Every bakery in Brisbane with a cheesecake in the window says theirs is the best. We are not going to add to that noise, partly because we would say it too and partly because you have no reason to believe any of us.
More useful: here is what actually separates a good cheesecake from a mediocre one. Apply it to ours, apply it to anyone else’s.
1. The base should not be sand
Pick up a slice and look at the base. It should hold together as a layer and it should taste of butter and biscuit.
A base that collapses into crumbs the moment a fork touches it has too little butter or was pressed too loosely. A base that shatters like a biscuit was over-baked. Neither is fatal, but both tell you the cheapest corner was cut in the place customers notice least.
2. The set should be even, top to bottom
Look at the cut face. A well-made cheesecake is the same texture all the way through. What you do not want is a firm outer band with a noticeably softer middle, or a dense layer at the base where the filling sank.
In a baked cheesecake that band means it was cooked too fast or too hot. In a chilled one it usually means it was cut before it had properly set.
3. Cracks are not the sin people think they are
A cracked top on a baked cheesecake is a cosmetic issue, not a quality one. It means the surface set faster than the middle, usually from oven temperature.
Be more suspicious of a top that is suspiciously perfect on a cheesecake with no topping — that can mean it was set with rather more stabiliser than cheese.
4. It should taste of cheese
This is the big one, and the most commonly failed.
Cheesecake should have a faint savoury tang underneath the sweetness. That is the cream cheese doing its job. If all you taste is sugar and vanilla, you are eating a sweet set cream, and there was not much cheese in it.
The test: eat a piece with no topping. A plain American baked cheesecake or a French vanilla has nowhere to hide. That is exactly why we make both.
5. The aftertaste should be short
Good cheesecake finishes clean. If your mouth is still coated a minute later, or there is a faint waxy feel to it, that is usually vegetable fat rather than dairy.
This one is hard to fake and easy to notice once you know to look for it.
6. The topping should be doing something
A fruit topping should taste of fruit, not of setting gel with colouring. A chocolate or biscuit topping should add texture, not just cover the surface.
Toppings are also where a mediocre cheesecake hides. Be a little suspicious of a range where every single one is heavily covered.
Serve it properly before you judge it
Two things that change the eating more than people expect.
Temperature. Fridge-cold flattens flavour. Take a baked cheesecake out a little before serving. Chilled cheesecake is the opposite and is better cold.
Cutting. Large knife, hot water, wipe dry, cut in one motion, repeat between slices. A dragged knife makes a good cheesecake look like a bad one.
Where we stand
We have made cheesecake on the Pacific Highway at Springwood for 42 years, and we make it on site rather than buying it in frozen. That is the claim we will make, because it is checkable.
The rest we would rather you judged yourself. Try a plain one — that is where there is nowhere to hide.
See the full range on our cheesecake in Brisbane page, or order online for collection. Roberto’s Cheesecakes, 3414/3416 Pacific Hwy, Springwood QLD 4127. Phone (07) 3209 2771.