Cheesecake for Hundreds?

by Roy Florey
(Colorado Springs, CO)

Hi Chef,
My wife and I are starting a wholesale bakery here in Colorado Springs, 6000 feet above sea level. We are using a kitchen owned by a caterer equipped with large convection ovens. One thing I have gotten good at is cheesecakes, however my only experience is with ring mold pans. He wants to feed a military crowd and asked that I make him a full commercial sheet pan of cheesecake. I figured the volume is about four recipes of a normal 10 inch pan but I am concerned about the baking. I can't see that I could give it a water bath and it will be thinner than what I usually make. How can I be sure that I have cooked it thoroughly?

Thanks.


Chef Todd Says:
Cheesecake is a very delicate thing. Baking a sheetcake that is leavened with chemicals, and set with a lot of flour is easier. Cheesecake baked on a sheetpan will be very thin and won't cook completely in the middle, too much surface area.

If you want to explore this method, I'd suggest using half sheet pans and getting pan-side extenders that will allow more volume. However, I'm still unsure this will work.

It sounds to me like you need to invest in more round spring-form pans. Create one large batch of your batter so all cakes are consistent, and portion by weight into as many pans as you have. Cool the pans, and start again. That's probably the best method.

From a presentation point of view, I'd rather get a triangular slice of cheesecake than a thin, square wedge.

"How you do anything is how you do everything" - T. Harv Eker.

Chef Todd.