What’s a water bath?

Do you scratch you head in puzzlement when a recipe calls for a ‘water bath’? No, it doesn’t mean you need to ‘bathe’ your desert(!) but rather, the dish requires moisture in the oven, to regulate heat and not direct heat from the oven. Some of these deserts include custards, puddings and cheesecakes. Cheesecakes baked without using a water bath would most probably crack, while puddings and custards may become rubbery.

So how do you bake with a water bath? Just place your baking tin into a pan filled with water (halfway up the pan) and put it into the oven. Put enough water into the pan to make sure it won’t all evaporate before the desert is baked.

If you’re using a spring form pan, wrap the pan with aluminium foil to prevent water from seeping through the bottom.

Recipe which uses water bath: Cotton Soft Japanese Cheesecake.