I’m gonna be honest. I don’t make very many desserts. Jamison makes milk shakes, cheesecake, and smoothies. And everything he touches in the kitchen is to die for!

This will be the base recipe for the cheesecake. It is light, fluffy, and melts in your mouth.

My Husband’s Cheesecake

Delicious homemade plain cheesecake that can be flavored any way you want it.

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

Batter

• 2 lbs cream cheese
• 1½ c sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 c sour cream
• 2 tsp vanilla

Crust

• 2 packages graham crackers
• ¾ c melted butter

Method

 

Crust

1. Grease an 8 or 10 inch round spring-form pan.
2. Add a slow cooker liner or turkey bag under the pan.
3. Add aluminum foil under cheesecake.
4. Preheat oven to 325℉.
5. Crush graham crackers in blender until finely ground.
6. Add graham crackers and melted butter to a bowl and mix.
7. Press graham cracker mixture into spring-form pan. Compact crust using the bottom of a flat cup.

Filling

1. Beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium setting.
2. Add sugar and allow mixture to cream. Scrape the bottom of the bowl as necessary.
3. When cream cheese is thoroughly combined and no more lumps remain, add the eggs and mix.
4. Add sour cream and vanilla. Mix well until combined.
5. Pour batter into prepared crust. Bake at 325℉ in a water bath until cake is solid to the touch yet no longer appears shiny. Cake will still jiggle. Cook about 1 hour and 15-30 minutes.
6. Allow cheese cake to cool after baking and then refrigerate.

Flavor Options. Pick one:

1. Swirl in flavored syrups.
2. Top with fresh fruit or canned fruit pie filling.
3. Mix batter with melted chocolate chips.
4. Drizzle with chocolate and caramel syrup.
5. Top with nuts or toffee bits.
6. Add lemon zest and lemon juice, omit vanilla extract.
7. Use Oreos for the crust, omit butter.
8. Add 2 tbsp of banana extract.

When we made the water bath we used a big cake pan underneath and covered the bottom in a few layers of tin foil. Omitting that step is a mistake!

It’s so easy to get water in the pan – which is the worst. A soggy bottom on a cheesecake is not fun!

The way we prevent this is putting a turkey bag or crock pot liner under the pan and then the aluminum foil over that. Maybe it’s overkill but let me tell you, the cooking cheesecake will NOT get wet!

Then you grind up the graham crackers. We like to use the vitamix because it helps get the crumbs the smallest and most even. It’s just a great texture!

Sometimes the top is harder to get completely smooth but thankfully when you mix it with the butter it gets better! Even though there are still a few clumps this works the best for us. You can also use a food processor if you have one!

Then we use an electric mixer to blend the softened cream cheese until it is smooth.

Make sure there are no clumps in the cream cheese mixture for your homemade cheesecake before adding in vanilla and sour cream and eggs.

At this point you can add in liquid flavorings if you WANT to. We turned this cheesecake into a banana cheesecake with banana custard! It was to die for. This is by far my favorite way to have cheesecake!

Pour the liquid mixture into your spring form pan and cook low and slow for a long time. When it is done baking the cheesecake is a few inches higher than after it cools. This is normal!

So this is becoming a hobby for Jamison! He’s getting so good at all the flavorings. We’ve done a strawberry sauce, banana custard, chocolate drizzle, and plain so far.

I hope you love it and tell me what your favorite flavor combos are for homemade cheesecakes! Maybe we will try making them! 🙂