions that need to be taken in order to cut a slice successfully using dental floss:
- You must choose the dental floss that does not have any flavoring.
- Remove a piece of cheesecloth that is both long enough to cover the cheesecake’s circumference and short enough that your hand can still fit around it comfortably. In general, I use an extra eight inches of floss on top of what the circumference of the cake calls for. For instance, if the diameter of your cheesecake is 12 inches, I would need 20 lengths of floss to cover it.
- You should wind the floss firmly around your fingers on both hands, and then you should extend it out in front of the cheesecake.
- Pull the floss taut, then carefully lay it on the surface of the cheesecake, and then press it down all the way through until you reach the bottom.
- Be careful to work the floss back and forth between your hands, sliding it in a sawing motion, if the bottom has a tough crust. This will ensure that it cuts cleanly through the crust.
- After that, remove the floss from the cheesecake by first removing it partially with one hand, then completely with the other.
- Continue following these steps until you have cut all of the pieces in your cheesecake.
If you find that you appreciate this way more than the one with wax paper but you still want your cheesecake to look lovely and presentable, you may fold the strips of wax paper and put them in between each slice that you make using the dental floss.
Cutting Even Slices Correctly
It is time to put these three strategies into practice now that you have acquired the necessary knowledge. If, on the other hand, you are unable to cut each slice of the cheesecake equally, none of the three approaches will be of any use to you in your quest to slice “The Perfect Cheesecake Slice.”
To begin, use either your knife or some unflavored dental floss (whichever one is more convenient) and draw two parallel straight lines on top of the cheesecake in a perpendicular orientation. Make it appear like a giant plus sign. Using one of the ways described above, carefully remove this addition by cutting along the lines of the plus to the best of your abilities.
After it is finished, there are four halves of a cake waiting for you here. Turn the plate so that each quarter is facing you, take a measurement that is about 45 degrees between each quarter slice, and then cut this quarter into two smaller pieces that are even in size.
Repeat the previous procedure with each individual quarter slice, this time cutting it in half lengthwise so that it is even. At the conclusion of the process, you will have eight pieces of cheesecake cut into even slices to enjoy.
Mini Cheesecake Bites
After you’ve mastered the art of cutting the ideal slice, it’s time to go on to the next step: slicing your cheesecake into pieces of varying lengths, widths, and shapes. At this stage, slicing a cheesecake should seem more like an artistic endeavor than a recreational activity.
Now that you’ve produced a full-sized cheesecake, you realize that you want to portion it up into individual cheesecake pieces. I speak from personal experience when I say that tackling this project was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done in the kitchen. Because of this, I decided to start exploring, and eventually I discovered the most effective technique to tackle this stage.
You should absolutely check out the post that I published on how to cut a cheesecake into little cheesecake bites using many different techniques if you are interested in learning the specific step-by-step instructions on how to do so, and if you want to learn how to do so.
I put in a lot of time and effort to figure out the specific method that would allow me to cut a cheesecake into bite-sized pieces. I was able to locate a set of cheesecake cutters made of stainless steel that are of a height that should be suitable for your cheesecake. These cutters are available in the following five various shapes: heart, round, square, and square-ribbed.
To Summarize…
In conclusion, I have gained a lot of knowledge over this process of figuring out how to cut a piece of cheesecake that is flawless. After reading about all of these many approaches and strategies for successfully slicing a cheesecake, I am even more thrilled to keep working on the recipe for this warm, airy, and inviting work of art that is known as cheesecake.