Plain Cheesecake Recipe

Here's a plain cheesecake recipe that's the perfect foundation for all your favorite variations. If you've been intimidated by the idea of a homemade baked cheesecake in the past give this New York Style recipe a try - it comes out right every time.

It's rich and creamy with plenty of tangy cream cheese flavor and a hint of vanilla. In fact this is the recipe I developed when I was catering and it's the only one I ever use.

Table of Contents

• 🗝️ Key takeaways: why this recipe is your new favorite
• 🧾Gather your ingredients: what you'll need
• 📖 Make it your own: yummy variations
• 🍴Must have tools: essential equipment
• Recipe Title
• 🥫 Leftover love: how to store cheesecake
• Marye's Tip o' the day
• 💭 Insider tips: things to know
• 👩‍🍳 Let's answer those questions: FAQs
• 📚 More Southern comfort: related recipes you'll love
• 📞 Wrapping it up: the last word
• 📖 Recipe
• ✍🏻 A note from Marye...
• 💬 Comments

Save this recipe by clicking on the ❤️ heart on the right-hand side of the screen or in the recipe card.

🗝️ Key takeaways: why this recipe is your new favorite

• This classic cheesecake is creamy, smooth, and has the perfect balance of sweetness. It's a classic dessert that's easier to make than people thing.
• Ideal for birthdays, holidays, or any time you want to make someone (incuding yourself!) feel special.
• Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature before mixing and be sure to use a water bath!

I've shared tons of easy cheesecake recipes here on Restless Chipotle but never my plain cheesecake recipe - the one that all the others are based off of.

As long as you keep the basic measurements the same and follow directions exactly this plain cheesecake recipe will never ever let you down. No cracks, no tough edges...

The only problem I've ever had is when I don't leave it in the oven long enough and the middle isn't done all the way. Even with that it's delicious - just a little more creamy in the center.

🧾Gather your ingredients: what you'll need

This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.

📖 Make it your own: yummy variations

1. Fruit Topping: Add your favorite fruit topping like strawberries, blueberries, or cherries.
2. Chocolate Swirl: Mix in some melted chocolate for a delicious chocolate swirl.
3. Lemon Zest: Add a bit of lemon zest to the filling for a fresh, citrusy flavor.

🍴Must have tools: essential equipment

1. springform pan
2. electric mixer or stand mixer
3. food processor to crush graham crackers
4. rubber spatula
5. larger pan that the springform fits in

🥫 Leftover love: how to store cheesecake

Store any leftover cheesecake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

You can also freeze slices of cheesecake for up to 3 months. I like to slice it and put parchment paper between the slices before freezing. That way I can take just one or two out at a time.

💭 Insider tips: things to know

I don't know why cheesecake recipes are considered to be so intimidating. It's one of the simplest desserts you can make. When done right the top never cracks and the filling is always dense and creamy!

Here are my best tips for success with this recipe.

1. Follow the recipe exactly the first couple of times you make it so that you've got the basics down.
2. Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. This ensures a smooth batter.
3. Don't whip the cream cheese, use a paddle attachment and the lowest speed of your mixer. Whipping adds air which keeps this cheesecake from being dense.
4. Use high quality ingredients - there aren't many ingredients in a cheesecake so the flavor is very dependent on what you use.
5. Don’t overmix the batter; it should be just combined to avoid cracks in the cheesecake.
6. As soon as you take the cheesecake out of the oven, run a knife along the edge to prevent it from sticking to the sides of the pan while cooling.
7. Always let it come to room temperature before chilling.
8. Gently place a couple of paper towels folded on the top of the cheesecake before covering with plastic wrap and chilling overnight.

👩‍🍳 Let's answer those questions: FAQs

Have other questions? Ask me in the comments!

📚 More Southern comfort: related recipes you'll love

📞 Wrapping it up: the last word

I love cheesecake. I can't tell you whether it's the flavor or the texture or a combination of the two that makes it so addictive to me but I can tell you that I will eat cheesecake until either the cheesecake is gone or I explode.

It's the first thing I look for on the dessert menu of any restaurant I'm visiting and woe be unto the restaurant that serves me a commercially made frozen cheesecake and tries to pass it off as made in house.

If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.

If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Recipe

First published July 21, 2017. Last updated for readability, to add ingredient image, and to improve readability June 29, 2024.

✍🏻 A note from Marye...

I know y'all don't always like the stories bloggers tell so when I have one I try to put it at the very bottom so you can read or skip as you like. This one comes with a trigger warning - the subject of suicide is discussed.

Learning to Bake Cheesecake in Summer of '75

This part of my post was originally written in 2017. Normally, when I update a post, I take out anything that no longer seems appropriate to the post, or is out of date... I know this is long but it is also very close to my heart... so I am leaving it in... feel free to skip, of course.

I learned to make cheesecake the same summer that I learned to bake bread. I think it was 1975 and I was 15.

My Dad had moved out to a nearby apartment (my parents had a very rocky, on again/off again 50 year marriage) which meant I had access to a kitchen that my mother wasn't in control of.

I'm not sure what all circumstances led to the changes in my life that summer, only that there were changes, and they were immeasurable.

It was the summer of my freedom - I was old enough to ride my 10 speed bike to Dairy Queen for ice cream with my friends, or Winchells for donuts and coffee.

I was old enough to stay at Dad's by myself and pretend that I was even older and it was my very own apartment.

It was the summer of halter tops and cut off jeans, and of feeling like I might be getting pretty after all.

It was a feeling of confidence and power that I've rarely had the opportunity to experience but remember with a smile and a burst of ... pride? ... once in a while.

It was the summer I was seriously in love for the first time.

Glenn and I dated for two years. He was artistic, angsty, and brooding—I imagined him as a modern-day Heathcliff striding across the moors in his Levis and calvary boots, pushing his long hair out of his dreamy eyes.

We spent every waking moment together, and many of those moments were shared with Danny, our third Musketeer, the one who introduced us and was a best friend to both of us.

I never was sure why Glenn broke up with me - I was devastated when it happened. I was positive that it was because I wasn't attractive enough or interesting enough or fill-in-the-blank enough. Anyway, not long after that he quit school and disappeared from my life.

Just before my divorce in 2009 Danny, Glenn, and I caught up with each other again on Facebook. We talked about that magical summer and laughed over some of the crazy stuff that we'd done.

Glenn was out of state and we talked about him coming down and the three of us getting together for real.

He and I talked through Messenger on Facebook often. We talked about his life, which hadn't gone well overall, and my life which had it's ups and downs but was pretty sweet overall.

He told me he was proud of who I'd become and what I'd done with my life. Proud but not surprised. I asked why we'd broken up and he just said he didn't think he was good for me and felt he was holding me back... and then he said, "and see, I was right. Look at you now!"

I could see that slow, lazy smile spread across his face in my mind and read it in his words.

The Message You Never Want to Get

I guess we talked a couple of times a week until I got the message from Danny. Glenn is dead. He committed suicide last night.

What? No way! We had just talked!

He felt like his situation was hopeless. He didn't want to be a problem for anyone. He didn't want to pull anyone down so he didn't talk to Danny or I or anyone about the real, gritty details of his life.

He didn't give us the opportunity to be there for him. He did the only thing he could think of to do.

And maybe he didn't realize it but he left behind a small group of shell shocked friends and family that would have moved Heaven and Earth to make his life better if we had only known.

His headstone was finally set and Danny and I headed out there yesterday to say goodbye, to tell him what an ass he was for what he'd done, and to try to get some closure, to make sense of something that would never make sense.

In the years since high school we've lost parents, family members, and friends. We've grown and changed but yesterday, for just a couple of hours in the hot Texas summer, we were 15 and 16 again, and in a weird way, the three of us were together.

If You Skipped Everything Else Please Read This....

Y'all know I ramble on. It's what old people do. There's something about telling our stories that not only brings them back to life but gives them some sort of immortality.

But this story has a point and here it is.

Everybody goes through things - hard things, things that make you feel like your gut is going to burst open and spew all of your emotions out all over the street. Often, when we're going through those things, we feel like we need to keep them to ourselves so as not to burden someone else with the knowledge of it.

We seek to protect our loved ones - our friends and family.

And, sometimes in that protecting, the weight of it all becomes too heavy for us to carry.

Don't do it. Don't carry it by yourself. Don't leave your friends wondering what they could have done differently. Reach out no matter how hard it is. Tough times are temporary but death is pretty permanent - there's no coming back from that.

Make this plain cheesecake recipe. Invite someone over. Share it. Tell them you are there for them no matter what. Life is short. Eat the cheesecake. Often.