Similar questions with cake, crumble, cut

You may be baking your cake too long or at too high a temperature.  Use an oven thermometer to check you oven temp calibration.  

 

A great reference tome for cakes is Rose Levy Berenbaum’s Cake Bible--both for the recipes and for a thorough discussion of the science behind why things work the way they do (or don’t!) in cake baking.

 

If you are baking your cake too long to get it cooked in the center and therefore the edges are overdone, you can also try "Magic Strips", which are strips of fabric (basically a combo of muslin and a metallic-covered fabric) that you soak in cold water and then wrap around the cake pan before baking; this slows down the baking at the edges, resulting in less doming of the cake and more even baking.  You may get similar results from air-bake pans, but I’ve not used these much.

 

You don’t say whether or not you are removing your cake from the pan or cutting it in the pan and serving it from the pan.  If the breakage occurs when you try to remove it from the pan, I’d suggest lining the pan (bottom at the very least, bottom and sides preferably) with parchment paper or wax paper that you’ve cut to fit ( I grease the pan, stick the parchment that I've cut to the shortning inthe pan, and tehn grease and flour the paper).  This makes de-panning a breeze.  (peel off the parchment immediately after you've removed the cake from the pan; if you leave it on as the cake cools, it'll get moist from the steam and the cake may then stick to it).

 

I hope that this helps!!

Substitute unsweetened applesauce (preferably "natural" style) for half or all of the oil in the mix.

 

You can also use two egg whites in place of each whole egg, in which case you should mix in a small amount of multi-purpose flour - about a tablespoon's worth - to the cake mix before adding the wet ingredients.

Use the thinnest-narrowest-bladed knife you have (a filet knife would be good). Dunk it in some hot water before cutting. Draw it all the way across and through the cheescake in one smooth motion (don't use a sawing motion) and pull it clear of the cake. Wipe it off, dunk it back in the water and then repeat until you have made as many slices as you want to.

 

OR, try a wire. Get some kind of thin, clean wire (floral wire or picture wire would work) and wrap one end around a piece of a pencil or the shaft of a pen. The whole apparatus needs to be clean, of course. Then, hold the wire above the cake where you want to slice it and push it down through in one clean smooth motion. (You're going to have to wrap the loose end of the wire around your finger or something, so be careful you can get it off there easily and don't make it too tight!

 

Either of these should work pretty well. Then again, when all the cheesecake sticks to the knife -- it's a perfect excuse to eat whatever sticks... LOL

 

Bon Appetit!

Newfietom