Cheese cakes can be categorized into two types, baked and non-baked cheese cake. Baked cheese cakes are more difficult to prepare mainly because it has to be baked slowly in the oven. Baked cheese cakes are normally steam baked in oven by placing the cheese cake batter in the cake tin on top of a tray filled with water. Also the baking temperature has to be not too hot, moderate temperate, in the range of 170°C/ 340°F to 180°C/ 350°F. The texture of baked cheesecake is normally not too moist and fluffy. All time favorite baked cheesecakes are such as cotton cheesecake that is light and fluffy. Sometimes it is also called Japanese cheesecake.
Non-baked cheese cakes are much easier to make because it does not have be baked as the name suggests. However you need to make a strong cheese cake base that can support the cream cheese mixture on top of it. Typically the base of these kind of cheese cakes are made from digestive cookies that are crushed to bits. These cookies are then mixed with some butter to form a nice base. The cheese mixture is then prepared, using cream cheese. Preparing the mixture is easy as it does not have to be baked. Once the mixture is prepared, it will be poured on top of the cheese cake base, leveled and stored in fridge for the mixture to set. Normally the cream cheese mixture is mix with gelatin to enable the mixture to set faster.
There are various type of cheeses being use to make cheese cakes. Typically, cream cheese is used for most of the cheese cakes. Mascarpone cheese on the other hand is used to make tiramisu cheese cake. Cheesecakes are also nicely made with combination of other fresh fruits and nuts such as strawberries, blueberries, passion fruits, banana, walnuts, almonds and so on. Cheesecakes also combined suitably well with lemon to create lemon cheesecake.