The Big Springform vs. Cheesecake Pan Debate

[cobblestone_cheesecake]

If you are baking a cheesecake, the cheesecake pan wins hands down! When I first entered the cheesecake games, I stumbled in flashing my springform pan, ignorant of the fact that pans designated specifically for cheesecakes existed. Ahhh, but they do exist. Hail the inventor of this most righteous pan! If you can see by the image I attached to this post, the springform pan has a lip on the bottom. So, what's wrong with a little lip? Lippiness makes it difficult for you, the baker who is seeking cheesecake perfection, to remove the cheesecake from the pan. The lip is thin, but it's just high enough that you have to dig around the edges and work at wedging a flat tool underneath causing crust breakage or other sorts of damage. The other thing about that lip is that it leaves your cheesecake with a distinctive, not-so-perfect ridge between crust and filling. A cheesecake pan, on the other hand, has a perfectly flat disk, which means the cheesecake is free to slide right from the disk to your cake circle or plate. And, there is no ridge because the crust is flush with the filling. The only ever-so-slightly tricky part of removing your cheesecake from the pan is pushing it up and out. I rest the finished cake, nice and chilly from an overnight in the fridge, on one hand, fingers poised upwards like a waiter at a fancy party carrying martinis. I steady the pan with my other hand, and with some force begin pushing the disk upwards. It moves slowly and unevenly, but gradually the cake comes free. I then let the pan slide down my forearm like a very big, silver bangle. Your cheesecake will be a thing of beauty, perfectly sculpted, perfectly round.