# Best way to fluff up a cheesecake?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-fluff-up-a-cheesecake/518850
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 25, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-fluff-up-a-cheesecake/518850 "2009-11-25T00:31:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-fluff-up-a-cheesecake/518850/21 "2009-11-25T22:16:15Z")
> [@Lemur866](#):
>
> Cool Whip? :dubious:
>
> Absolute basic cheesecake is 3 bricks of cream cheese, mixed with 1 cup sugar, mixed with 3 eggs.
>
> I often add plain yogurt to lighten a cheesecake–it adds moisture, sourness, and milkiness.
Having never made a cheesecake in my life…What would happen if you used whipped cream cheese instead?
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### Author:  [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-fluff-up-a-cheesecake/518850/22 "2009-11-26T01:21:49Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> Having never made a cheesecake in my life…What would happen if you used whipped cream cheese instead?
Well, it is whipped after a fashion to make homogenous during initial combine, but truly whipped till air filled, mousse-like cream cheese would probably just deflate as it baked and melted, any lightness would probably have to come through the whipped egg albumen as structure. Of course it might work with a variation of a no-bake cheesecake, a cheesecake mousse pie kind of thing maybe..
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### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-fluff-up-a-cheesecake/518850/23 "2009-11-26T01:31:39Z")
[QUOTE=devilsknew]
Well, it is whipped after a fashion to make homogenous during initial combine, but truly whipped till air filled, mousse-like cream cheese would probably just deflate as it baked and melted…
[/QUOTE]
Sounds like my accidental cheesecake mousse defied all odds to remain fluffy and edible.
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### Author:  [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-fluff-up-a-cheesecake/518850/24 "2009-11-26T01:47:14Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#):
>
> Sounds like my accidental cheesecake mousse defied all odds to remain fluffy and edible.
??? Clarification please? You are saying that you _baked_ a mousse? Because a desert mousse is never baked, perhaps you mean a souffle?
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### Author:  [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-fluff-up-a-cheesecake/518850/25 "2009-11-26T02:46:36Z")
> [@devilsknew](#):
>
> ??? Clarification please? You are saying that you _baked_ a mousse? Because a desert mousse is never baked, perhaps you mean a souffle?
Psst. Read post #13.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-fluff-up-a-cheesecake/518850/26 "2009-11-26T02:54:51Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> Having never made a cheesecake in my life…What would happen if you used whipped cream cheese instead?
Standard cheesecake is really just about the easiest dessert in the universe.
You get your crust. Crunch some crackers/cookies, mix with melted butter, and press into the pan. Bake for 10 min.
Mix the cream cheese, 3 8oz bricks until smooth. Add a cup of sugar and mix till smooth. Add vanilla, or lemon zest, or amaretto, or whatever flavors you like. Then add 1 egg, mix geeeeently, add another egg, mix gently, add another egg, mix gently. You mix the eggs gently because otherwise you’ll incorporate air.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or so. Til it is set. And that’s a matter of taste. You can jiggle it a bit, and if it still jiggles it’s not done.
The trouble with air in the cheescake batter is that it puffs like crazy in the oven, but when you remove the heat all that air smoooshes down again. So you get cracks and such. So no air.
Any variation on this is just swank. Don’t worry about other things till you’ve made a dozen plain ones.
Oh, and pumpkin cheesecake is always much better if you make it with sweet potatoes.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-fluff-up-a-cheesecake/518850/27 "2009-11-26T02:57:25Z")
> [@Omniscient](#):
>
> If you don’t want dense then maybe cheesecake isn’t the way to go.
I’ll have the cheesecake, but can you hold the cream cheese, and the sugar, and the eggs? Because those are too rich.
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### Author:  [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-fluff-up-a-cheesecake/518850/28 "2009-11-26T03:04:53Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#):
>
> Psst. Read post #13.
Psst. Read post twenty-two in it’s entirety, instead of that disingenuous, piece of shit, partial, out of context quote that **gotpasswords** posted.
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### Author:  [@Dancer\_Flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dancer_Flight)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-fluff-up-a-cheesecake/518850/29 "2009-11-26T03:32:17Z")
The first basic Cheesecake I learned was a no-bake affair:
250g block of cream cheese, softened, creamed together with 1 cup of icing sugar.
Whip 1 cup of whipping cream to stiff peaks. Stir 1/3 of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whipped cream in two installments.
Pour/scrape into prepared graham crust, chill for a few hours in the fridge, top with fresh fruit.
This results in a fluffy cheesecake with the distinct tang of the cream cheese.
-DF
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-fluff-up-a-cheesecake/518850/30 "2009-11-27T03:58:54Z")
> [@devilsknew](#):
>
> Well, it is whipped after a fashion to make homogenous during initial combine, but truly whipped till air filled, mousse-like cream cheese would probably just deflate as it baked and melted, any lightness would probably have to come through the whipped egg albumen as structure. Of course it might work with a variation of a no-bake cheesecake, a cheesecake mousse pie kind of thing maybe..
That appears to be correct.
Prologue for those interested:
I forgot that I knew an actual pastry chef and emailed her for help :smack: . One way to alleviate some of the heaviness is to drain the water from the pumpkin pulp before mixing. The other was to whip some of the egg white and fold it in. To keep the crust from getting mushy it should be baked for 10 minutes prior to adding the filling.
What I did wrong. In a 6-egg cheesecake I whipped 3 egg whites until they peaked. That alone may not have been over the top but I changed the ratio of pumpkin to cream cheese so there was not enough of the cheese base. I used 16 oz of cream cheese and 30 oz of pumpkin pulp. The other mistake was adding hazelnut flour to the mixture in place of regular flour. It added a nice texture and flavor but it pushed the end result further away from a cheesecake and more toward a light pie. What I ended up with was a nice pumpkin pie with some of the creamy-ness of a cheesecake along with the gritty texture of ground hazelnet.
When I try it again I will only whip 1 egg white, increase the amount of cream cheese, and leave out the hazelnut.
Thanks for all your input.
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-fluff-up-a-cheesecake/518850/31 "2009-11-27T15:14:10Z")
I have got a “light and fluffy” cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory so it can be done, I don’t know how they did it though.
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