Supremely-Easy Baked Cheesecake Recipe
Just needs patience!
You will love this easy baked cheesecake recipe! I had planned to bake a cheescake for our 2024 Christmas. But COVID intervened making me too unwell to tackle the task. Then, finally, half-way through January 2025 – here it is!
Serve baked cheesecake with your finest espresso coffee for a perfect morning tea or lazy afternoon break. Of course baked cheesecake is made ten-fold better when you serve it with freshly-picked blueberries. Did I mention that Tin Dragon Cottages has a blueberry orchard?
Origins and Ingredients for the Baked Cheesecake Recipe
Just like my Best Ever Carrot Cake Recipe, this recipe was adapted from a baked cheesecake recipe in the Colorado Cache Cookbook.
Ingredients
Cheesecake
- 500g Philadelphia-style cream cheese
- 3/4 Cup caster sugar
- 5 eggs
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1/4 Teaspoon almond essence
Biscuit base
- 1 Cup of crushed gingernut biscuits
- About 100g of melted salt-free butter
Frosting
- 300g firm sour cream
- 1/3 Cup caster sugar
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla essence
Method
First up you should prepare a spring-form cake pan by lining the base with baking paper. Meanwhile turn the oven up to ~150 deg C.
Biscuit base
Use a blender to prepare a fine biscuit crumb from the commercial gingernut biscuits. Mix 1 cup of crumb with the melted butter. After tipping the crumb into the spring-form pan, use the back of a spoon to firmly press the crumb.
Bake the biscuit base till it becomes an even light brown colour. This takes about 10 to 15 minutes in a 180 deg C oven. Allow the biscuit base to cool down to room temperature.
The Cheesecake mixture
Using a beater, you can cream the cheese with the vanilla and almond essence, then gradually add in the sugar. When the cheese looks fluffly, you can add the eggs in one-at-a-time. You need to make sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next one.
The cheesecake mixture will be a thick liquid which you can pour on top of the room-temperature baked biscuit base.
Bake the cheesecake in a slow to moderate oven (about 150 deg C). Take a look after 45 minutes. The cheesecake is cooked when it is firm to the touch and has a glossy surface. When you test it with a fine skewer, the skewer should come out clean. Be patient, it can take up to 1.5 hours for the cheesecake to bake slowly. I find slow-baking results in the best texture.
Allow the cheesecake to cool down to room temperature before adding the cream-topping.
The cream on top!
Mix the sour cream with the sugar. Then, you can spread the mixture evenly over the (cooled) baked cheesecake. Pop the cake back in the 150 deg oven for about 15 minutes. The sour cream should firm up. After removing the baked cheesecake from the oven, allow it to cool to room temperature, before you place it in the fridge. Otherwise, you may see moisture condensing on top of the cream when it chills in the fridge.
