Becca wrote:

>When I bake a cheesecake, I place a pan
> of boiling water, on the rack underneath
> the cheesecake. I do not bake mine in a
> water bath. Rum is not my favorite in a
> cheesecake, I like lemon juice and
> lemon zest instead.

I think most regular cheesecake, like the New York style, etc., call for
some lemon in them, and that is always good, but the one I made for
today is a eggnog cheesecake, and I just don't think somehow that lemon
would be a good addition to it. I have never used rum in a cheesecake
before, but it just seems to "fit" with eggnog, and also a little
nutmeg. Of all the recipes I looked at for eggnog cheesecake, most did
call for either real rum, or the flavoring and somehow the real stuff
(only 2 tbsp.) sounded better and shouldn't be over powering.

Also as I said in a earlier thread, I've been making cheesecakes for
about 60 years and never baked it with water, and the cheesecakes always
came out perfect. I didn't use the water baking method for the one I
made yesterday either, as Taste Of Home recommended, but I might just
try that sometime, out of curiosity.

I won't be able to tell anybody how this one turned out, as I won't be
serving it until later on today, but it smells and looks heavenly. To
"dress" it up some on top, I put dollops of real whipped cream around
the outer edge and sprinkled a speck of nutmeg on top the whipped cream.
For most cheesecakes, I use the sour cream topping, but this did not
call for it, and I decided it best not to make any changes to it until
after I've sampled it, to see if there is anything I'd do differently.

Judy