Need a fork? Or maybe a shovel. This is one ginormous piece of cheesecake. And oh boy, was it good. The cheesecake, that is. Personally, I can do without a bunch of fru fru when it comes to cheesecake. But, I wanted to dress a slice up and make it all pretty for you. This one is topped with raspberry, whipped cream, and white chocolate. It’s also the first real grown-up cheesecake I think I’ve ever made. Yay me! (Anyone else, hear London Tipton in their head when they read that? If you didn’t, don’t worry, that means the Disney Channel hasn’t infiltrated your brain.)
The only other kind of cheesecake I’ve made are these itsy-bitsy mini ones. Take a look. You’ll love how easy they are.
Anyway, when it comes to cheesecake, this is how I like mine.
Plain. Jane. No whipped cream. No whole fruit. Ever. Just dense and delicious. But, on occasion, I don’t mind a little raspberry sauce to touch it. I actually don’t mind fruit flavors at all. I just won’t eat the actual fruit. For instance, on these itsy bitsy mini ones. The cherries had to go. Cherry sauce… fine. Cherries… trash can. I know. I’m weird like that.
But, not totally weird. I do like other cheesecake flavors, like Oreo, chocolate, of course, and just about every other combination from the Cheesecake Factory – as long as it’s served without whipped cream or whole fruit. But, I usually gravitate towards the classic… and then I hope someone else orders a different flavor so I can try it.
And now that I’ve had success, I may just have to do some more experimenting on my own. This was really so easy, I don’t know why I’ve been hesitant to try making one for so long.
Start with the crust. Graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter mixed together.
Then press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a springform pan
.
Cream cheese, eggs, sugar, sour cream, vanilla, flour, and lemon juice. Dump it in.
And in a little over an hour, voila…
… cheesecake!
Now, it wasn’t perfect. It did have a crack going through the middle. From what I understand, this can be a common annoyance. You can see a hint of it to the right in this photo. But, that’s ok. You can cover stuff up like that with a sauce, or chocolate, or caramel and nuts, or (gags) whipped cream. Or just go ahead and slice the cheesecake, avoiding any defect.
For the raspberry sauce, I just used some jelly and heated it up until it was thin enough to spread on in a thin layer. Easy!
Here’s the entire recipe if you want to give it a go.
Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
Filling
Optional
Instructions
Now, before I let you go, I’m curious. How do you roll?
Plain Jane or Fancy Shmancy?
Or somewhere in between?
I have used your recipe since the first you posted it in 2009 ( at least that’s the first time I saw it) It is by far the best I’ve ever found. I’ve used it to make cheesecake pops and dozens of grooms cakes and even made a tiered wedding cake! Always gets raves. But now I live alone during the Covid quarantine and need to reduce this recipe to a 6” size. Any suggestions?
I think the easiest thing would be to make it in the smaller pan and then use the remaining batter in a second pan. You can bake it and use that extra to make and freeze some cheesecake pops.
looks tasty and delicious, thank you for sharing the recipe
I want to make it but it looks like I have to learn first
I made this cheesecake several years ago and never thought to leave a response until now. It was HIT at work!
I notice every recipe I read says refrigerate overnight, ya’ll don’t know what you’re missing, we eat ours warm and it is really good and very creamy
I’ve made this recipe with great success as a full cheesecake but I have a smaller pan that I’d like to use – I imagine that will be fine. I’d like to take the rest of the batter and make cupcakes with it. Can I do that with this recipe?
I love your business and how you run it.
It is so amazing.
Are you going to make a unother video.
For us please Bakerella.
Whoaaaa! That looks awesome!
Brilliant recipe! If I try it with chocolate instead of raspberry jelly, will it be good?
Brilliant recipe! If I try it with chocolate instead of raspberry jelly, will it be good?
I believe one could crumble Oreos on this, too, and drizzle a little chocolate on top…..omg, to die for!!!
This cheesecake looks delicious. I have my own favorite cheesecake recipe already but I am going to try this one to see if it surpasses the one I already make. One way of keeping the cheesecake from cracking is to brush melted butter on the sides of the pan before pouring the batter in. Also, baking it in a water bath will help to keep it from cracking. I bake my cheesecake for 1 hr. at 325 degrees, turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in the oven to cool for another hour. Take it out of the oven and cool on a wire rack for the third hour. After that, cover loosely with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
Either Plain Jane or Fancy Schmancy will do for me. As long as it’s cheesecake! But your cheesecake surely looks wonderful and delicious. It’s really mouthwatering!
The reason why your cheesecake is cracking is because your cooling it down too quickly! After turning off the oven leave the cheesecake in it to cool down slowly, that will avoid any cracks. And don’t be tempted to open the door to take a peek!!
I love this recipe it’s become one of my a family’s favorite I do it with a ganache topping
Could I use this recipe to make them into smaller portions? Like cupcake portions. I’ve use this recipe for cheesecake cake pops but I haven’t tried baking them individually into little ones.
Fancy Schmancy!
Put an overproof bowl filled with water in the oven below or behind the cheesecake during the baking process and you will avoid cracks.
Can I make this on a pie tart with a removable bottom instead of a springform pan? :)
I made this cheesecake 5 times between Thanksgiving & Christmas and it turn out perfect every time except the first time. The first time, I followed the recipe exactly and used an electric mixer and it cracked. Since then, I mix everything by hand and I mix the 5 eggs together and add them a little at at time. I use room temperature ingredients and I make it at least 2 days in advance of eating and it’s perfectly amazing! Thank you for sharing!
What should I do if I want to make the small individual size cheesecakes with the graham cracker crust. What adjustments will I need to make? How many can I bake at one time. What part of the oven should I bake them. Will they still need to bake as long since the won’t be as thick as the one baked in a springform pan. I just found your blog and I really want to try this recipe. I already have all of the ingredients, except I have to bake about 20 individual cheesecakes. I know that I will have to bake them in batches. Please give me your opinion and any advice that can help me to get on the right track. Thanks in advance.
Subbed 1, 8oz of cheese for puréed pumpkin and added pumpkin pie spice. ThAnksgiving day bliss!! Great recipe!
It won’t crack if you turn the oven off when it is time and leave the oven door open. After an hour take it out of the oven. Be sure not to over cook.
Fancy schmancy all the way baby
I don’t have a spring form pan but I heard I could use a 9×13 pyrex dish and its would be fine. Plus I’d rather it be cut from the pan. But I’m making it right now and it cracked in a couple places. Is that bad? And should it be brown on top?
I like mine in between. Nothing to fancy, but I do like some whipped cream on mine. I have had the Reese’s cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and it’s really good.
Yum!! I wish i had any sour cream left. I would be making it right now if not for that. But definitely on my list to try out and very very soon. Cheesecake is my fav. I can have it any way. Plain dressed up with chocolate or fruit sauce. No fruit for me too. at least not with cheesecake and whipped cream is a definite no, no. Thanks for the wonderful recipe. I have been looking for one that doesn’t have too many ingredients and easy to whip up.
Plain Jane….-ish, I like it plain with a sour cream topping & a couple fresh berries on top.
What a pretty and yummy looking cheesecake! Thought I’d chime in with my two cents worth. I had a cheesecake business for many years and have a couple of hints that will almost completely eliminate the problem with cracking that so often happens. First, if you have a food processor, it’s ideal for mixing the filling. You just dump the softened cream cheese, eggs, sugar, flour and melted chocolate (if you’re making a chocolate cheesecake) into the work bowl, pulse then mix continuously until smooth, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. This not only prevents excess air which can sometimes lead to cracks, but also gives you a perfectly smooth batter with no annoying lumps to deal with. The secret to cooking a cheesecake without a water bath is to use a two step baking process. Start it at 325 degrees for 25 minutes. Then without opening the oven door, lower the temperature to 225 degrees and continue cooking for about an additional hour and fifteen minutes. The cheesecake should lose it’s shiny appearance but still jiggle in the center. It won’t look done so the temptation is to keep cooking until it firms up but don’t do it as it will continue to cook after you take it out of the oven. The exact time for the second part of the baking will vary to some degree based on how accurate your oven is and whether or not you’ve added ingredients that will affect the consistency of the batter. Some things like fruit make the batter a bit looser so they will take longer to set up. Hope all this helps but if all else fails and you end up with a crater on the top of your cake, chill it until firm, dampen your fingers and press the cracks together. Then hide it with strawberries, whipped cream, melted chocolate, etc. No one will ever be the wiser!
I made this cheesecake this weekend and it was the best cheesecake I’ve ever had. Thank you so much for the recipe!!
Something in the middle for me! I don’t like sauce or chocolate with my cheesecake that much, but I love whole fruit! Especially raspberries.
Fancy Schmancy all the way
I hardly ever get cheesecake, because while it is delicious, I usually lean towards chocolate. However, when I do have it I always get fancy! Your cheesecake looks so amazing!!! I want to snatch it right out of the computer screen!
Hi!
My mother loves cheesecake and she makes it with brown sugar and no whipped cream or any other dressing. But I like mine with a bit of strawberries or raspberries.
:):):):)
I love cheesecake so much that we had a 7 tier wedding cake that was all cheesecake! Each tier had a different topping…cherry sauce, chocolate sauce, lemon sauce, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, and plain for the topper. It was absolutely the most beautiful and scrumptious wedding cake I’ve ever seen and we got so many compliments on it.
I’m currently making this as I write this! I made it for Christmas this year and it was a hit :) I tried putting some chocolate in it but plain jane is definitely the way to go!
So – Would this be ok if it firmed up for a day instead of overnight? say from 11 to 8 or so? Thanks! Looks delish!
I love getting them plain with cherry sauce on the side. Then I eat the sauce then cake.
this is wonderful:)
Fancy Schmancy for me please!!!!!!!!!!
:)
My boyfriend is a total plain jane guy when it comes to cheesecake, doesn’t even like different flavors. I like it somewhere in between. (:
Is it okay to omit the sour cream?
i love to make new things and try new things that is whats so fun about cooking and baking never know if it will come out right or wrong but you have a 2nd try at it.
Hello,I’m from Singapore.I love cheesecake.It is delicious.I would like to learn to do cheesecake.Yum!!!!!!