Once in a lifetime probably everyone is on the search for the original recipe of the best homemade New York style cheesecake. Stop searching! You found it, right here! I was looking for exactly that cheesecake with a crunchy crust and that super creamy filling. It is the classic New York Cheesecake recipe. There are many recipes out there, but I wanted to create the simple goodness of it, with only a few ingredients needed, we can make the best New York Cheesecake!
- Check my Instagram account for more insights into the baking process in my posts!
- Get inspired by more cake recipes in my ‘Jessi’s Favorites – quick & easy’ cakes section
How to make Cheesecake
What is the magic behind the best New York Cheesecake recipe? There are a couple of things to keep in mind. Generally, it is very easy and simple to bake this cake and this is one of the most important points, keep it simple! The original New York Cheesecake recipe is a fairly simple, it is the way of baking it, which makes a big difference. Specifically how to bake the crust and how to make the filling are crucial for the best cheesecake!
- Crunchy crust or base: in order to obtain a perfect cheesecake crust, we need to first mix those ingredients together and bake the crust separately. When baking only the crust it ensures the crunchiness of it. Is the crust baked together with the filling, the cream cheese filling will soften because it is wet.
- Cream cheese filling: for the perfect cream cheese filling we need only a few ingredients: surely a lot of cream cheese, some eggs, sugar and for the flavor we add vanilla, lemon juice and salt. Nothing else is needed, believe me. Mixing together the ingredients for the filling without a mixer is key, to avoid whipping air into the cream cheese filling it is best to gently mix together those ingredients with the whisk.
- Baking: There is this mystery whether to bake the original New York Cheesecake in a water bath or the cake pan wrapped in aluminum foil. I stick to aluminum foil. It’s way easier and results in the same outcome. Why using aluminum foil? When wrapping the cake pan with it, it needs to cover the base and borders to protect the crust and filling from burning on the outside.
- The best New York Cheesecake needs to be baked on low heat, wrapped in aluminum foil, this way, it becomes creamy without burning. This is exactly what we want!
New York Style Cheesecake
There are many versions of how to make cheesecake, some do have a sour cream frosting on top, there is also the famous strawberry cheesecake or blueberry cheesecake, but I think this is the best New York Cheesecake, which is complete in itself. It has the pure flavor of the cream cheese and together with the eggs it becomes incredibly creamy, the flavor is made of vanilla extract, lemon juice and a tiny bit of salt. Some may even call it New York Vanilla Cheesecake. The vanilla is making up most of the flavor and the lemon juice contributes to a perfectly balanced. It is definitely an easy New York Style Cheesecake.
Classic New York Cheesecake
I like history! Let’s dive a bit into history to find out why it is called ‘New York Cheesecake’. The most common story of this famous cheesecake goes back to the 1900s in New York. There have been already many varieties of cheesecakes existing in those times, but Arnold Reuben, owner of the Turf Restaurant in New York, made the classic New York Cheesecake famous, as we know it today. He tasted a kind of cheese pie at a friend’s house and was so impressed by it, that he started experimenting and came of with the original New York cheesecake and served it in his restaurant. It became so famous and is now known world-wide.
