For my family - classic cheesecake is all about the crust, the more the better... one time I even made a small cheesecake with an even ratio of crust and cake thickness! Adapted from allrecipes!
Active Time: ~1.5 hr
- Prep ~35 minutes
- Bake 1 hr
- Leave in oven 5-6 hours
Servings: 9-inch cake + 6 inch cake (this varies depending on how thick you want your cake, mine are usually ~2.5 inches tall)
Ingredients:
- ~20 graham crackers crushed OR you can buy the crumbs (I usually put the crackers into a ziploc bag leaving a tiny gap for air, wrap it in a dish towel, then pound away with whatever kitchen tools are within reach... I've used rolling pins, cast-iron pans, anything really! use more or less depending on if you like a lot of crust or not)
- butter (needs based amount)
- 3 x 8oz packages of cream cheese
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon milk
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 2 + 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- zest of 1 lemon
Optional Tips:
- a couple hours before baking, I'll take out the eggs, cream cheese, and butter from the fridge to let it warm up/soften naturally in room temperature
- pre-heat your oven before step 1 if it takes a while to heat up or if you might forget
- I like to hand-mix to prevent over-mixing, but using an electric mixer for the whole recipe is fine too!
Steps:
1. Grease your spring-form pans with butter/spray (if using butter, I like to wrap my fingers with saran wrap and spread the butter all over the pan)
2. Smash your graham crackers and spread out in your pan. Melt some butter and mix it into the crumbs - use enough butter that the crumbs turn to a darker colour and you can press down/smooth the crumbs into a crust
3. Pre-heat your oven to 350° F (my oven is pretty fast, so I preheat at this point)
4. Electric mixer/Kitchenaid: Beat your cream cheese with the sugar until smooth (kind of whipped looking)
5. Hand mix with wooden spoon: Blend in the milk, once incorporated, blend in the eggs one at a time just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour-cream + vanilla + flour until smooth again. Lastly, stir in the lemon zest.
6. Pour this mix into the pans
7. Put both pans onto a tray and bake in oven for 1 hr - after this point, DO NOT open the oven door for the next 7 hrs
8. After 1 hr, turn off the oven, but don't open the door - leave the cakes in the oven until it cools completely before moving to the fridge. This prevents cracking!!
9. Optional - make/buy some blueberry/strawberry/chocolate sauce and drizzle on top, this is a very versatile cake that will go with pretty much any topping
10. Enjoy the yummy cake heheh
Let me know if you have any questions!
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