baking tip

Bain Marie means “Marie’s bath”, but in the baking world it just means “water bath”. A water bath is absolutely essential to baking a perfect cheesecake. It ensures a moist cheesecake and helps it to bake gently and evenly. But the traditional method of bain marie baking is so superlatively tedious… Wrapping 2 layers of foil around the cake tin AND then placing it in a glass dish AND pouring boiling water around it AND burning yourself when trying to turn the cheesecake halfway through baking it AND then it leaks. I mean, there are posts just on managing the leaking. TOO TEDIOUS and hazardous. No thanks. Remember, I am a lazy person who loves to make perfect bakes, so I had to find a simpler way.

Ashlee Marie is the fantastic human who presented an alternative. You seriously get the exact same effect if you just place a separate pan of hot water in the oven with the cheesecake. SO much easier and more practical – thank you Ashlee Marie!

• I like to use the biggest roasting tray I have.
• Place it in the lower half of your oven before you bake the cheesecake so that it gets nice and hot during the preheating.
• Boil at least 2 liters of water in a kettle.
• Place your cheesecake in the middle of your oven.
• Pull the empty roasting tray out slightly and fill it up with the just-boiled water. This will create a nice cloud of steam to fill the oven right from the start without burning your arms.

Now that you have this super easy cheat bain marie method for baking perfect cheesecake, don’t let it frighten you off either!