I make this one, which was adapted from a Dorie Greenspan recipe.

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_cheesecake/

I make half the recipe and use a 6 x 3 cheesecake pan because you can't get the right creaminess in a cheesecake without it being at least 3" tall. Plus there's only two of us so we eat it for four days in a row as it is.

I haven't added fruit to it because I'm all about the creaminess. I do make a chocolate and a pumpkin version if you're interested. I make three a year!

One tip--make sure to leave the cream cheese out for a few hours. You can even put it in a warm oven for a minute or two. Also you don't want to whip air into the mixture so use a lower speed on your mixer.

^^^Dorie’s a good source!👍🏻

And it does sound like the cream cheese was the issue, especially if it seemed off to you.

You're fine. You can make a cheesecake. You already learned a big lesson. Baking of any kind has to be ”right”. I can improvise after decades of experience, and willingness to make the best of failures, but not before I've perfected the original. If you read the history of Philadelphia cream cheese, it'll perhaps make more sense why when the recipes say ”cream cheese” they mean Philly. I love Sierra Nevada brand cream cheese, which has wonderful flavor and costs more, but it is…brittle?…and I wouldn't sub it for Philly in something structural, like a cheesecake. Same is true for other ingredients. I've learned in the last 15 years, mostly in this forum, how little most people know about baking (I'm not talking about you—it's my IRL friends who are clueless though they seem otherwise competent), so if I share a recipe, I include the exact kind of flour and sugar, and other ingredients. Saving the two dollars, as you've been generous enough to report, cost the whole cake.

So to the apricots, were they sulphured? That stabilizes the color. Unsulphered turn brown, and are also less tight fleshed. I always taste fruit, fresh or dried, to make sure of the sweetness, texture, etc., before using. Sometimes, especially with dried, it smells sweet, but is sour and/or bitter. Sometimes, it just means add a bit more sugar. Sometimes it's just eww. And yes, when it's separate pieces, you have to taste a few, but usually the whole package will be represented in those few, and you only need a sliver of each to taste.

Do try a recommended recipe next time, like Eileen's, above. Sometimes the recipe is just not so great.

Good luck! Keep your chin up and all that! Cheesecakes, breads, and some other recipes often don't come out well until you've made them five times,

I believe the apricots were sulphured because they had good color. But yea, spring for the Philly....

I did manage to figure out a good pumpkin cheesecake recipe, but while I loved it, it didn't go over as well as I would have thought last Thanksgiving. Oh well. At least I have one good baked cheesecake recipe.

You can also try to reason out what they didn't like about last year's cheesecake. Was it too much ”food” after the dinner? I recently read a science thing about how the sweet after the meal actully dulls the sensation of fullness, making its own ”room”, but maybe cheesecake is too rich for that? Or maybe they didn't like the pumpkin flavor? Any guesses? Because you could try that recipe if you have more apricots. And, I don't doubt you about the apricots, but unsulphered do start out orange, The label is the best way to know…

No matter the holiday, what most people really like are chocolate chip cookies and fudge brownies, so you can always take the easy wsy out…

Plllog, thanks for the info about philly.

mxk — plllog has great advice. I am sorry for all your efforts not working out, but we all have our stories 🫢😱🤗

When I was in my 20’s, I wanted to duplicate the great Yankee style simple pie crust my mom made for her pies. I was working at my first real job and was invited to a Thanksgiving get together with colleagues. I planned to make a simple pumpkin pie.

Honestly, it took me a whole 5 Lb bag of AP flour to get a simple one-crust pie shell to roll out and cover the Pyrex pie plate. At the last two or so cups of flour, I was up against the clock and wall. I pressed that pie crust into the pan. Last chance. Whew!

Keep the faith.

Oh, I'm not worried about it -- I have plenty of go-to dessert recipes to choose to pull out when I need one. I just thought this was a truly horrendous cheesecake, so bad I didn't even save any bit of it -- you know, a fail but hey I'll eat it anyway. Not this one...

I'm not very good at determining when cheesecake is even done. Elery says it's good, so it must be, I don't really like the stuff.

I've used all types of cream cheese, from Aldi to Costco to Philadelphia and have been lucky to have not had a problem yet.

I just hate to spend time and ingredients and have something not turn out well, or even similar to what I anticipated.

Annie

I tend to make gelatine set cheesecakes rather than baked cheesecakes, but my rule of thunb for when a baked cheesecake is done is to give the pan a sideways shake. If there’s just a little jiggle in the centre, it’s done.

Colleen, same here but I tap the side of the pan with a wooden spoon.