Classic Baked Cheesecake

Ingredients

• 1¼ cups Graham cracker crumbs
• 4 Tbsp Granulated sugar, for the crust
• 5 Tbsp Unsalted butter, melted
• 40 oz / 1134 g Cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1¼ cups Granulated sugar
• ½ cup Sour cream, at room temperature
• 2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 4 Large eggs, at room temperature

Method

1. Heat the oven to 350°F / 175°C with a rack in the center. Stir the graham cracker crumbs, the 4 tablespoons of sugar, and the melted butter until the crumbs look like damp sand. Press them into the bottom and about halfway up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Use the flat bottom of a measuring cup so the crust is even, not packed into a brick. Bake 7 minutes. Take the pan out and turn the oven down to 325°F / 165°C.
2. Beat the room-temperature cream cheese just until it is smooth, about 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl. Add the 1¼ cups sugar, the sour cream, and the vanilla. Beat until they are mixed in. Scrape the bowl again and mix briefly. The cream cheese should be soft before you start, or the batter stays lumpy.
3. Crack the eggs into a measuring cup and beat them with a fork until the yolks break. With the mixer on low, pour the eggs into the cream cheese in a slow stream and stop as soon as they disappear. Scrape the bowl. Fold in any small lumps with a spatula. Do not keep beating. Extra air makes the cake puff and then crack.
4. Tap the bowl on the counter for about half a minute so bubbles rise and pop. Pour the batter into the center of the crust and smooth the top. The pan will be very full.
5. Bake 30 minutes at 325°F / 165°C. Lower the heat to 250°F / 120°C and bake 45 minutes more. Turn the oven off. Leave the cake inside with the door closed for 30 minutes. Then prop the door open a crack and let the cake cool in the oven for 1 hour. It should be only slightly warm when it comes out.
6. Cool the cake on the counter until it is room temperature, about 3 to 4 hours. Cover it and refrigerate until it is cold all the way through, at least 6 hours. Overnight is better. Release the springform ring. Dip a sharp knife in hot water and wipe it between cuts so the slices stay neat. Cut 12 slices. Fruit on top is extra. It is not in the measured ingredients. The cake keeps covered in the fridge for several days.

Nutrition

Kitchen estimate only, not lab-verified. Counted as 1 of 12 slices of this 9-inch cake: the graham crumbs, both sugars, butter, cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla, and eggs. The Reddit post does not number the slices. Twelve is the cut used here. A thicker crust or a smaller slice moves the numbers. Fruit on top is not in the count. Added sugars count the sugar and the vanilla. Graham cracker sugars are not split on the USDA row, so they are not in that added-sugar number.

Guest diet / allergy swaps

Short kitchen notes for guests. A fuller gluten-free or dairy-free ingredient list, when we have one, is in the panels below.

• Gluten-free style

  The wheat is in the graham crackers. Use the same 1¼ cups of crumbs from a box that says gluten-free. Cream cheese, sugar, butter, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla do not call for wheat. Read the cracker box. This is a kitchen note, not a gluten-free certification.

• Dairy-free

  Cream cheese, butter, and sour cream are the cake. There is no dairy-free path that is still this cheesecake. This is a kitchen note, not a dairy-free certification.

• No egg

  The eggs set the filling in the oven. This cake is written with 4 eggs. Leaving them out will not bake up the same way.