You’ll need to wet the knife every few inches to keep it from drying and dragging against the side of the cheesecake. Don’t use cold water, as it isn’t as effective as hot water. Using cold increases the chances that the cake will crack or break.
A cook’s blowtorch. If you’re lucky enough to have one in your kitchen, this is a great tool for warming up the base of a cheesecake. Hold the pan with a potholder. Turn on the torch and with extreme care pass the lit blowtorch under the base. This will heat the butter and soften the cheese just enough to slide the cake out of the pan. Take care not to overheat it! A gas burner. Hold the pan with a potholder. Turn on your gas burner and carefully hold the cheesecake over the burner to heat up the bottom of the cake. If you don’t have a gas burner, you can try a lighter. Again, be careful not to overheat the pan. It will get very hot. A knife wet with hot water. This is the least preferable method, since wetting the crust of the cake will affect its texture. If you don’t have tools to directly heat the bottom of the pan, this is a good option.
Many cooks simply leave the cake on its base instead of attempting to slide it off. Feel free to place the entire cake base on the serving platter. You can hide its edges by decorating around the cake with sliced strawberries or raspberries.
Don’t use cold water to loosen the cake, since it isn’t as effective as hot water. You can cover any cracks or gouges on the sides of the cake by using a knife dipped in hot water to smooth them over.
You may also want to heat the bottom of the cake before attempting the transfer. This will make it easier for the cake to unstick from the bottom of the springform pan.
Make sure you lift at the exact same moment, using the same speed, or else the cake will break. Once you have the cake on the platter, gently slide the spatulas out from under the cake.
Some chefs also like to use a cardboard cutout to lend the cake a little more support. Cut out a piece of cardboard the same size as the base of the springform pan. Press a piece of parchment paper over the cardboard. If you want to line the sides of the pan with parchment as well, cut a strip long enough to wrap around the inside of the pan and slightly thicker than the depth of the pan. Now you can make your cheesecake as normal, and when it is completely chilled the cake can be removed with ease from the pan.
