Classic New York Cheesecake (An Old Fashioned Cheesecake)

A slice of cheesecake with sour cream topping.

5 from 2 votes

Classic New York Cheesecake (An Old Fashioned Cheesecake)

This old fashioned classic New York cheesecake recipe is probably the only cheesecake recipe you ever need - a lovely buttery crust filled with tangy cream cheese filling and topped with plain sour cream - the most perfect combination for a cheesecake!

Prep Time20

Cook Time1

Chilling Time4

Total Time5 20

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: seven inches round cake

Calories: 3667kcal

Author: Priya Maha

Ingredients

Crust

100 g Digestive cookies or Graham Crackers
15 g granulated sugar
50 g butter melted

Filling

450 g cream cheese softened
150 g granulated sugar
20 g all purpose flour
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon lemon zest grated
½ teaspoon lemon juice
⅛ teaspoon salt
120 g sour cream
2 eggs

Garnish

120 g sour cream optional

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Preheat oven to 150°Celsius.
Break the cookies into crumbs by processing them in a food processor or by putting them in a zip lock bag and pressing them with a rolling pin. Place the crumbs in a bowl, add the sugar and melted butter, and mix until all the ingredients are well combined.
Transfer the crust mix into a parchment paper-lined 7 inches round springform pan and press it down evenly and firmly. Set aside. In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth for 30 seconds.
Scrape the sides of the bowl, add the sugar, flour, salt, lemon zest, and lemon juice and beat again for 20 seconds.
Scrape the bowl. Add in both the eggs and vanilla extract. Beat for about 10 seconds until the eggs are just combined. Scrape the bowl and continue beating for another 10 seconds until the batter is all smooth and creamy. Do not overbeat to avoid the batter from incorporating too much air.
Fold in the sour cream with a spatula until it is evenly combined into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared crust and bake in a water bath for 60 minutes at 150 degrees Celsius. When done, the sides should be firm and the center of the cake still wobbly. Turn the oven off and leave the cake in the oven for another 10 minutes.ated.
Remove from oven and let the cake cool for another 20 minutes before loosening the cake tin and removing the cake out. Let the cake rest in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight before serving.
Garnish the top with sour cream before serving. Keep leftovers refrigerated.

Notes

Mix your batter until just combined, do not over mix

Unlike cakes where butter and sugar need to be well creamed, when mixing cheesecake batter, you only mix the ingredients until they are just combined.

For this classic New York cheesecake recipe, suffice if the cream cheese is creamed for about 30 seconds to 1 minute and then for the sugar and eggs, another 20 to 30 seconds each.

Over beating the batter can cause too much air to be incorporated into the New York cheesecake batter. These air bubbles will cause your New York cheesecake to have unsightly bubbles on the surface after baking.

Place the cake on the lowest rack in your oven

This helps avoid the top of the New York cheesecake from getting too heated. Placing it on the lowest rack helps avoid cracks as well as over-browning of the top.

Keep the oven interior moist by baking in a water bath (bain-marie)

This is done by placing your tin in a baking dish filled with water in the oven and let the cake cook with the water in the oven. The water will help keep the interior of the oven moist, preventing this classic cheesecake from drying out as it cooks and potentially avoids cracks.

When using a spring-form pan, to avoid water from the baking dish seeping into the cheesecake, you can wrap the sides of your pan securely with aluminum foil and then place it in the water-filled baking dish.

The other way is to place your springform tin in another slightly larger baking tray and then place both in the water-filled baking dish. This will also prevent the water from seeping into the cheesecake as it is baking.

Choose a 'non-fan' oven setting

If your oven comes with a fan function, disable the fan function. This helps in avoiding cracks as well.

Keep to the baking time indicated in the recipe

Cheesecakes should not be cooked until the top is all set. Ideally, you should turn the oven off when the sides are firm and the center is still wobbly.

This cheesecake will continue to cook as it cools down and that is how the cheesecake should be handled. Let it rest in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes to avoid sudden temperature change which can also cause it to crack.

Nutrition