Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: I cannot get enough of the lightly sweet and tangy filling alongside the fresh and tart raspberry sauce. So good.
Texture: The texture is a food paradox. It’s simultaneously rich, dense, and decadent, yet fluffy and velvety and ultra creamy.
Ease: The hardest part is having enough patience to make this recipe! Definitely delayed gratification, every step is pretty simple just a little time consuming from start to finish.
Appearance: This New York-style cheesecake has that deeply golden brown crust which perfectly compliments the bright filling and colorful topping.
Pros: Great staple recipe to have.
Cons: Not even remotely diet-friendly. Sorry!
Would I make this again? Yes, next time I’ll use a higher quality thicker springform pan that can handle the high heat period without burning the crust. I’ll also double up by placing the springform pan on top of another pan to further shield the crust from the high heat.
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Over the years I’ve gotten quite a few questions from you guys about cheesecake, and I can understand why there’s confusion. Cheesecake is such a ubiquitous dessert, you can find it at most restaurants and bake shops. Yet there’s about ten trillion ways to make it. I usually like to make cheesecake bars because it takes out a lot of the guess work and is just quicker and easier, but there’s nothing quite as impressive as a towering cheesecake. Especially when there’s no cracks! But how do you accomplish that? Do you use a water bath? What’s a springform pan? Do you bake at a super low temperature? Do you turn the oven off and let the cheesecake cool inside the oven? When is a cheesecake done baking? These are all questions I’ve asked and experimented with different recipes and techniques to find the answers.
The recipe I’m sharing today is my favorite New York-style cheesecake. It’s super tall, ultra rich, and has that browned crust that screams New York cheesecake to me. Best of all, there’s no water bath required. I love that part because water baths can be rough. Many of us don’t have a deep pan large enough to put our springform pan into and if we do, the water is likely to leak into our cheesecake and create a soggy watery mess. The method I’m sharing today is a bit strange but really easy. Just be prepared to buy an outrageous amount of cream cheese.
Basically the method behind this recipe is to start the cheesecake out in a scorching, blazing hot oven for 10 minutes then turn it down super low. This allows us to avoid a water bath while also avoiding cracks, underbaking, or overcooking. In addition to the outrageous amount of cream cheese, there are also a ton of whole eggs and some egg yolks to make sure our cheesecake is rich and velvety. The sour cream in the recipe enhances the tangy flavor and creamy texture. Don’t forget the lemon juice, it helps cut through the richness of the cheesecake for a lovely fresh, tangy bite. Also be sure not to overmix the batter, mix only until smooth! Many of the questions I get asked about cheesecake is how to tell when it’s done baking. It’s not like regular cake where you can stick a cake tester in and immediately know if it’s done, it’s much more elusive than that. So if you struggle with baking cheesecakes to creamy perfection, use an instant-read thermometer to bake it to 150°F. Then you know it’ll be perfect.
Watch the video to see how to make my perfect version of cheesecake!
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New York Style Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 18 whole graham crackers (2 sleeves)
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
- 2 1/2 pounds (five 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, cut into chunks, at room temperature
- 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 5 large eggs plus 2 yolks, at room temperature
For the topping:
- 1 (12 ounce) package frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed OR 1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
For the crust:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray and place the pan on a larger rimmed baking sheet.
- In the bowl of a food processor process the crackers and sugar until finely ground. Add the butter and pulse until moistened. Use the bottom of a measuring cup, glass, or ramekin to press the crust mixture into the bottom and 1-inch up the sides of the pan. Bake until fragrant and golden brown, about 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
For the filling:
- Increase the oven temperature to 500°F.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese at medium-low speed until it is softened. Add the salt and sugar and beat until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla and beat on low speed until combined. Add the eggs and yolks, one at a time, until combined, moving slowly. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Pour the filling into the cooled crust and baked for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 200°F and continue to cook for 1 1/2 hours, or until the cheesecake reaches an internal temperature of 150°F.
- Transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool until just warm, 2 1/2 hours. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.
For the topping:
- In a small saucepan combine all of the topping ingredients. Heat over medium heat until simmering. Remove from heat and puree using an immersion blender or standing blender until smooth. If desired, strain out seeds. Allow to cool before pouring over the cheesecake.
The base of this recipe goes back, way back for me to the 80’s. It’s a solid recipe, you should try it. Don’t let the heat scare you.
Here’s a tip on the heavy cream mentioned below. 1/4 cup is the amount but, what does it do to our beloved cheesecake? If you like a dense cheesecake , don’t add it. The heavy cream makes your cheesecake more smooth .
There are a lot of tweaks of this recipe , because it’s such a solid recipe to work with. I use Orange zest with a tad of lemon juice. The Orange zest gives it a nice Citrus pop that comes through but not overpowering.
Really great recipe. Oldie but a goodie. Happy to see it here.
This is my go to cheesecake jumping off point. I may add zest of a fruit or add caramel or peach cobbler filling, but this is always where I start from. I’ve been making this for years, for xmas and birthdays. I even printed out the recipe to keep before I figured out how to copy the recipe into a folder. Thank you.
I use a similar recipe. The same amount of cream cheese, same amount of eggs and egg yolks. Instead of the sour cream it has 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream and it has 3 T of flour. The sugar though – it’s 2 and 1/4 cups in comparison to the 1 1/2 cups here. The lemon and vanilla are essentially the same. The heat is done differently though. It’s at 475 for 10 min and then 200 for an hour. Lower starting heat and a shorter overall time. Yesterday I made a recipe for a “Bavarian cheesecake” I found online that was submitted to Celebrity Desserts Cookbook by Linda Thompson in 1989. She is the great, great, great, great granddaughter of the woman who modeled the face of the statue of liberty (who was the mother of the artist). The reason I found the recipe was because of a cheesecake bakery that was in Mountain View but closed many years ago called Uncle Otto’s Cheesecake. It was quite well loved and often supplied restaurants in the area. I’m fairly certain it was in the newspaper back then because of its excellent reputation. I saw a blog where a former employee noted that it was Bavarian cheesecake. A term that, if looked up, comes up with as many versions as if you just looked up cheesecake. This particular “Bavarian” recipe though has the sour cream top layer that Uncle Otto’s had. In any case the thing that stood out to me was the temperature setting. It’s 375F for 45 min. This is for 1 1/2 lbs cream cheese, 3 eggs and 1 cup of sugar + flavoring. That’s it for the filling. I thought I’d try it as an experiment, but I thought – it can’t be good it’s too simple. It was velvety and wonderful. It reminded me of New York cheesecakes that I’ve loved. Anyway – no water bath and no low heat period. No cracking. The top was beautiful. I noticed your recipe starts at a higher heat than mine and I wonder if that contributes to the better texture. Mine is good but I think the recipie I just made was better. The heat is apparently a factor in ways other than cracking. It seems the texture in general. I’m going to try this recipe with the same heat as the Bavarian recipe and see what happens. I feel it may be worth it for people to experiment with the heat to get cheesecake to their own taste. These recipes scale fairly easily to make smaller amounts for experimental purposes although the time would vary. It seems like many people have a version of cheesecake that they have fond memories of. I strongly dislike no-bake versions but I have seen them made on TV cooking show contests and served as deserts. The judges seemed to like them. It reminds me of my childhood when recipes were mostly made with mixtures of canned and boxed foods and there were a lot of no-bake things. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Hi Vickie! Wow, it sure seems like you have plenty of experience with cheesecakes! I hope you try some of our recipes here on Handle the Heat! This one doesn’t use a water bath, but some others do. You can read all about water baths for cheesecakes here, if you like! Please let us know if you do make one of our recipes; we’d love to hear what you think! Happy baking 🙂
I have a question, im confused with my oven and i wanted to bake this cheesecake. I have whirlpool cooker with oven it has a fan ( is it convection?) if yes, do i need to bake it on 300degress instead 325? For how many hours or could i bake it on upper and lower heat setting on 325 dor 1hr and 15mins? Thank you
Hi, Karen! We’re actually not familiar with using the type of oven you have, but it sounds like your oven is convection due to the fan. I’d suggest checking out our Oven 101 article which details how to adjust temperature and timing, as our recipes do not call for using a convection oven. Hope that helps!
This is the best cheese cake recipe I’ve made
This is an amazing recipe. I’m actually planning to make it again but I was wondering if it’s possible to make it a raspberry swirl cheesecake instead of making a sauce to pour over the cake after baking.
Thank you for the amazing recipe!
Cheers
Iris x
Recipe is a hit with everyone and easy to make.Fills a nine inch spring form to the top and a bit left over for ramekins
The crust was thick and filled up the sides on my first attempt at recipe which caused it to burn around top edges. Lessened amount of crust to one inch lower on pan…perfect!! Used leftover crumbs in ramekins.Filling is smooth, creamy and delicious.Have made several now all have turned out perfect.Highly recommend this recipe especially to first time cheesecake makers….follow instructions..NO improvises and I promise a perfect cheesecake.If using ramekins for leftover filling be sure to adjust time baked to size…set but jiggly in the middle.
I am a sucker for a good New York Style Cheesecake! This looks absolutely wonderful!
I am looking at the Cook’s Illustrated cookbook right now and it’s the same recipe. Seems like naming a source might be good? I like your presentation, though.
can you adjust recipe for me if I’m using a 6 inch springform..thanks
I have a sour cream cheese pie recipe from a dear friend and it is very similar to yours. How to do the times vary if I use a 10 or 12 inch springboard pan? I think my family will love the raspberry topping as a change!! thank you.