Classic Cheesecake Recipe

of the pan and place in the oven. Or you can place the roasting pan in the oven first then pour the hot water in. Whichever is easier for you.
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Classic Cheesecake Recipe
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Author Sally
Published 10052022
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Look no further for a creamy and ultra smooth classic cheesecake recipe! Paired with a buttery graham cracker crust no one can deny its simple decadence. For the best results bake in a water bath.
Perfect cheesecake on a pink cake stand
Not a Plain Cheesecake Recipe
As much as I love cheesecake Ive never published a classic cheesecake recipe. Theres been peanut butter cheesecake blueberry swirl cheesecake Snickers cheesecake pumpkin swirl cheesecake lemon cheesecake caramel turtle cheesecake or Amaretto cheesecake. Plus more cheesecake in my published cookbooks. Thats a lot of cheesecake recipes without a single nod to where it all originates classic cheesecake.
To me classic cheesecake is creamy rich and smooth. My cheesecake recipe is not as dense as New York cheesecake but its just as special. Its thick its velvety and theres no denying its decadence. When I imagine what Chandler and Rachels stolen cheesecake tastes like its this!
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While theres a glaring absence of chunks swirls and sprinkles in this ivory crowned jewel theres nothing plain about it.
slice of cheesecake on a spatula
slice of cheesecake with whipped cream and strawberry on top on white plate on top of wood board.
Preparing my cheesecake recipe is rather simpleits baking the cheesecake that could result in a flop. Many factors are at play like the springform pan leaking the surface of the cheesecake cracking underbaking overbaking etc. I have plenty of tricks that will help guarantee classic cheesecake perfection including determining when the cheesecake is done and everything you need to know about a cheesecake water bath.
2 images of cream cheese blocks in a glass bowl and filling in a glass stand mixer bowl.
How to Make Classic Cheesecake
You only need a few basic staple ingredients for this cheesecake recipe.
Brick cream cheese Four 8ounce bricks of fullfat cream cheese are the base of this cheesecake. Thats 2 pounds. Make sure youre buying the bricks of cream cheese and not cream cheese spread. There are no diets allowed in cheesecake so dont pick up the reducedfat variety!
Sugar 1 cup. Not that much considering how many mouths you can feed with this dessert. Oversweetened cheesecake is hardly cheesecake anymore. Using only 1 cup of sugar gives this cheesecake the opportunity to balance tangy and sweet just as classic cheesecake should taste.
Sour cream 1 cup. I recently tested a cheesecake recipe with 1 cup of heavy cream instead but ended up sticking with my original which can be found here with blueberry swirl cheesecake!. I was curious about the heavy cream addition and figured it would yield a softer cheesecake bite. The cheesecake was soft but lacked the stability and richness I wanted. It was almost too creamy. Sour cream is most