Chemistry of Food and Cooking: How Different Parts of an Egg Affect Cheesecake’s Density
Abstract
Using a whole egg, egg yolk, or egg white significantly changes the density and texture of pastries. In our experiment, we wanted to find out exactly how much the type of egg would affect a simple cheesecake recipe. To the best of our ability, we replicated a vanilla cheesecake recipe altering only the form in which the egg was in. The original recipe called for five whole eggs so we decided to make two other batches incorporating five egg yolks into one batter and five egg whites into another batter. We measured the height and radius of each cheesecake to find its volume. After that, we conducted a blind taste test. We conducted this taste test to measure the density of our 3 cheesecakes. We offered them to try each cheesecake without commenting anything that would persuade them into deciding which one was their favorite. We did have a flaw in our experiment which was that one of the cheesecakes was raw so we had to warn our taste testers which one it was so they wouldn’t consume too much of it and get sick. We asked them to fill out a survey and, based on the results of that survey we found that the cheesecake with egg whites was the densest and people preferred its creamy texture. Our quantitative results also showed that the cheesecake with egg whites had more volume and density.
Key Terms: cheesecake, whole egg, egg yolk, egg white, density, texture, creamy, taste test
Introduction
In an article titled, “The History of Cheesecake and Cream Cheese”, author Mary Bellis stated that Historians believe cheesecake originated in ancient Greece and during the first olympic games, cheesecake was served to the athletes. Cheesecake was spread from Greece all across Europe and the recipes continued to spread to different countries through immigrants. The recipe has altered throughout time, and one important change in ingredients that made cheesecake known for its creaminess is cream cheese. In 1872, American dairyman William Lawrence was trying to reproduce a French cheese called Neufchatel but instead developed a method to create cream cheese.
Cheesecake can be light and smooth while others can be made more creamy and dense. We conducted this experiment to find out which form of an egg would create a dense and creamy texture. Eggs play a big role in baking as they bind all the ingredients together adding to its thickness and moisture. When heat is added, the raw egg proteins unwind and link together making them loosely link together creating a thick but smooth texture. If overcooked, the protein shrinks and the cake drys out, cracking the cheesecake. Whole eggs balance both the fat and protein making a cake not too dense or creamy. Egg yolks noticeably change the color of a cheesecake giving it a golden tone to it. Egg yolks add moisturizing fat, creating a smooth and creamy texture. Egg whites contain protein molecules that are able to stretch, and when they are whisked, the molecules are able to spread out more, making it denser. We think that using five egg whites will result in a more creamy and denser cheesecake. Egg whites are 90% water, and the other 10% is all protein, which increases the total amount of water content in the recipe. Egg whites are meant to protect the yolk, so the whites are meant to be thick. Thickening occurs when raw egg proteins unwind and link together which is what happens when eggs cook.
Methods
The goal of this experiment was to create a dense cheesecake and in order to achieve this, we decided to manipulate the form in which we incorporated the eggs in the batter. The original recipe called for the following:
4 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 large eggs
Being cautious of the baking hazards, we carefully replicated this simple recipe three times only changing two batters. The one batter was just five egg yolks and the other one was five egg whites. Measuring volume from this unique shape would be difficult so we decided to do some math and estimate a few measurements. The first thing we did was measure the radius of the top of the cheesecake and the bottom of it.
The top radius of the cheesecakes was 22 centimeters and the bottom radius was 16.5 centimeters. We then had added them together and divide it by two. After that, we had to measure the height of each cheesecake but since the tops were uneven, we had to measure the highest point on the cheesecake and state in our results that that was the height all throughout. The table below shows what the height was for each cheesecake.
Table 1
Form of egg
Height of cheesecake (cm)
Egg yolk
7.6
Whole egg
6.9
Egg white
8.8
With the radius and height measurements, we used the formula πR2Hto find what the volume was for each.. We plugged the radius and height for each cheesecake and calculated the volume. Another way we decided to measure density and texture was by allowing people to sample our three cheesecakes and instructing them to fill out a survey asking for their opinions, using a blind taste test. The first question was asking what their favorite cheesecake was and why. Then we asked them wich cheesecake, out of the three, had the best texture and which out of the three was the densest.
Results
In the survey, we asked 14 people which cheesecake (cheesecake A being 5 yolks, cheesecake B being five whole eggs, and cheesecake C being five egg whites) was their favorite, which was the densest, and which cheesecake had the best texture.
Chart 1
In the data we collected from the survey, cheesecake C was voted the favorite by nine people which is the 64.3% as seen in Data Table 1. Five people voted cheesecake B as their favorite which is 35.7%. This totaled up the 14 people that took our survey, meaning that no one voted cheesecake A as their favorite.
Chart 2
Chart 2 shows that Cheesecake C was the most dense, while cheesecake A was the least dense.
Chart 3
Quantitative Results
Cheesecake A - 8,847.58 mL
Cheesecake B - 8,032.68 mL
Cheesecake C - 10,244.68 mL
Discussion
The use of eggs plays a very crucial role in the end result of cheesecake. The egg is what modifies the texture and flavor, decides if the cheesecake is dense or fluffy, and glues all of the ingredients together. Unfortunately, in our experiment, we had a setback, cheesecake A was raw. We did not realize that each of these cheesecakes was going to take different cooking times. Without knowing, we cooked each of these cakes within the same time of each other. Now obvious, it would have taken more time for each cheesecake to bake because we are cooking different forms of an egg. Cheesecake A needed more time (baking time: 24 minutes), cheesecake B was perfectly cooked (baking time: 35 minutes) and cheesecake C was a bit overcooked (baking time: 25 minutes.) We know cheesecake C was overcooked because it had cracks, and a perfectly baked cheesecake is supposed to have a smooth surface and have a jiggly middle.
Unfortunately, we were also unable to measure the exact density of each cake because we did not have a measure to do so. Instead, we decided to create a less effective way of measuring density, a taste test. If cheesecake A had cooked, we believe it would have been denser than cheesecake C, according to our research. But because it wasn’t able to fully cook, we weren't able to see if our hypothesis was correct. The drying effects of the whites make the cheesecake batter denser, while the yolks makes the batter airier.
Conclusion
As found in our results, cheesecake C was voted as the favorite, When asked to explain why a lot of people described it as creamy and fluffy. Its texture and density came from the egg whites and something that we did not intend on testing but noticed was how the egg whites gave the
cheesecake a light color compared to the others. If you are going for a more smooth and runny cheesecake, you should use egg yolks. If you are going for a more airy and creamy cheesecake, then use egg whites. If you want something more in between dense and airy, then use whole eggs. This experiment will answer people's aspiring questions when they want to make the creamiest, densest cheesecake. If they want to know if the form of an egg can alter the creaminess/density of their cheesecake batter, they can use our experiment for the answer. An aspiring cook could use this information to know how that using 5 egg yolks instead of whole eggs will take much longer than a regular recipe but will make the batter dense and more creamy.
Using a whole egg, egg yolk, or egg white significantly changes the density and texture of pastries. In our experiment, we wanted to find out exactly how much the type of egg would affect a simple cheesecake recipe. To the best of our ability, we replicated a vanilla cheesecake recipe altering only the form in which the egg was in. The original recipe called for five whole eggs so we decided to make two other batches incorporating five egg yolks into one batter and five egg whites into another batter. We measured the height and radius of each cheesecake to find its volume. After that, we conducted a blind taste test. We conducted this taste test to measure the density of our 3 cheesecakes. We offered them to try each cheesecake without commenting anything that would persuade them into deciding which one was their favorite. We did have a flaw in our experiment which was that one of the cheesecakes was raw so we had to warn our taste testers which one it was so they wouldn’t consume too much of it and get sick. We asked them to fill out a survey and, based on the results of that survey we found that the cheesecake with egg whites was the densest and people preferred its creamy texture. Our quantitative results also showed that the cheesecake with egg whites had more volume and density.
Key Terms: cheesecake, whole egg, egg yolk, egg white, density, texture, creamy, taste test
Introduction
In an article titled, “The History of Cheesecake and Cream Cheese”, author Mary Bellis stated that Historians believe cheesecake originated in ancient Greece and during the first olympic games, cheesecake was served to the athletes. Cheesecake was spread from Greece all across Europe and the recipes continued to spread to different countries through immigrants. The recipe has altered throughout time, and one important change in ingredients that made cheesecake known for its creaminess is cream cheese. In 1872, American dairyman William Lawrence was trying to reproduce a French cheese called Neufchatel but instead developed a method to create cream cheese.
Cheesecake can be light and smooth while others can be made more creamy and dense. We conducted this experiment to find out which form of an egg would create a dense and creamy texture. Eggs play a big role in baking as they bind all the ingredients together adding to its thickness and moisture. When heat is added, the raw egg proteins unwind and link together making them loosely link together creating a thick but smooth texture. If overcooked, the protein shrinks and the cake drys out, cracking the cheesecake. Whole eggs balance both the fat and protein making a cake not too dense or creamy. Egg yolks noticeably change the color of a cheesecake giving it a golden tone to it. Egg yolks add moisturizing fat, creating a smooth and creamy texture. Egg whites contain protein molecules that are able to stretch, and when they are whisked, the molecules are able to spread out more, making it denser. We think that using five egg whites will result in a more creamy and denser cheesecake. Egg whites are 90% water, and the other 10% is all protein, which increases the total amount of water content in the recipe. Egg whites are meant to protect the yolk, so the whites are meant to be thick. Thickening occurs when raw egg proteins unwind and link together which is what happens when eggs cook.
Methods
The goal of this experiment was to create a dense cheesecake and in order to achieve this, we decided to manipulate the form in which we incorporated the eggs in the batter. The original recipe called for the following:
4 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 large eggs
Being cautious of the baking hazards, we carefully replicated this simple recipe three times only changing two batters. The one batter was just five egg yolks and the other one was five egg whites. Measuring volume from this unique shape would be difficult so we decided to do some math and estimate a few measurements. The first thing we did was measure the radius of the top of the cheesecake and the bottom of it.
The top radius of the cheesecakes was 22 centimeters and the bottom radius was 16.5 centimeters. We then had added them together and divide it by two. After that, we had to measure the height of each cheesecake but since the tops were uneven, we had to measure the highest point on the cheesecake and state in our results that that was the height all throughout. The table below shows what the height was for each cheesecake.
Table 1
Form of egg
Height of cheesecake (cm)
Egg yolk
7.6
Whole egg
6.9
Egg white
8.8
With the radius and height measurements, we used the formula πR2Hto find what the volume was for each.. We plugged the radius and height for each cheesecake and calculated the volume. Another way we decided to measure density and texture was by allowing people to sample our three cheesecakes and instructing them to fill out a survey asking for their opinions, using a blind taste test. The first question was asking what their favorite cheesecake was and why. Then we asked them wich cheesecake, out of the three, had the best texture and which out of the three was the densest.
Results
In the survey, we asked 14 people which cheesecake (cheesecake A being 5 yolks, cheesecake B being five whole eggs, and cheesecake C being five egg whites) was their favorite, which was the densest, and which cheesecake had the best texture.
Chart 1
In the data we collected from the survey, cheesecake C was voted the favorite by nine people which is the 64.3% as seen in Data Table 1. Five people voted cheesecake B as their favorite which is 35.7%. This totaled up the 14 people that took our survey, meaning that no one voted cheesecake A as their favorite.
Chart 2
Chart 2 shows that Cheesecake C was the most dense, while cheesecake A was the least dense.
Chart 3
Quantitative Results
Cheesecake A - 8,847.58 mL
Cheesecake B - 8,032.68 mL
Cheesecake C - 10,244.68 mL
Discussion
The use of eggs plays a very crucial role in the end result of cheesecake. The egg is what modifies the texture and flavor, decides if the cheesecake is dense or fluffy, and glues all of the ingredients together. Unfortunately, in our experiment, we had a setback, cheesecake A was raw. We did not realize that each of these cheesecakes was going to take different cooking times. Without knowing, we cooked each of these cakes within the same time of each other. Now obvious, it would have taken more time for each cheesecake to bake because we are cooking different forms of an egg. Cheesecake A needed more time (baking time: 24 minutes), cheesecake B was perfectly cooked (baking time: 35 minutes) and cheesecake C was a bit overcooked (baking time: 25 minutes.) We know cheesecake C was overcooked because it had cracks, and a perfectly baked cheesecake is supposed to have a smooth surface and have a jiggly middle.
Unfortunately, we were also unable to measure the exact density of each cake because we did not have a measure to do so. Instead, we decided to create a less effective way of measuring density, a taste test. If cheesecake A had cooked, we believe it would have been denser than cheesecake C, according to our research. But because it wasn’t able to fully cook, we weren't able to see if our hypothesis was correct. The drying effects of the whites make the cheesecake batter denser, while the yolks makes the batter airier.
Conclusion
As found in our results, cheesecake C was voted as the favorite, When asked to explain why a lot of people described it as creamy and fluffy. Its texture and density came from the egg whites and something that we did not intend on testing but noticed was how the egg whites gave the
cheesecake a light color compared to the others. If you are going for a more smooth and runny cheesecake, you should use egg yolks. If you are going for a more airy and creamy cheesecake, then use egg whites. If you want something more in between dense and airy, then use whole eggs. This experiment will answer people's aspiring questions when they want to make the creamiest, densest cheesecake. If they want to know if the form of an egg can alter the creaminess/density of their cheesecake batter, they can use our experiment for the answer. An aspiring cook could use this information to know how that using 5 egg yolks instead of whole eggs will take much longer than a regular recipe but will make the batter dense and more creamy.
