I used to crack every single cheesecake, then my neighbor Rosa in Fresno showed me the water bath trick
For like 2 years every cheesecake I made came out with a giant crack down the middle and I just served it anyway with extra topping to hide it. Rosa watched me pull one out of the oven last spring and said I was cooking it way too hot, so now I do 325 degrees with a pan of water on the rack below. Three cheesecakes since and not one crack, though my oven mitts keep getting soaked. Does anyone else's springform pan leak in the bath or is it just my cheap one?