My cheesecake crust got soggy from the water bath during cooking. Is there any way to fix this? Will it still taste good?

If the water only made the crust soggy then I think your cake should still taste good. You could replace the crust with crushed nuts or cookies or even graham crackers to get the crunch back. I would carefully scrape the soggy crust away from the sides and press in something new. If the bottom is also soggy you could lay some of the replacement on a plate and slide the cake right on top. You could even use crushed up candy (it being close to Halloween). Heath bars, peppermint bark or nut brittle come to mind. If it looks like the replacement crust isn't going to stick to the sides of the cake after the scraping you could apply some frosting or whipped cream to act as glue. If you use nuts I would suggest toasting them before crushing and applying to the cake. Cookies or graham crackers could be crushed (not too finely) and tossed with a little melted butter to get them to stick. It won't be identical to the baked cracker crust but cheesecake+crunchy stuff is good regardless.

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Amanda is a co-founder of Food52.

added 7 months ago

Hmm. This is a tough one -- and we've all been there! If it's just a bottom crust, you might consider not serving the crust part. As you cut slices, just stop when you hit the crust, so you're serving, essentially, cheese custard. No one is going to ask "Where's my crust!" so don't worry.

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ChefOno added 7 months ago

I'd transfer the cheesecake to a stack of paper towels which should wick away the moisture. Taste shouldn't be a problem.

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I'd probably scrape off the crust and make either a chocolate sauce or berry compote to cover everything that was under the crust.

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Amanda is a co-founder of Food52.

added 7 months ago

Let us know what you ended up doing! How did it go? I hope well.

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Thanks so much for the prompt and helpful ideas. I ended up using ChefOno's idea, since it was the fastest/least labor intensive option, and it turned out well! The crust wasn't as crisp as it should have been, but was still good and edible (it helps that it was chocolate, probably). No leftovers, so I think my guests enjoyed it!

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