This is the perfect New York style cheesecake recipe – it’s creamy, decadent and delicious. I include a video tutorial and a ton of tips and tricks for getting the perfect homemade cheesecake with no cracks.
How I created this New York Style Cheesecake Recipe
Do you watch “Friends”? Anyone? Remember the episode “The one with all the cheesecakes”? A cheesecake was delivered by accident to Rachel’s apartment, and she and Chandler eat the whole thing.
They order a replacement, it gets delivered to them again and they eat, reorder, eat, reorder… They argue over the final cheesecake and decide to split it.
Long story short during the argument the entire cheesecake ends up on the floor in the hall…. And the episode ends with them eating the cheesecake off the ground – YUP it’s THAT good.
Well THIS is that cheesecake. Good enough to risk eating off the floor, I promise. It’s rich and creamy and spectacular!
There are so many styles of cheesecakes, some have cream, some have sour cream, some use different cheese’s like ricotta, etc… But this is the classic.
It cooks low and slow, doesn’t get overly brown, and has a great texture all the way through. It’s not light or airy, it’s decadent, rich and creamy perfection.
The sour cream topping is optional, some would say it doesn’t belong on this cheesecake, that it’s more for NY style, but I love that BIT of tang to go along with this cheesecake, but it’s amazing without it too.
Just take me to the Easy Cheesecake Recipe already!
If you’d rather skip my tips and tricks for homemade cheesecake, along with links to other easy cheesecake recipes and get straight to this delicious New York style cheesecake – simply scroll to the bottom of the page where you can find the printable recipe card.
Tips and Tricks for Creating your own Unique Cheesecake Recipe
- Change the crust – you can turn any cookie into a crumb crust – graham crackers, nilla wafers, oreos, etc…
- Change the crust – you can use a different desserts as the base – cake, brownie, cookie, macaroon, etc…
- Change up the filling – Add some kind of flavoring – maple extract, lemon zest and juice, peanut butter, caramel sauce, melted chocolate, etc…
- Add mix ins – Bacon, chocolate chips, peanut butter cups, oreo cookies, lemon curd, marshmallows, nuts, etc…
- Add toppings – caramel bacon pecan topping, lemon curd, meringue, hot fudge, sour cream topping, mousse, whipped cream, caramel sauce, etc…
Should you add flour to your cheesecake?
Adding flour to your cheesecake gives it a more cake like texture – I prefer a smooth dense cheesecake. So personally don’t add it.
Should you add sour cream to your cheesecake?
Adding sour cream to your cheesecake is a way to help fight it being dry – I prefer to simply not over bake my cheesecake to keep it smooth and creamy vs adding extra ingredients.
How to adjust this Cheesecake for the instant pot
Currently the cheesecake is too big to fit in a pressure cooker. Go to the “servings size” in the recipe card and adjust it until the cream cheese measurement is at either 1.5 or 2 lbs depending on what thickness you want your cheesecake and what size pan your switching to.
Which means of course to change the springform pan size – I use an 8 inch springform pan for my 8 quart pressure cooker, but I recommend a 7 inch for the 6 quart.
For instant pot cheesecake tips and tricks and cooking times go to my instant pot cheesecake post! Or you can turn them into Instant pot cheesecake bites. (I have peanut butter bites, oreo bites and salted caramel bites already shared)
What is a classic cheesecake crust?
I’ve always thought a graham cracker crust was classic. I like to switch it up with all kinds of biscuits or cookies. Nilla wafers are a favorite of mine. but I’ve used oreos, ginger snaps, lemon cookies, shortbread and more.
I recently got a comment that I was wrong to use graham crackers and that a classic crust is a thin layer of sponge cake? I had new clue what they were talking about.
Then I found out that Juniors cheesecake in NYC and Brooklyn do their cheesecake with a sponge cake crust and so when I was in NY I went to give it a try.
The cheesecake itself is amazing, but the sponge cake crust was soggy and it didn’t hold the cheesecake at all. Super weak as a crust so I wasn’t a fan. Plus I missed the crunch you get from a cookie/cracker crust.
Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Cheesecake with no cracking
– Room temperate ingredients are key for a smooth texture.
– Beat the cream cheese and sugar as much as you want, make it smooth, but once you add the eggs, do NOT overbeat, just mix on low until they are barely incorporated, beating after you add the eggs is what often leads to cracking.
– Make sure your oven is the correct temperature (I love my oven thermometer)
– I used to hate water baths – the foil always leaks and I don’t like mushy crusts – but waterbaths keep cheesecakes more evenly baked and nice and flat – so now I recommend a silicone water bath pan!!!
– TRY not to open the oven door, like ever, if you can help it.
– That said if you run out of water in the pan on the bottom of the oven or in the water bath and you need to add more boil it first so it’s hot, then open the oven and pour it into the pan carefully and close the door – as quick as you can.
– Cook your cheesecake until it’s still a bit jiggly in the center, like a loose jello jiggler, but not liquid, in the center 2-3 inches. It will keep cooking afterwards a bit, and IMO better to be slightly under cooked than overcooked.
– Turn off the oven and crack open the oven door to let it cool slowly, this will help it finish cooking but not cool TOO fast and crack
– Do NOT eat it right away, cheesecake sets and gets BETTER with time in the fridge, at LEAST 8 hours, I prefer a full day or two for better flavor
To make this cheesecake perfect you’ll need
- Food processor (to make the crust easier)
- 1o” springform pan
- 10″ parchment cake circles
- Oven thermometer (to make sure your baking at the right temp)
- Silicone water bath pan
- 12×3″ cake pan (for the water bath)
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
New York Style Easy Cheesecake Recipe
If you love these homemade cheesecakes as much as I do, I’d love a 5 star review. Be sure to share on social media and tag me if you make it @ashleemariecakes! If you want to stay updated on new recipes sign up for my newsletter and join my Facebook Group!
If you love New York Style Homemade Cheesecake you’ll love these other cheesecake recipes!
Chocolate Cheesecake | Salted Caramel Cheesecake | Pistachio Cheesecake
Lemon Meringue Cheesecake | Maple Bacon Cheesecake | Instant Pot Cheesecake
To watch me make this Homemade Cheesecake play the video in the recipe card. You can find all my cooking show style recipe videos on YouTube, or my short recipe videos on Facebook Watch, or my Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
Dense and Creamy Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/4 C Vanilla wafer crumbs or graham cracker crumbs
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 6 Tbsp butter melted
Cake
- 3 lbs full fat cream cheese softened
- 1 ½ C granulated sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 lrg eggs room temp
- 2 lrg egg yolks room temp
Topping (optional)
- 1 1/2 C full fat sour cream
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 375 – prepare your pan by spraying the outside with a non stick baking spray and place a parchment circle in the bottom
- mix all the crust ingredients and toss lightly with fork until well blended.
- Press firmly into the bottom of a 10 inch spring form pan.
- Bake on the bottom rack until crisp and golden, abut 15 min.
- Let cool.
- Reduce oven to 300 and place baking dish full of hot water on the bottom rack to create moisture (leave this in while baking).
Cake
- Beat cheese sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on med until light and fluffy, about 30-60 sec.
- Scrape the bowl, beat 45 sec more – make sure it’s smooth with no chunks.
- Lightly whisk the eggs and yolks together and add to cream cheese mixture.
- Mix on low speed until they are incorporated and the batter is velvety, about 30 sec, scrape the bowl and mix 10 sec more – do NOT overbeat.
- Pour the filling over crust, bake on the center rack until golden, about 1 1/4 hours +.
- When you open the rack and shift the pan the center will jiggle a little, but not too much. This is the trick to learn, you might slightly undercook (not bad) or slightly overcook (okay) the first time as you get used to this style.
- Just the center 4-5 inches will jiggle and not like soup, like a loose jello jigglers.
- If you want the topping add it now.
- Turn the oven off and crack open the door and let the cake cool then refrigerate overnight, cheesecake tastes better after a day or two in the fridge.
Topping (optional)
- Mix all the ingredients
- Pour over the warm cake and lightly spread the topping
- Return to oven for 5 min cool completely and refrigerate.
Amber @ Dessert Now, Dinner Later!
That is one THICK cheesecake! I want some right now! Pinned!
Ashlee
Mmmmm There are so many different cheesecake preferences that I know it’s not for everyone but it is my absolute FAVORITE I’ve ever EVER had!
Brenda
I watch the cheesecake video it got my attention it looks so yummy but I never sent the recipe for it can you please send me the recipe for the perfect cheesecake recipe.
It was a plain cheesecake with faith in sour cream typing
Ashlee
the recipe is right in the post – I’m not sure why you aren’t seeing it? are you on mobile? did you click the “read more” button (mobile only shows a short preview of the post until you click the read more button)
Cathy Silva
The reason is because the ingredients in the video are not the ingredients in the post recipe Dense and Creamy Cheesecake. The video shows only 3 ingredients for the filling but the recipe shows add’l ingredients. The recipe shows vanilla wafers but the video shows graham crackers. So the recipe and video don’t match.
Ashlee Marie
The video shows cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla just like the recipe calls for. And you can use graham crackers or nilla wafers, cookies or nuts in the crust. The best part about cooking from scratch is that you can personalize recipes to create anything you want! This is the base for all of my cheesecake recipes!
Jessica
Is there lemon juice in the recipe? It says lemon juice in the recipe when adding the eggs to the cream cheese mixture. However there isn’t any lemon juice in the ingredient list
Ashlee Marie
sorry about that – it was an optional ingredient, I’ve cleaned it up
Josie
Hi. How many blocks of cream cheese is 3 lbs? Looks delish!! I’m gonna try this recipe
Ashlee Marie
6 blocks of cream cheese.
Jennifer Shalk
This is hands-down the best cheesecake recipe I’ve ever made. It will be my “go-to” one from now on. There was no sinking or cracking in the middle after cooling. Thanks so much for posting!
Ashlee
YAY YAY YAY! love hearing this, so glad you enjoy it as much as we do!
Ekim
This is a new york style cheescake !!!! You may say Daaa ! But all these thick ass cheesecakes are being called new york style and there not a new york style cheesecake has the sour cream on top and is not generally super thick all though I dont think that matters so much the thick shit is a fairly new development I’d say in the last 30 years there abouts the sour cream on top or new york style has been around sence the 30’s at least. Thank you!!!! Pleas do not send a bunch of crap to my email I’m not interested.
Ashlee Marie
If you don’t sign up for the newsletter you won’t get any emails from me – no worries. You can cut the recipe down to make a thinner version but yes I’ve always thought sour cream topping was classic NY style cheeescake. You wouldn’t BELIEVE the crazy hate emails I get over it though. People get crazy over their cheesecakes. at the end of the day deliciousness is all I care about!
Yvonne @ TriedandTasty.com
Wow, that’s absolutely GORGEOUS! Like, seriously the most perfect cheesecake I’ve ever seen! It must be cheesecake season… pretty popular the last couple of days 🙂 Definitely pinning!
Ashlee
Thanks so much! it’s funny how people think of the same things! I put off posting my granola because so many people have been posting it!
Kathy
Simple ingredients and sooo much cheese, but delicious!
I put a strawberry sugar cooked sauce over it instead of the sour cream layer.
Ashlee Marie
it does make a super large cheesecake, you can go down to 2 lbs and do a 9 inch or 8 inch pan
Jessica @ Pretty Providence
Oh my goodness. This looks beyond amazing! I can’t wait to try it out!
Ashlee
Thanks so much! It is seriously SO delicious! I have a ton of cheesecake recipes I need to post! it’s one of my favorite desserts!
Gloria
Do you have a passion fruit cheese cake recipe? Tomorrow I will be doing this recipe to see how it comes out! Thank you very much!
Ashlee
ohhhh I have a triple citrus one, but not passion fruit, but I am working on a cheesecake cookbook right now and I’ll add this request to the list!
EMERY OGILVIE
WATCHED THE CHEESECAKE VIDEO . WHAT KIND OF MIER IS THAT ? LOOKS BETTER THAN MY KITCHEN AID .
Ashee Marie
It’s a bosch universal mixer – Their website is here http://bit.ly/Ilovemybosch or you can find it on amazon too http://amzn.to/210Eyra I have a full review here http://ashleemarie.com/bosch-universal-mixer-review-love-bosch-series/
Becky @ Project Domestication
Oh my, divine! And now I need to go watch that episode! 🙂
Ashlee
right? love that episode!
Aimee @ Like Mother Like Daughter
oh my goodness, everyone is posting cheesecakes lately and now I really want one/some. This cheesecake looks like pure perfection! I haven’t tried my hand at too many cheesecakes, but your tips seem just perfect and I can’t wait to try this one!
Ashlee
I hope the tips and tricks work! Let me know if you try it and what you think!
Carrie
Yummy!
Ashlee
yup, Yum is right!
Audra @ RealityToDreams
My husband LOVES cheesecake and has a summer birthday! I think I just found his birthday ‘cake!’
Ashlee
yay! My favorite way to serve it during the summer is to cut it into slices, add a stick, and dip it in chocolate, mmmmm
Danielle
That looks totally DREAMY! Can’t wait to give it a try – I love eating (more like devouring) good cheesecakes!
Ashlee
Mmmmmm i wish I had some right now as I go through the commments! It is SO good!
S. Wilkerson
Great recipe – the ingredients are on my shopping list. I LOVE a dense cheesecake.
Thank you.
Sheila
PS – you might want to check your instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375
2. Toss lightly with fork until well blended.
3. Press firmly into the bottom of a 10 inch spring form pan.
Ashlee
does it GET better than dense cheesecake? i think not! let me know what you think and how it goes!
Laura Muir
Wowza!! That looks fantastic! I am such a sucker for a good cheesecake. It’s def in my top 5 favorites! I’ll have to give this one a try next time Im ready to indulge! Mmmm.
~Laura
Ashlee
I’d love to hear what you think!
Lisa Marie
I saw this recipe and at 10:23pm on a Saturday night I am baking this cheesecake for my step-mother’s birthday celebration tomorrow…I will let you know what the family says..so stay tuned ! I can;t wait to try this !!!
Ashlee
I can’t wait to hear what everyone thought! Not everyone likes their cheesecake as dense as I do!
Ashley
This looks AMAZING! thank you so much for sharing (and blogging!! I love all you bloggers!!) I am such a sucker for cheesecake. I am making this for Easter dessert. You have the topping listed as optional-does your cheesecake have this topping (in the pictures you have posted?) I would love for mine to look just as amazing as this!
Ashlee
yes, the optional topping from the recipe IS on the cheesecake pictures! Did you make it? Did you love it?
Shar
Hi, I love a dense and tart cheesecake.
Do you think adding sour cream to this recipe will ruin the baking time or consistency?
Ashlee
I wouldn’t, you could add the optional lemon juice and use the sour cream topping. But once you start changing the ingredients, like adding sour cream, it changes the chemistry of the recipe and it won’t stand up quite the same. You could substitute out some for the cream cheese for greek yogurt or sour cream, but it would take some testing to figure out the amt’s it wouldn’t be a straight ratio
sils
3 pounds of cheese??! Isn’t that a lot
Ashlee
nope! it’s perfection! It’s a large, tall cheesecake, if your making a smaller version of course you’d use less.
Jonny
Hi Ashlee
I’m pretty experienced with making cheesecakes. I recently moved to London, UK. In the States I’d use a gas oven and with water baths I never had issues with cracking. Here I have access to electric fan assisted ovens only. I lowered the temp 20 degrees (celsius.) Other than that I followed the instructions exactly. This was also my first time using a pan of water instead of water bath. I turned off the oven after an hour and let it cool for an hour. Unfortunately I got a deep “T” shaped crack right in the middle of it. I was apprehensive about the fan assisted oven from the get-go. Got any recommendations about using such an oven?
Ashlee
okay, is there anyway to use the oven without the convection fan being on? most of the ovens here let you pick between conventional and convection. BUT if you can’t, convection ovens cook MUCH faster than conventional, like TWICE as fast (so 1/2 – 3/4’s of the time frame, or drop the temp by 25 -30 degrees), so your cheesecake would probably be done at about 45-50 mins rather than 1 hour 15 mins. But it will take a little testing to figure out. Also I’d def get an oven thermometer to check if it’s running too hot or on track. also because it cooks things more brown I’d consider covering the cheesecake for part of the time. I hope that helps!
Sydnei
What would your suggestion be if i only have an 8inch spring form pan? I have used the exact recipe before with it and the center is just always too soft.
Ashlee
I’d do 2/3rds of the recipe in that case, or you could try lowering the temp and looking longer to try to get through that HEIGHT without over cooking the outside.
Andrew
Thank you. I’m having the same problem! Will try these suggestions and see! Thanks Ashlee!
emily
I made myself this cheesecake for my birthday. For the crust I only used the gingersnaps and I didn’t have sour cream so instead I sprinkled mini chocolate chips on top. But I followed the instructions for the cheesecake portion exactly and it came out amazing. The top was so perfectly golden and the cake so thick rich and gooey. Thanks so much!
Ashlee
YAY! that makes me so happy! I’m so glad you loved it!
Kayla
Have you ever tried freezing this cheesecake? I want to make it ahead for Thanksgiving. It looks exactly like my husband is requesting. Thick and dense!
Ashlee
yup, I slice it, freeze it then dip the slices in chocolate and eat it that way! mmmmm, I’ve never frozen the whole cheesecake, but I’d cool it , refrigerate it, then wrap it in plastic, then freeze it, let it thaw in the plastic so it condenses on the plastic, then unwrap and serve!
MaidPro St. George
Oh my goodness! This looks fantastic!
Our staff was also curious about prepping it ahead of time. Can you freeze this cheesecake?
We are definitely sharing this with our clients 🙂
Ashlee
I often slice it, add a stick and freeze it, then dip it in to chocolate for frozen cheesecake on a stick! I’ve never frozen the whole cheesecake befor but you totally could
Beatrice
Hi! I was wondering if I could use an oval pyrex dish and if yes, how long would it take to cook it in the oven? It’s about 25cm long and 6cm high. Thank you! And by the way, this looks really good! Can’t wait to try it! 🙂
Ashlee
I wouldn’t, the reason you use a springform pan is so that you can take the outside off and then easily cut the cheesecake. if you don’t have one I’d suggest a pie pan (but cut the filling recipe in half). if you used a pyrex dish you wouldn’t be able to get nice slices out, you’d just destroy the cheesecake trying to get it out of the pan.