Hands down, this is my ultimate favorite cheesecake. It is my go-to choice if I ever make a cheesecake and it is always, always a hit. It is extremely silky and not at all grainy and over-done like so many other recipes I have tried (or tasted in restaurants). This cheesecake is utterly delicious and it has never, ever failed (or cracked).
The Ultimate Cheesecake
Printable Version
Printable Version with Picture
INGREDIENTS:
Crust:
3 cups finely ground graham crackers (about 40 squares)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
Filling:
2 (8-ounce) blocks cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 lemon, zest finely grated
1 pint sour cream
DIRECTIONS:
To prepare crumb crust: In a mixing bowl, combine the crust ingredients together with a fork until evenly moistened. Lightly coat the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan (I use a 10-inch springform pan b/c it is all I have and it works great) with non-stick cooking spray. Firmly press the mixture over the bottom and 1-inch up the sides on the pan, use your fingers or the smooth bottom of a glass. Refrigerate the crust while preparing the filling.
To prepare filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese on low speed for 1 minute just until smooth and free of any lumps. Gradually add the sugar and beat until creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Periodically scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and continue to slowly beat until combined. Stir in the vanilla and lemon zest. Blend in the sour cream. The batter should be well mixed but not overbeaten. Overbeating incorporates too much air and will cause the cake to puff when baking, then fall and crack when cooling. Pour filling into the crust-lined pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 50-55 minutes. The cheesecake should still jiggle slightly, it will firm up after chilling. Be careful not to overcook! Do not do a toothpick test in the cake’s center, this will make a crack. Loosen the cheesecake from the sides of the pan by running a thin metal spatula around the inside rim. Let cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Chill in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for at least 4 hours to set up. Demold and transfer to a cake plate. Slice the cheesecake with a thin, nonserrated knife that has been dipped in hot water and wiped dry after each cut.
Recipe Source: adapted from Tyler Florence
{ 51 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow–that looks amazing! I will have to make this!
Oh Mel! It looks amazing. It looks creamy and not to thick and dry. Yum! I am officially deciding we have to have this when we get together!
I can see WHY it’s your favortie cheesecake! This looks amazingly good!
I have seen Tyler make this and it always looks so yummy. Now that I finally own a springform pan, I will have to try this!
The last thing I need right now is a delicious cheesecake, but I want to run home and make one now!
Hi
I was wondering when mixing in all the ingredients, do I keep the speed at low the whole time I’m mixing the batter. Also I grate and freeze lemon zest, approximately how much zest is from one lemon.
Hi Jackie – yes, keep the mixer speed at low the whole time (otherwise air bubbles form and can cause cracking) and I would say it is probably about 2 teaspoons lemon zest.
Camille – I’m glad this was a hit! Just reading your comment makes me want to make it again. It really is my favorite cheesecake. Thanks for commenting!
Made this for Father’s Day today. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!! And a big THANK YOU from my hubby too!! LOL!!!
oohhhh I LURVE cheesecake! I will have to make this soon. Thanks for sharing! ps. Tyler *IS* the ultimate!
I just found your blog and I’m in love! I can’t wait to try this (among your other) cheesecake recipe! It looks delicious, and no Tyler F. recipe has ever failed me. So many cheesecakes require more c.cheese than I can afford, so this one sounds like a winner to me! Thanks so much for sharing.
Jelli Bean – thanks for your comment! I just linked over to your blog and almost fainted when I saw your dreamy doughnut pillows. Oh my, they look delicious!
Nagore – thank you! I’m so glad that this recipe worked out, especially for your mother’s birthday!
I’m just a beginner in baking and i used this recipe to make to my mother this cheesecake for her birthday, everyone loved it! thanks you very much.
Nagore.
I made this for Valentines day and it was the first time I have ever made Cheesecake. I made a special trip to target for the pan even. The cheesecake was perfect. I have a 9 inch pan and had to bake it about 12 minutes longer, but no cracks!!! I’m already thinking of ways to add things to it. Thanks AGAIN for all the great recipes.
Sonya – I hope you get good use out of your springform pan! I’m glad this recipe turned out AND with no cracks. You are a professional!
I love this cheesecake– I have made it twice and I learned that over beating can happen watch the speed– trust me I had a bit of a leadfoot on the mixer the second time and I can tell. I am sure it will be just as yummy if not as pretty. Mel, I was wondering how to adapt this to make a chocolate cheesecake. . . what do you think?
idahomichele – thanks for weighing in on the overbeating issue, I’ve seen the same issue. In theory, you should be able to add about 7-8 ounces of melted chocolate to the batter but to be safe, I’d probably search foodblogsearch.com for a chocolate cheesecake recipe. Let me know if you find a good one!
I haven’t made a cheesecake in over 5 years b/c I love them so much I know I’ll eat the whole thing! But I have a friend that LOVES cheesecake and I made this one for her as a thank-you gift for keeping our dog while we’re on vacation (leaving tomorrow but gave it to her in advance). She loved it so much, raved about it, and when she found out I’d never made the recipe before, she had me come over to taste it for myself. Yup, it’s a keeper! This will be my go-to cheesecake recipe from now on. Thanks for sharing it–I doubt I would have found the recipe if it wasn’t on your blog.
Thank you, BTW, for the tip on not overbeating the mixture. I did get a crack b/c a big air bubble rose up during baking and made a crack after I removed the cake from the oven. But it was a lot prettier on the surface than others I’ve made b/c I always overbeat them. Now I know the secret! Thanks.
Veronica – I’m thrilled on the outcome of this cheesecake. But first of all, let me say that you are one nice friend to make this as a thank you. I’m glad it went over so well and that your friend let you have a little taste!
Guess what? I’m making this again for the same friend! Every time she does us a favor and I ask her what she wants, I know it’s gonna be this cheesecake every time–LOL! I’m going to have to make one just for us soon, because it’s so good I want to repost it (if that’s OK) and I haven’t been able to take pics of a slice since it’s for someone else.
Veronica – of course it’s ok for you to repost. I’m glad you love it enough to keep making it!
Thanks, Mel! It’s baking right now. I was nice and after taking a few swipes of filling leftover in the bowl, I let my dog lick up the rest. She’s a happy camper now.
Utterly delicious is right! I’m addicted to your site Mel. I have tried about 10 of your recipes in the past couple of weeks and all of them have been spectacular. Thank you for sharing them with us! We had company over for dinner last night and served this cheesecake for dessert. It looked so professional and tasted perfect. In fact, don’t tell on me, but I am going to have a piece right now for breakfast. If I top it with fruit, it should count as healthy, right? Thanks again!
Thanks, Erica! I agree with your philosophy so go ahead and eat up!
I’m glad I don’t need a water bath for this recipe. I’d like to try it soon. You make it sound so easy. The photo above is so tempting. Thanks for the recipe.
Made this last night for our anniversary dinner and it was delish! I had 2 giant pieces and that was after I was stuffed from dinner. I’m currently on a weight loss challenge with my sister and it ends on Saturday. I can’t wait to eat the rest of this cheesecake saturday and trust me, I will eat it all!
My husband has requested cheesecake for his birthday and so I am going to make this one. He also requested a raspberry sauce to go on top of it. Do you also have a good raspberry sauce recipe that would be lovely on this? Or the sauce pictured looks terrific, is it strawberry? Anyways, I was just wondering, thanks.
Hi Mel,
I too look for “the best” recipe sometimes for hours until I think I’ve come up with the best one. I made Tyler’s cheesecake before because I’ve seen him make it, it looked great and I like his style of cooking, but I must say this wasn’t my favorite cheesecake. I like a creamier cheesecake but this recipe was a bit too creamy for me. I’ve seen him make a cheesecake with a thin layer of sour cream that I think I’m going to try. By the way, your husband sounds a lot like mine when it comes to his eloquence when he tells me what he thinks about a recipe I make.
Hi! I’m still trying to figure out what you mean when you say “40 squares” of graham crackers. Is a square half of the rectangular graham (which has four smaller rectangles)? Does it refer to the entire graham itself?
Pretty, Polished, Perfect – when I split a rectangular graham cracker in half, it results in two squares (at least with the Honey Maid variety). So this recipe calls for 40 of those squares, or better yet, about 20 whole graham crackers.
Hi Mel,
I am planning on making this recipe soon…could you recommend a sauce that could go with this cheesecake? What do you normally serve it with, if anything?
n82 – I usually serve this with a simple raspberry sauce. I puree a couple of cups of raspberries, fresh or frozen (thawed and drained if frozen) with the juice of a lemon and a couple tablespoons of sugar to taste (enough to sweeten it up a bit).
Just made this a couple of days ago and it was incredible. My first cheese cake and it was a total sucsess!! Thanks for the recipe and easy instructions.
This is my exact favorite cheesecake also!
Bon Appetit published it in June 1992 under the name Uncle Anthony´s Cheesecake (without the lemon juice) and it´s foolproof.
In that recipe (for 9 inch springform pan) the baking method was different and you might want to try it: put a pan of hot water in the bottom of a 350º oven and bake for only 30 minutes. Then, without opening the door, turn the oven off and let the cheesecake for another hour. It works everytime and never cracks.
Sometimes I program the oven and go to sleep and have a perfectly baked cheesecake that only needs a couple of hours in the fridge.
Regards (from Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Hi Melanie,
I’m going to try this right away, but I have 2 questions before I proceed:
Is there any substitute for sour cream in this recipe?
How high was your cheesecake ( I am planning to halve the recipe to bake in a smaller pan, so I was wondering if it would be very thin)
thank you so much for the recipe..
This is now my go-to cheesecake recipe. I did add an extra 1/2 t of vanilla and 1/8 lemon juice… the zest, I didnt have and honestly scares me because I have never done it, but THIS WAS GREAT! Next time I will probably double it to make ginormous slices.
Question: I feel like it was really jiggly at 55 min and left about 10-15 min longer. Has this ever been a problem for you? or have you used a water bath with this?
Jo – I’ve never substituted anything for the sour cream so I can’t give my two cents about that one. The cheesecake is fairly thick – at least two inches in the center and slightly higher on the edges. If you halve the recipe, I’d definitely try to bake it in a smaller pan. Good luck!
Jahna – I’m glad you liked this cheesecake! I’ve never used a water bath with this particular cheesecake. Oven temperatures can vary so you probably did the right thing by baking a few minutes longer if it seemed too jiggly.
IS this recipe good for mix in’s like oreos?
Jahna – I’ve always made it plain and simple but I imagine it would work fine with mix-ins.
I loved this Mel! I got a springform pan finally, and had to make this right away! My MIL wanted a huckleberry sauce on top so I found a recipe for that, but this was most excellent. Thanks! I wrote about it here: http://kickingmyash.blogspot.com/2011/10/top-5-for-last-week.html
SOO Good.
Didn’t have enough gluten free graham crumbs, so I added in about a cup of crushed pecans, which made the crust really really delicious. This was the PERFECT recipe for hubbys birthday cake
Thanks!
Okay, my two cents. There was a lot of crumb and I mean a lot. Could get away with probably 25 graham squares. Also, for the 40 I probably doubled the butter and it still wasn’t enough. The center of the cheese filling was runny. Hoping it firms up some more, but I doubt it. It chilled for 6 hours after I cooked it. Not sure why this wasn’t that great, but there you have it.
I had the same problem as Stephanie. (I only wish I would have known before making it) I made this for Thanksgiving and the crust was way too crumbly as well. I read through the comments before making it and am surprised that nobody else has commented on this. Besides this, the cheesecake is incredible. Next time I think I’ll try half has many.
Thanks Mel!
This was my first cheesecake and it was delicious. I served the pomegranate sauce on the side and all of my guests raved about it! Thanks.
what kind of material is your springform pan? I was wondering whether I should get a non-stick kind or aluminum…my sister wants a cheesecake for her birthday on the 6th of February and I always come to your site when I need a recipe. All the one’s I’ve tried have been delicious!
Hi Elizabeth – both of my springform pans are the dark, nonstick kind but I’ve heard the aluminum work great also!
What do you think about putting a chocolate ganache on top of this?
I think it would be delicious with a chocolate ganache, Maria. As long as the ganache is cooled when you pour it over the cheesecake, it should work (a warm ganache will make the top of the cheesecake melt a bit).
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