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I have read various recipes suggesting that when adding eggs to cheesecake batter, it is better to incorporate them with as little mixing as possible, to avoid aerating the mixture. The idea is that cheesecakes are meant to be dense, and if too much air goes in this would compromise the texture (and also possibly cause cracks during/after baking).

This had me wondering if using the immersion blender would be a good way to knock air out of the batter when mixing. Since I've never seen it mentioned in any recipe, I wonder if there's something I'm missing and this is just not a good idea.

What do you think?

Fimpellizzeri
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The place I learned how to make cheesecake used an immersion blender. because that is what the person teaching me preferred to use. Technically it works, however it was a real pain. I couldn't get the cheese to seperate from the bottom of the bowl. The instructor finally took over and reccommended I use the mixer. Also you cannot feel the consistency as well, when using a machine to mix the batter, that is why I prefer to use a fork or a hand mixer.

Further info to avoid cracks: Cooking the cheesecake in a waterbath is always the most effective way to avoid cracks. Put a cake or jelly roll pan beneath your springform pan and cover the bigger pan with water before putting your springform pan in, when you are actually cooking your cheesecake. And slowly. Cranking up the temperature to cook it fast will still kill it even with a water bath. I think that is true for anything you put in the oven though.

Katelyn Tyler
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An immersion blender is actually pretty good at getting air into the mixture. So, by your own logic, it is not the right tool for the job.

If you want to fold the mixture without adding air, do it by hand with a folding spatula. This works great for stuff which foams easily otherwise. For a cheesecake filling using cream cheese, you might want to beat it with a mixer before incorporating the eggs, because else the cream cheese may be firm. For other similar cakes like a German käsekuchen made with quark, the manual folding will be enough.

rumtscho
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  • How is air getting into the mixture if the blender part is completely submerged? I've used it to great success with ganache, pastry cream or mirror glazes to get smoother results. I understand that if what's being blended is 'too liquid-y' (for instance, plain water) this fails, but I don't think this would be the case with cheesecake batter? – Fimpellizzeri Jan 17 '20 at 16:31
  • It does get smoother in the sense of breaking up larger particles, but it also adds air. For the substances you listed, probably the effect of added air is relaltively small - these are not substances that tend to whip much, except the ganache, but maybe it wasn|t cold enough when you used the immersion blender on it. It can certainly give good results if you want to mix something semiliquid, but it is not the tool to use if you want to minimize foaming. – rumtscho Jan 17 '20 at 17:27