Keeping cheesecake from sticking to the pan

Q: My son made a German cheesecake recipe that uses ricotta cheese and has a graham cracker crumb crust on the bottom. He sprayed the muffin tin with cooking oil spray before baking, but the cheesecakes stuck to the muffin tin on the sides and also the bottom crust. How do we prevent sticking the next time?

A: First, do you mean he made individual little cakes in the wells of a muffin tin? Was there graham cracker crust on the sides too? Or was it a single pan?

In general, sometimes the cake is so chilled that it sticks. You can let the cake sit in its pan in an inch of hot tap water (if it’s a springform pan, be sure to first wrap the bottom and sides of the pan tightly with plastic or foil so there’s no leakage), or wrap a very warm, damp towel around the sides and bottom of the pan or muffin tin for a few minutes.

For a cheesecake, I’d also run a table knife just inside all the way around at least once, to make sure there is some separation between cake and pan.

No matter what kind of cake I bake these days, I find myself lining the bottom of the pan with a parchment paper circle — it makes things easier. But remember to peel it off !

— Bonnie S. Benwick

Q: I tried to clarify chicken stock with egg whites following Julia Child’s instructions. The result was still not clear and tasted sort of toasty, definitely different from the usual. Suggestions for next time?

A: Next time you start from scratch, don’t bring the liquids to a full boil. If you use a whole chicken, go ahead and remove all the skin and fat that’s easy to pull off. I would also rinse the bird inside and out, carefully and under a small stream of running water in the sink, before putting it in the pot.

— B.S.B.

Q: With the warm weather finally arriving, I made an Thaiinspired cold noodle salad. The flavour was great but my noodles ended up soggy really quickly. My dressing is coconut milk based (with soy sauce, red Thai curry, etc.) and I used broken-up long rice noodles. Should I add more fat to the dressing? Use different noodles?

A: Rice noodles absorb a lot of liquid. Consider udon or soba.

— Joe Yonan