The Delicious Chocolate Trick That'll Fix Your Cracked Cheesecake

Few things will break a baker's heart quite like cracked cheesecake. Crafting the perfect cheesecake takes a significant amount of time — six or seven hours at least, all told. Fortunately, the fix for this problem doesn't have to, and the solution is one you'll love: Top it with something equally delicious. Chocolate ganache or shavings of baking chocolate immediately come to mind. Crucially, they're tasty enough to also make you forget that there's even a crack in your cheesecake. If you don't have those on hand, there are other options too. 

A berry coulis or copious amounts of whipped cream drizzled with fudge would also taste good. For this solution to work, the sauce or topping in question should have some thickness to it because some of the liquids, like the syrup in the coulis, will gravitate toward the crack and further emphasize the chasm despite your efforts to cover it. So the thicker, the better. Also put plenty of fruit or chocolate shavings over the crack, if you do go this route. 

Even if you have a thick sauce, this step ensures it's covered. That said, chocolate ganache and whipped cream are both thicker, so there's less of a chance that they're going to slide into the sinkhole and make the problem even bigger. If you're really concerned about the size of the crack and taste preference isn't a massive concern, these latter two options will definitely be your best bets. Use them generously if needs be, until the crack is completely covered.

While these are tasty solutions, they may not be appropriate every time you face a cracked cheesecake. What if the topping doesn't fit the type of cheesecake you have in mind or its style? Or you just simply don't have a taste for these solutions? Fortunately, there are couple of different methods for smoothing over a crack, though they do require some skill. If you want to try this, start by putting the cracked cheesecake in the fridge for a couple of hours. You'll have a better chance at repairing the crack if you start with cool, preferably moist, cheesecake. 

Once the cheesecake is chilled and firmly set up, gently try to push the crack back together. Next, fill a bowl with hot water. Dunk a rubber spatula in it. Use the hot spatula to smooth over the crack in the cheesecake. You'll have to do this a couple of times. Dunk the spatula in the hot water each time you try another round of smoothing. Once the crack is sealed to your satisfaction, slide the cheesecake back into the fridge to set it back up. And at the end of the day, if sealing the crack still doesn't work, you can always go back to your trusted chocolate ganache.