New York Cheesecake

12 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

New York Cheesecake is the PERFECT sweet, creamy dessert made from cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, baked into a graham cracker crust.

Create new holiday traditions and celebrate with a super rich New York Cheesecake with a rich Graham Cracker Crust topped with fresh Easy Strawberry Topping. This easy recipe is the EXACT one I’ve been making for over 10 years.

New York Cheesecake Topped with Strawberries

New York Cheesecake is creamy and indulgent, with a sweet cream cheese and sour cream filling over a graham cracker crust. This is definitely a popular all-time favorite dessert, and it’s the PERFECT cheesecake for the holidays, and a go-to for birthdays.

The recipe calls for vanilla extract, but you can also go the untraditional route by using almond extract, which goes especially well with mocha or chocolate cheesecakes.

Use a non-stick springform pan lined with parchment paper to make it extra easy to remove from the pan when serving.

New York Cheesecake collage of prep steps

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the difference between New York Cheesecake and regular cheesecake?

New York Cheesecake is typically more dense, with a creamier smoother texture and a lightly browned exterior. This cheesecake recipe uses a mixture of sour cream and cream cheese to create the rich texture and tangy flavor.

Can you make New York Cheesecake ahead?

New York style cheesecake can be made ahead, tightly wrapped, and stored in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
The best part of the NY style is that with a denser cheesecake you don’t have any issues with letting the cheesecake sit in the fridge, the dense structure benefits from the extra time because it gets more time to firm up after baking.

How do you make a fruit topping for New York style Cheesecake?

Choose whatever your favorite fruit is to make a topping for this cheesecake recipe, strawberries are a great choice. You can also try cherries, blueberries, or raspberries. Add 1 ½ cup of fruit to a saucepan over medium heat with ¼ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, or 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Mix water with 1 tablespoon of corn starch and pour into fruit. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer until the topping begins to thicken. Let the topping cool before pouring it over the cheesecake to set.

New York Cheesecake collage of strawberry topping

MORE CHEESECAKE RECIPES

New York Cheesecake on cake plate being sliced with knife

TIPS FOR MAKING NEW YORK CHEESECAKE

  • Top your New York style cheesecake with sweet toppings like fresh fruit, cookie crumbs, chocolate sauce, coconut flakes, or preserves.
  • Be careful not to over mix your filling, or you’ll end up with a deflated cheesecake.Set your stand mixer for low and watch until the ingredients are just combined to avoid over-beating.
  • Turn this cheesecake recipe into mini cheesecakes by pressing the graham cracker crust into a muffin tin instead of the springform pan, then filling evenly with cheesecake filling and fruit topping.
  • For the graham cracker crust, if you don’t have graham crackers you can use Oreo cookie crumbs, or any other cookie crumbs that you have.
  • Refrigerate your cheesecake between serving it, so it doesn’t start to melt, and for food safety.
  • Bring your cream cheese, eggs, and sour cream to room temperature. This will help everything mix together better and prevent any lumps from forming in the cheesecake.
  • Your cheesecake is done when the sides of the cake are set, but the middle still wiggles slightly. Crack the oven door and turn the oven off to let it cool. This will help it avoid fast temperature changes and remain smooth and crack-free.
  • Use a nonstick spring form pan lined with parchment paper to avoid the cheesecake batter from sticking to the pan.
  • Place the cheesecake in a water bath while it’s cooking to prevent the top from cracking.
Cheesecake

HOW TO STORE NEW YORK CHEESECAKE

  • Serve: Do not leave cheesecake at room temperature for longer than two hours.
  • Store: Wrapped tightly, New York Cheesecake will last in the refrigerator up to 5 days.
  • Freeze: This cheesecake recipe is the PERFECT dessert to freeze for later. Just let it cool, then wrap it tightly in an airtight container and freeze. Cheesecake can remain in the freezer for about 6 months. When you’re ready, let the cheesecake defrost in the refrigerator. I usually take it out the night before I know I’m going to serve it.
New York Cheesecake slice on plate with strawberry topping

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New York Cheesecake

New York Cheesecake is the PERFECT sweet, creamy dessert made from cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, baked into a graham cracker crust.
Yield 12 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

Graham Cracker Crust

  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs , 12 full crackers
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted

Cheesecake

  • 32 ounces cream cheese , softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup flour

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and wrap a 9 inch springform pan in a large piece of foil to protect from the water bath and a large pan of water you can set the springform pan in to bake.

Graham Cracker Crust

  • Mix the graham cracker crumbs, ⅓ cup sugar and 6 tablespoons melted butter and press into the bottom of the springform pan and 1 inch up the sides.

Cheesecake

  • In a stand mixer beat the cream cheese and sugar then add in the milk until combined.
  • Add in the eggs one at a time until fully combined then add in the sour cream, vanilla and flour until combined before pouring into the springform pan.
  • Pour filling into pan over the crust and spread evenly.
  • Place the pan in the water bath and bake for 1 hour.
  • Turn off the oven, open the door a couple inches to let the heat out gently and let cool for 1 hour.
  • Remove from oven, discard the foil and refrigerate overnight before serving.

Video

Notes

Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.

Nutrition

Calories: 551kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Cholesterol: 164mg | Sodium: 355mg | Potassium: 190mg | Sugar: 36g | Vitamin A: 1415IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 131mg | Iron: 1.1mg
New York Cheesecake Collage

Photos used in a previous version of this post.

New York Cheesecake Slice
NY Cheesecake

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. This New York cheesecake is so decadent and fun to it. That’s why I recommended this to my friend, and she was also impressed!

  2. This New York cheesecake is a must-try! It was delightful and tasty, and the strawberry topping was sooo good!

  3. Hi Sabrina I have really enjoyed several of your recipes. This cheesecake was great and easy to make. However it was my first time using a water bath and water got into the crust. I used tinfoil but it leaked. I am going to place the springform pan into a larger cake pan to keep the water out. Foil did not work for me. You say to only insulate the bottom and I know I went beyond that.

    1. Oh no! Did the foil have a slit in it? Next time, make sure that the foil is one solid piece. Good luck!