The best Classic Cheesecake recipe with a sweet graham cracker crust and an incredibly rich filling with a hint of vanilla and lemon. Amazing!
Whenever the mood strikes and I’m craving a Classic Cheesecake, this is the recipe that I dig out.
This incredibly decadent cheesecake gets its richness from cream cheese, ricotta cheese, sour cream and butter (oh my!) – so it’s best reserved for those occasions when counting calories and fat grams isn’t a concern!
This classic cheesecake also requires a very slow cooking process.
It’s baked first in a water bath (see how-to instructions here) for an hour with the oven set at 325 degrees F, then left in the oven for another two hours with the heat turned off.
Don’t be tempted to open the oven door during those two hours…the slow cool-down, along with the moisture in the oven from the water bath helps prevent the top of the cheesecake from cracking. The baking process is quite time-consuming, but worth the delicious results!
Serve this Classic Cheesecake with some whipped cream and strawberries, or our Caramelized Pineapple Topping.
This Classic Cheesecake recipe was originally published on September 26, 2012. In fact, this was the very first recipe we published here on A Family Feast! Over the last 2-1/2 years, our photography skills have improved quite a bit and we felt that this post was long overdue for an update.
And – considering how delicious this Classic Cheesecake recipe is, we also wanted bring this recipe out of the archives and reshare it with those of you who may not have known about A Family Feast back in 2012. Enjoy!
By the way – here is our original photograph from September 2012.
Classic Cheesecake
A delicious and decadent classic cheesecake recipe with a sweet graham cracker crust and a sweet cream cheese filling with a hint of vanilla and lemon.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 8–10 servings 1x
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1–1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the filling
- 1 pint sour cream
- 1 pound ricotta cheese
- 2 8–ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
- 1–1/2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs (beaten and added one at a time)
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 stick melted butter (8 tablespoons)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- To prepare the crust, combine graham cracker crumbs and 3 tablespoons sugar in a bowl. Stir in the 6 tablespoons melted butter until thoroughly combined. Pour mixture into bottom of a 10-inch round springform pan and press firmly to the bottom and approximately 1/2 inch up the sides. Chill in refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Put a large pot of water on to boil – this will be used for the water bath.
- To prepare the cheesecake filling, mix the sour cream, ricotta, and softened cream cheese together in a large bowl, combining well. Then add the remaining ingredients one by one in the order listed above – mixing well after each addition – sugar, eggs, flour, cornstarch, melted butter, vanilla, and lemon juice. Once mixed, pour into prepared springform pan with graham cracker crust.
- Wrap the bottom of the pan in a large single sheet of aluminum foil making sure that the sides of the pan are fully covered by the foil. This is done to prevent the water bath from leaking into the bottom of the springform pan. Place the springform pan in a baking pan large enough to hold the springform pan and also large enough to allow for water to surround the springform pan. Add about an inch of hot (almost-boiling) water to the baking pan so it surrounds the pan. (See our How to Bake Using a Water Bath.)
- Bake in a 325 degree oven for one hour. After an hour, turn off the oven heat and leave the cheesecake in the oven for two additional hours without opening the door of the oven. After the two hours are up, remove from the oven and the water bath and let cool.
- Refrigerate uncovered overnight or for at least 4 hours before serving. To remove from the pan, wet a large knife with warm water and run the knife blade around the edge of the cheesecake before loosening the outer ring of the springform pan. (If necessary, clean and rewet the knife as you go around the cheesecake to ensure a clean edge.) Serve with fresh strawberries or other topping of your choice.
You may also like:
No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake Pie
No-Bake Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake
Well done and thank you
Thanks Jack!
It’s just the two of us, do you know does this cheesecake freeze ok?
Thanks,
Cindi
Hi Cindi! Yes! We’ve frozen it ourselves (it does make a fairly large cheesecake) and it thaws beautifully! I hope you enjoy the recipe!