Ingredients
Scale
For Crust
- 1½ cups graham cracker crumbs (pre-made, or about 22 small, square crackers ground up)
- 2 tbs light brown sugar
- 5 tbsp butter, unsalted, melted
For Cheese Mixture
- 1 lb 4 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 egg yolk
- ¼ cup sour cream, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Grease an 8" or 9" springform pan with baking spray or shortening. Wrap foil around bottom and up sides of springform pan.
- Combine graham cracker crumbs and brown sugar. Add melted butter and mix with a fork. Press crust mixture into bottom of pan.
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until crust just begins to darken in color. Lower oven temperature to 325° F.
For Mascarpone Filling
- Beat mascarpone with a hand or stand mixer paddle on medium speed until smooth.
- Add sugar and sour cream and beat two minutes more on medium speed, scraping bowl.
- Gently whisk together eggs, yolk, vanilla and salt in a bowl.
- In four additions, slowly add egg mixture to cheese mixture, scraping the bowl and beater/paddle often. Once batter is completely smooth, pour into crust and tap pan on counter to eliminate air bubbles (don’t be gentle!).
- Bring a large pot or kettle of water to a boil.
- Place cake pan in a large roasting pan and set on oven rack. Pour boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan.
- Bake for 1 hour, or until cheesecake jiggles when shaken, but moves as one cohesive mass.
- Cool in water bath, unmold and refrigerate overnight to set.
Notes
No springform pan? No problem!
Cheesecakes can be baked in a regular cake pan:
- Coat a cake pan with baking spray, line bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper, and spray the top of paper.
- Proceed as directed above, running a butter knife around sides of pan to gently loosen the cake after baking. Still cool the cake completely in the water bath.
- To un-mold, dip the bottom of pan in a sink full of extremely hot water, and flip onto a parchment-covered plate or cutting board. Once free of pan, flip again to serve right-side up.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Sweets, Recipes
- Method: Baking
Keywords: cheesecake recipe, mascarpone cheesecake, how to make cheesecake