Best Cheesecake Ever is an old recipe I originally made for one of my daughter's birthday parties. It's a good thing I made it, because I dropped her other birthday cake on the floor. What happened was I made a big Hello Kitty cake for the kids, then made this for adults or anyone in the mood for cheesecake rather than birthday cake. While preparing for the party, I dropped Hello Kitty face down. A moment of silence ensued, and then one of us was off to the bakery for a new cake. So we served a bakery birthday cake and this cheesecake and everyone loved both, but especially the cheesecake.
At some point I stopped making this one. I think the issue might be I changed ovens and the 12 minutes at 475F, 35 minutes at 300F and 30 minutes "off" wasn't working for me. But I'm not sure. Maybe it was just that Fluffy Cheesecake came along?
The Old Best Cheesecake Ever
This is a pretty classic cheesecake. There's a hint of orange from the orange juice which is combined with the lemon and vanilla extracts making it its own flavor, so not necessarily orange-y. You could add a little orange zest if you want more orange.
Water Bath Method
I still haven't tested this one in my current oven (a Blue Star), but if you are interested in trying it and a little hesitant about starting at a high heat and turning down the temperature, you can bake this in a water bath. I've put the temperature and time in the recipe.
Cherry Topping
Sorry there's no cherry topping recipe. I've made cherry topping from scratch and it's fantastic, but especially good with fresh cherries. The thing is, I don't to hold off on making cheesecake with a cherry topping just because cherries are ridiculously expensive or out of season, so I use canned cherry topping. Some of the brands are very good!
Recipe
The Best Cheesecake Ever
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 ¾ cup graham cracker crumbs
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Filling
- 32 oz cream cheese, softened (4 packs)
- 1 ⅓ cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¾ teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons fresh orange juice
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 2 ½ tablespoons flour
- 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
Instructions
- Prepare crust. Mix crumbs, sugar, salt and butter and press into bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake it at 350 for 10 minutes. This is a step I've added. In the past I did not bake it.
- After baking, raise oven heat to 475 degrees F.
- If you haven't already, bring all filling ingredients to room temperature. This is important.
- In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat softened cream cheese just until smooth; beat in sugar, scraping bowl often with rubber spatula. Add extracts, orange juice, cream, flour, egg yolks, and eggs; Stir until smooth. Do not beat the eggs, just stir them and try not to whip any extra air into the batter.
- Pour filling over crust and bake cheesecake at 475 for 12 minutes.
- Reduce oven heat to 300 degrees; bake 35 minutes longer. Turn off oven; let cheesecake remain in oven 30 minutes.
- Remove cheesecake from oven; cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or until well chilled.
- When cheesecake is firm, with spatula, loosen pan side from cheesecake and remove cake from pan bottom; slide onto serving plate. Pour topping over center.
- If you used parchment, you can gently pull the cake onto a beautiful serving platter. Otherwise, just serve it off the pan bottom.
Alternate Method -- Water Bath
- If you'd rather use a water bath and don't want to deal with changing temperatures, wrap the bottom and sides of your springform pan in foil. Place it in a large roasting pan filled halfway with hot water. Bake at 325°F for 60 minutes, then turn off oven and let it sit for 1 more hour with the door slightly ajar.
Cindy Steinmann says
How do I change it to a 12" cheese cake recipe?
Kathie says
made this yesterday...no water bath, massive crack but nothing but compliments!
my first cheesecake! Thanks for a great recipe!
Melanie says
I have also come up with a solution for leaking springform pans. I use my standard springform, but slide it into a round silicon baking pan, then put the silicone pan in a water bath. I got the baking pans as a gift and as a rule, hate them, but the 9 inch pan is just flexible enough to stretch around the clasp on the springform. It is neat, easy, and foolproof.
Tia says
The cheesecake looks awesome!
Can't wait to try them.
Though just one question...is this cheesecake like a sponge cake?
Stephanie says
Delicious! I made it yesterday....my very first cheesecake....EVER....and it turned out perfect!!
Mike says
Katie,
Even though I'm happily married, my wife's given me permission to kiss you!
Your tip about the Reynolds Turkey Bag was fantastic...I just took a cheesecake out of the oven and the springform pan is BONE DRY. Without a doubt, this is the way to go.
Thanks again...I really love baking cheesecakes, and this fool-proof method will add years to my life, as I will no longer worry that all my hard work was for nothing.
BTW...I highly recommend a fabulous cheesecake book I received as a gift - it's thr Junior's Restaurant Cheesecake Cookbook by Alan Rosen and Beth Allen. I made the traditional cheesecake with a delicious sponge cake crust and a fabulous chocolate ganache topping...as the title says, "To-Die-For! You can get it from Amazon.com:
http://tinyurl.com/ynup95
Mike in Pembroke Pines, FL
Anna says
Hi Katie,
Thanks SO much for that tip. It's so simple, but practical....and why didn't anyone think of that???? You'd think it would be in a cooking magazine or something.
You've inspired me to go make something in a water bath. Thanks for the tip.
Katie says
I love your recipes and your stories!
I have a suggestion...for your cheesecake, a guarantee to NOT crack! And not leak!!! WOW! The secret as you already know is the water bath and it's not because of extra moisture! It's because water boils at 212 degrees and the oven of course is hotter, so imagine this... the inside of your cheesecake is boiling so to speak and it is cooking at a nice 212 degrees, while the outside is being subjected to extreme heat! And it is cooking way faster, that causes uneven baking and, well, cracking! So a water bath really is necessary to cook your whole pie evenly and guarantee to not crack!
So here's my secret, I got so sick of foil leaking and ruining my cheesecake that I figured out a way to fool proof this step! I take a large Reynolds Turkey or Chicken cooking bag, you know the clear one you love and use at Thanksgiving for your big bird! I use the really big one for 12 inch cheesecakes and the smaller chicken size will fit an 8 or 10 inch springform pan. You just set the springform pan in the bottom of the bag and roll down the sides until it is just above the pan now you can fill hot water around the cheesecake and guaranteed to not leak! Just be careful of getting the bag close to the top oven element, it will melt and stick to your element (lesson learned the hard way!) 🙂 And you can reuse it for the next Cheesecake attempt! It doesn't touch the food, it just keeps the water from getting into the pan!
Abi says
After much perusing of your archives, I've decided that this will be the item that I prepare for my first potluck dinner here at Stanford.
I think I'll see how the raspberries are this time of year and make a topping out of those.
Anna says
Hi Jane,
Thanks for stopping by Cookie Madness. I think you'll like this recipe. If not, let me know.
Anna
jane says
I sell cheesecakes and this cake sounds like it is delicious, I will give it a try. Thanks
Jen says
Sometimes the largest disasters are where we (I) are most calm. I probably would have had a meltdown only over something trivial, like a mistake in the frosting. Great story and yummy looking cheesecake!
s'kat says
I really must applaud your calm in the face of disaster! Such is the way of the warrior. Did you get a picture of the cake before it went on its final journey? This cheesecake sounds great, especially with the heavy-handedness of the citrus juices.