Tall and Creamy New York Cheesecake
My all-time favourite dessert is cheesecake just plain and simple cheesecake! I won’t turn down a flavoured, loaded cheesecake, but I love a plain, tall and creamy cheesecake. This recipe for Tall and Creamy New York Cheesecake is by far my favourite!
I am celebrating my new and updated blog and the best way to celebrate is with my favourite dessert Tall and Creamy New York Cheesecake! After being on blogger since the start of my blogging days I decided to make the bold move over to wordpress. To say this caused me some anxiety is an understatement. I am not the most tech savvy person, something my family tells me all the time. Their only help is to say “just google it”. So stick with me through this huge learning curve and many wonky mistakes. Please don’t be afraid to drop me a note if things don’t quite look right.
This is an incredible cheesecake recipe, tall, creamy and smooth. I made this recipe without a crust, but if you prefer a simple graham crust will work great. I love my cheesecake plain but if you like serve it with berries and whipped cream, caramel or even chocolate sauce. My recipe for 5 Minutes Strawberry Sauce is amazing with Tall and Creamy New York Cheesecake! One very important thing when making cheesecake is to have all the ingredients at room temperature or you will have lumps in your cheesecake!! Also be sure to use a 10 inch springform pan. This cake rising quite a bit while baking and will spill over in a small cake pan.
Tall and Creamy New York Cheesecake
Ingredients
- 32 ounces cream cheese (4 packages) room temperature
- 5 large eggs room temperature
- 2 cups sour cream room temperature
- 8 tablespoon butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 vanilla beans can substitute 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Tightly wrap 2 layers of aluminum foil around the outside of a 10 inch springform pan covering bottom and sides.
- Generously coat inside of pan with butter.
- Preheat oven to 300º F.
- Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
- Add eggs one at a time until blended.
- Add sour cream and mix until smooth.
- Add sugar, cornstarch, vanilla and lemon juice, beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Pour into springform pan and place in a roasting pan large enough to prevent sides from touching.
- Place into oven and carefully pour boiling water into roasting pan to reach halfway up sides of springform pan. (be careful not to splash any water onto cake)
- Bake for 2 hours, or until cake is lightly browned on top. My oven is a convection oven, so bake time in regular oven may be longer.
- Remove from water bath (bain-marie), remove foil and cool completely at room temperature before unlatching and removing rim.
- Cover and refrigerate until well chilled (best to leave chill overnight). Cake must be well chilled to set properly.
- Serve plain or with berries and whipped cream or even caramel sauce.
Notes
* be sure to use 10 inch springform pan or build up sides of smaller cake pan with parchment paper. Cake will raise while baking and will spill over in smaller cake pan. Recipe was adapted from Jim Fobel’s Old-Fashioned Baking Book
Nutrition
My recipe for 5 Minute Strawberry Sauce tastes amazing with this cheesecake!
Enjoy another tasty cheesecake recipe with a brownie crust Brownie Cheesecake Bites!
How long does the cheesecake last before going bad? It’s very delicious but it’s a lot lol.
Hi Celeste, the cheesecake should be good for 5 days in the refrigerator. Cheesecakes should also freeze well. I just made one last night, so I am going to cut into individual slices, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then place in freezer bag. Mine has never lasted long enough to freeze, so this will be a test for me.
This is my first time making a cheesecake like this and it turned out fantastic. The texture was creamy and the taste was phenomenal..I am so proud of this endeavor! Thank you for the recipe.
With much appreciation, marge
Wonderful Marge, I just made one yesterday and the family is devouring it.
I made this recipe two nights ago, and it is superb! I made it by step by step and it is a no fail recipe. I have shared with so many friends that were really impressed with it. Thanks for sharing this recipe. It will become a staple for parties.
So did I Laurie, in fact I’m enjoying a slice right now! lol
Hi can i use 50 % less fat sour cream here ??? Does it affect the texture and taste ??
Hi Yasmeen, I have not tried the recipe with 50% so unfortuneately I am not sure.
I usually make my grandmother’s German cheesecake,but today I’m going to give this one a try. I can’t wait to see how it will turn out! I’m going to be using your shortbread recipe for the crust and I’ll be back to let you know how it turns out. Cheesecake is my absolute favorite desert!
I’ve never used my shortbread recipe for the crust, so please let me know how that turned out. thanks.
I made this cheesecake. It tasted wonderful. The texture was good. Unfortunately I didn’t wrap the foil properly and water got in the pan so the bottom was a little wet. That’s one is on me. Can’t wait to try it again. Thank you for sharing.
Been there, done that, as well Carmen. The cake still seems to take awesome though.
Hi Laureen! This looks amazing! I’ve never made a plain cheesecake, but I’m excited to try. I think I am going to add a crust though. Do you think it would make the cake overflow? Thanks!
Hi Callie, just make sure you use a 10 inch pan.
Almost finished baking and just realized I forgot to add the lemon juice! Will it be a total fail?
Hi Caitlin, it shouldn’t make a big difference, just won’t have that bit of tangy flavour to it.
I just finished baking this cheesecake. It is cooling now but I couldn’t wait to tell you how beautiful it looks… it is flawless!!! I am soooo pleased with it! No cracks, beautiful color and smells so good! I’m waiting to determine how good the texture really is but, based on appearance, it looks perfect! I know I’m gushing! Thanks for a great recipe. Your new Dutch fan in the Netherlands!
Thank you C, I hope you enjoy it 🙂
Ok, what did I do wrong? I’ve been making perfect cheesecakes for the last 50 years. Never did one in a water bath. Saw this, I’m from NY, it looked awesome and my granddaughter loves cheesecake. Tried it. Followed recipe to the letter. Even put oven on convection. It hardly rose. It was not as sweet as we are accustomed to and I had to keep it in the oven for almost 3 hrs. Top was not as brown as photo. HELP!!!
Hi Robin, very sorry the cheesecake didn’t turn out. I’ve had many people try the recipe with great success.
I really wish I could help you figure out what went wrong, but without going step by with you, its so very hard to figure out went wrong
I followed the directions to the T, it does it taste like cheesecake, it tastes more like a custard? Idk what I could have done wrong. ?… So disapointed. But thank you!
Hi Stephanie, I am so sorry the cake didn’t turn out for you. Many people have made it with great success, so I would really like to help you figure what went wrong. With 4 8oz blocks of cream cheese it should have great cheesecake flavour. Have you doubled checked the exact measurements in the ingredient list. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve messed up that way with a recipe. The other thing may have been over mixing.
My cheesecake turned out perfect!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for the recipe! Happy Thanksgiving Day to you and yours.
Terrific Mega, thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, appreciate it. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
I just made the cheesecake and it’s perfect! I’m so impressed. Thank you. So creamy too!
thank you Barbara
Hello Larueen! I just wanted to say thanks for providing the cheesecake recipe. I have made this cheesecake once before and everyone loved it and it turned out great. Then I decided to make it again the following year and for some reason it did not turn out the same and I was wondering if you could give me some advice about what may have been the reason. This time around the cheesecake tasted very sour like I had used too much sour cream but I only used the required amount of 2 cups. Also it wasn’t as tall as it was before. Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks!
Also I didn’t realize until later that I had used 1/3 fat cream cheese. Could that have been why there was only a sour cream flavor?
Hi Anna, if the low fat cream cheese was the only thing you did differently I’m guessing that is what altered the flavor. Have a very Merry Christmas
I make this cheese cake all the ti.e it’s the best ,my grandson who is 5 tells to please make it over and over we enjoy it very much. On holidays this cheese cake needs to be one of the desserts . Thank you for recipe
Thank you Maria, have a wonderful 2017
I made this cheese cake for the first time today. Since I don’t have a convention oven, I baked it for three hours, that’s when the top turned a lovely golden brown. However, when I took the surrounding part of the spring form pan away from the sides, it was so mushy. I have it in the frig and hope that it firms up as the ingredients are not cheap and I would love to have a taste of this cake, it looks great so hopefully it will work out.
Hi Diane, did you remove the surrounding rim before cooling completely in the refrigerator?
Hi, I love strawberry cheesecake and yours looks like the one that I love, I want to try to make but I would like with glaze over, any advice?
Thanks,
Hi Kelly, my husband loves strawberries and sauce over his cheesecake. I usually just buy the frozen containers of strawberries or raspberries packed in a light syrup, then spoon over his slice. (not the whole cake).
Hi! I just got the cheesecake out of the oven and it looks great. It has dropped a little since cooling. My question is is there a secret to knowing when its done? I went by the browning on the top. I have a regular oven and baked it for 2 hours and 5 minutes. It has a nice browning on the top, I just wasnt sure if it was done baking? Any secrets as to knowing when its completely done? This is my first cheesecake, so I dont have much experience in knowing how to tell if they are done. Thanks in advance
Hi Christine, here is a great video that shows how to check if a cheesecake is done. Make sure you cool completely in the refrigerator. I always find this cake is best cooled over night. Here the video link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkwbSGEczHQ
Do you bake it on 350 or 375?
Hi Kevin, as the recipe indicates you bake it at 300º enjoy!
What is the purpose of the lemon juice? Can it be omitted? What can I use as a sustitution for the sour cream? Thanks in advance.
Hi Analiz, lemon juice adds a hint of flavour and for this recipe there aren’t any substitutions for the sour cream.
So I can omit the lemon juice? Can I bake it without the water bath?
Hello Analiz, yes you can eliminate the lemon juice, you can try baking it without the water bath (I never have) so the cake make crack on top.
Could I use a square of parchment on the bottom of the pan to make transfering the whole cheesecake easier? I plan to give this as a gift packaged in a pie box. I also plan to use the oven bag method to cook. Thank you for your reply, I rarely bake.
Parchment paper should work, just make sure the cake is totally chilled before trying to remove. I would suggest letting it cool in the refrigerator overnight.
Hi Laureen,
Thanks so much for this recipe. It’s become a “go-to” for me for special occasions for my boyfriend. The man can eat a lot of cheesecake. But it’s just the two of us, so I was wondering if it freezes well? I’ve purchased frozen cheesecakes before, but not NY style. Have you tried it?
Thanks!
I have not froze this cake before, never have any leftover, but I am sure it should freeze quite well.
Hi! Made your recipe last night and had a question. How tall is the cake supposed to end up being? When I pulled it out of the oven it was almost to the rim, when I unlatched the pan the cake was still the same height. But when I put it in the fridge over night, it shrunk to about half the size. I was just curious if this was normal or not. Thanks!
The cake does raise quite high and I have had it shrink a bit but never to half the size. It difficult for me to guess what may have gone wrong to make it shrink that much.
It still tasted amazing the consistency was there, it was just shorter. Followed the whole recipe to the T, so not sure where I went wrong. I am definitely okay with making another one to see where I went wrong 😉
Made this amazing cheesecake and itt will be my new go to. Loved it. Thanks so much!
thank you so much Sherri, so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Could you use artificial sweetner instead of sugar in this recipe ?????
Yes I used Swerve – it came out great.
i loved this recipe it was a big hit, but it did not cut pretty. is there a trick you suggest for when u cut it the cake makes a nice cut instead of sticking to the knife
Hi Melissa, I place my knife in hot water, dry off then slice cheesecake, repeat warming knife for each slice. Hope this helps.
Hi! This recipe looks great! I was wondering how long you would cook the cheesecake if you were to cook it without the water bath. Thanks!
The cooking time should be approximately the same. The water bath helps the cake from cracking.