The best techniques for classic Cheesecake

For a recipe with so few ingredients (cream cheese, eggs, sugar, sour cream, vanilla & salt), it took a lot longer than you might think to develop the perfect version.  Here are some tips below and you’ll have a perfectly creamy and crack-less cheesecake without any hassle.

For the graham cracker crust

• graham crackers

• butter

• sugar

• salt

 For the cheesecake filling:

• cream cheese

• sugar

• sour cream

• vanilla

Step 1: Bring Your Ingredients to Room Temperature

The first thing you will need to do before you make this recipe is take all your ingredients out a few hours before you plan on making your cheesecake. The way to ensure the cheesecake will bake perfectly is for everything to be at room temperature.

Step 2: Make Your Graham Cracker Crust

For this classic cheesecake recipe, we are sticking with the standard graham cracker crust. Make sure your graham cracker crumbs are finely ground. You can use a food processor or blender to do this.

Then mix your crumbs with melted butter, granulated sugar, and a little kosher salt.Press this into the bottom and halfway up the sides of a 9- inch springform pan. I use the bottom of a glass to do this step.  A springform pan is a necessity when making cheesecake. The sides are easily removed and your cheesecake will be perfectly intact. I like to pre-bake my crust. I have found that pre-baking lends a crispier, sturdier graham cracker crust. It only bakes for 8-10 minutes, and you can also do this step in advance!

Step 3: Make Your Cheesecake Filling

You need to make sure that all of your ingredients are at room temperature. Not only will this ensure it bakes perfectly, it will also prevent your cheesecake batter from being lumpy. If you try and mix the filling up with cream cheese that isn’t quite room temperature, you will get lots of lumps. A few lumps is perfectly fine, too many lumps will change the texture. Another huge tip is to NOT over mix the cheesecake. Over mixing will incorporate too much air into the filling and cause it to crack as it’s baking. Over baking will also cause cracking too, but we will get to that in a minute. You will need 4 packages of cream cheese for this cheesecake recipe. Just spread the cheesecake filling on top of the crust and smooth it out using a spatula or an offset spatula.

Step 4: Bake Your Cheesecake

Baking the cheesecake is where most people start to feel intimidated. There are a lot of stories out there about how hard it is to make a cheesecake, mostly because cheesecake is traditionally baked in a water bath. But I’m here to tell you: baking a cheesecake in a water bath is EASY! You just have to follow my simple technique below.

How to Bake a Cheesecake in a Water Bath – Easy Method!

First, DOUBLE wrap the bottom of your pan in foil. You bake a cheesecake in a water bath, and the foil is just a preventative measure so water doesn’t leak in and cause your crust to get soggy! Then find a baking pan that is bigger than your cheesecake pan and fill it about 3/4- inch deep with very hot water. You can use any shape pan, as long as your spring form pan fits inside!Now, carefully place your cheesecake into the oven and allow it to bake for 60 -70 minutes. Don’t open your oven constantly. You need to wait until the 60 minute mark before you check your cheesecake.

Step 5: Chill Your Cheesecake

Allow the cheesecake to cool at room temperature for about an hour. THEN cover the pan with foil and it will need to chill in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, but preferably overnight.When you’re ready to enjoy your hard work, remove the cheesecake from the refrigerator. If any condensation has built up on top of your cheesecake, just take a paper towel and dab the moisture off. Then slice it and enjoy the fruits of your labor!