New York Cheesecake Recipe Sour Cream Topping

New York Style Cheesecake is a creamy, classic cheesecake with a layer of sour cream floating on top. It’s often served with fresh berries.

A New York Style Cheesecake is known for being more creamy and dense than typical cheesecakes. A New York cheesecake is made differently than other cheesecake recipes. In this recipe, it’s baked at 350 degrees F., and then the oven is turned off and the cheesecake continues to bake in the warmed oven for an additional 90 minutes before opening the oven. A layer of sweetened sour cream is spread on top of the baked cheesecake.

You do need a special kind of pan in order to make classic cheesecake recipes. It’s called a Springform Pan, and it’s an inexpensive buy. Purchase one (easy) on Amazon, or pick one up at Target or HomeGoods. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on a high-end, pricy springform pan.

New York Cheesecake With Sour Cherry Topping

Classic New York Cheesecake starts with a graham cracker crust, which is a mixture of graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter. It’s not a crust that needs any baking. The crust ingredients are combined and then pressed into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan.

In this recipe, the cheesecake filling is very simply made with just five ingredients. Cream cheese, Greek yogurt, sugar, eggs and vanilla are combined to create the filling that will turn into cheesecake when baked.

New York Cheesecake is delicious eaten plain and all on its own. Cheesecake enthusiasts will appreciate a good-tasting cheesecake without any toppings. Many people desire something extra to adorn their plain slice of cheesecake. Here are some ideas for topping cheesecake:

New York Cheesecake W/lemon Zest And Sour Cream Topping

Cheesecake needs to be stored in the refrigerator. Covered with plastic wrap, cheesecake will last three days in the refrigerator. If you’re able to put it into an airtight container, it will last a little longer- about 5 days.

Serving: 1 serving , Calories: 407 kcal , Carbohydrates: 32 g , Protein: 7 g , Fat: 29 g , Saturated Fat: 16 g , Cholesterol: 125 mg , Sodium: 318 mg , Potassium: 140 mg , Fiber: 1 g , Sugar: 26 g , Vitamin A: 1020 IU , Vitamin C: 0.2 mg , Calcium: 82 mg , Iron: 0.9 mgA Classic New York Cheesecake is a delightfully creamy and decadent dessert! Perfect for any celebratory or crave-worthy occasion. Learn how to make an absolutely perfect, gorgeous cheesecake with no cracks, WITH or WITHOUT a water bath with this easy, step by step recipe!

I loooove cheesecake. So much so that my Secret Layer Cakes cookbook features 28 inventive, flavor-bending cheesecake recipes! My favorite cheesecake was a chocolate swirled cheesecake that I used to eat during my university years in New Zealand. I realized my part time job couldn’t fund my cheesecake obsession, so I taught myself how to bake the perfect cheesecake.

Perfect Cheesecake Recipe (new York Style)

After years of baking cheesecake, and experiencing numerous failures (and successes!), I’m going to share one of my favorite cheesecake recipes – a New York Cheesecake, with all the tips and tricks to get PERFECT results, every time!

The most common problem when making cheesecake, be it New York Cheesecake or any other type, is cracks on the surface. These are caused by,

With too much air in the batter, the cheesecake expands too much during baking, and crack as it deflates. This is why you must be careful during the mixing phase. To ensure a creamy, well-mixed batter, instead of an overmixed batter.

Instant Pot Cheesecake With Sour Cream Topping

This could be another reason for cracks in your cheesecake. This happens if the cheesecake is heated too quickly at a high temperature. The high temperature causes the cheesecake to expand quickly, which then leads to cracks as the cheesecake cools and deflates.

This is why most cheesecakes are baked in a water bath (except basque cheesecake). The water bath helps regulate the temperature of the cheesecake as it bakes, making sure the cheesecake bakes slowly and evenly.

But I also love cheesecakes baked without a water bath as well! This creates caramelization on the outside, and a more dense texture which I really love. If you knock out as much of the air as possible, the risk of cracks on the surface of the cheesecake is quite minimal. However the cheesecake will collapse slightly in the center as it cools.

Joy Of Cooking Cheesecake Recipe Review

Another trick is to add a starch that will help prevent cracking. The starch can be flour or cornstarch. I add cornstarch to my New York Cheesecake, but you can easily substitute this with flour. The starch molecules will absorb liquid and create a matrix, which will help buffer and maintain the texture of the New York cheesecake. This matrix provides some structural stability that keeps large cracks at bay.

Unfortunately, it can be hard to find a material that is heatproof, which will also wrap snugly around a cheesecake pan. I’ve tried baking a classic cheesecake with multiple smaller foil pieces, but the water will invariably get in and ruin the cheesecake.

Parchment paper isn’t a good choice either because it doesn’t wrap around the cake pan snugly, and requires cotton twine to tie it securely.

Gluten Free New York Cheesecake Recipe

I prefer to bake cheesecake without a water bath. This way, the sides are baked a little more, creating a caramelized crust, and the center sinks in a little bit. The texture is more dense (compared to cheesecake baked in a water bath), which I personally love!

Cracks on your cheesecake surface are not at all a sign of failure or a less-than-desirable result. It’s still a darn cheesecake after all, so it’s going to be deee-licious! 🙂

You can simply cover the surface with a topping, if you’d like to cover up the cracks. Sour cream topping, whipped cream topping, or even chocolate ganache will do the trick.

Creamiest, Most Amazing New York Cheesecake

Graham crackers aren’t readily available outside of North America. So if you can’t find graham crackers, you can use digestive biscuits. I used to use chocolate thins when I lived in New Zealand, but Oreo cookies are also a great option (for a chocolate crust).

I also like to use a combination of heavy cream and sour cream. The sour cream adds a lovely tanginess (along with the lemon). But you can also use plain heavy cream (or a combination of both).

Prep an 8 inch or 9 inch cheesecake pan. You can use either a springform pan or a loose bottom pan. Most cheesecake pans are about 3 inches in height.

Original New York Cheesecake Recipe

Wrap the bottom of the baking pan in a layer of foil. To do this, place the foil on a clean and flat surface, and place the cake pan bottom on it upside down. Fold the foil over the edge of the pan bottom (about 1 – 2 inches towards the middle), and cut the excess. Make sure the foil is stretched over the edge and neatly folded over. This step will help flatten the cake pan bottom for the cheesecake crust.

Grease the pan, and line the bottom with parchment paper. I also prefer to cut strips of parchment paper and line the sides of the cheesecake pan. This will be helpful when removing the cheesecake from the pan, while ensuring smooth sides. The butter on the side of the pan will help stick the parchment paper to the pan.

Measure the graham crackers you’ll need for the crust. If you’d like to have a crusted side, you will need more graham crackers (up to double the amount). A New York cheesecake can be made either with just the bottom crust, or with a crust on the bottom and sides as well.

The Best New York Cheesecake

To make things easier, you could also buy graham cracker crumbs that are ready to be used. OR you can buy graham crackers whole and crush them yourself. Use a food processor to pulse the cookies until they resemble bread crumbs.

Instead of sugar, I prefer to add a little salt to the graham cracker crumbs, but you can leave that out if you like. Pour in the melted butter until you have a mix that still looks dry, but forms clumps when you squeeze it in your hands.

Press the cookie crumbs into the bottom of the cake pan using a flat-bottomed glass (or something similar). Make sure the crust is pressed in well and evenly. I don’t like to create a crust that goes all the way up the sides, instead I bring the crust about 1 inch up the sides.

Sour Cream Topped Cheesecake Recipe

This is also not necessary, but it does create a slightly crunchier final result. The cheesecake will come out just fine even without pre-baking the crust. It’s just that the crust will be a little more crumbly.

Preheat the oven to 350 F / 180 C and bake the crust for about 10 minutes. This is all that’s needed if you choose to pre-bake the crust of your New York cheesecake. Then allow the pan to cool completely before adding the cheesecake batter.

One of the major issues that comes with baking cheesecake is keeping the water bath from leaking into the cake pan. So it’s crucial to line the cheesecake

Perfect New York Cheesecake Recipe {+video}