I’ve been a little afraid to try and make a REAL baked cheesecake. I’m not sure why, but they just seemed, well, intimidating. I mean, cheese and eggs and springform pans and all that. But I know they are a great use of eggs and really not that bad for my diet, believe it or not. (I’m trying to diet… yeah… staying away from carbs and sugar mostly. Lots of veggies, dairy, meat, protein… light fruit, very little bread and processed stuff and of course, sugar.) In most of the recipes, they are mostly cheese, eggs and sour cream, with a little bit of sugar. A cup and a half for a HUGE cake is not bad. I think that whittles down to a tablespoon or so a slice. The homemade ones are so rich, that a little bit goes a long way!

Anyway, I digress. We decided to try and back a few recipes and see which we liked best. It’s a tie between these two finalists!

First off… for those of you who are scared, like me, to even try… it’s really very easy! I was very surprised! I expected a lot of work but in reality, it’s not that much different than just a regular cake or brownies. Actually, pretty easy.

First off, you mush up some graham crackers. I used a potato masher for this one, but the second time around, we liked the food processor better. I suspect it might even be easier to get a bag of crumbs at a restaurant supply place.

Then you line your bottom of your springform pan. By the way, I looked locally for a pan and most were slightly expensive. $15 to $20 a pan. So I dashed to Ebay and of course… set of three different sizes, NEW was $13 with free shipping! How can you beat that? So these are my new set of pans. I used the middle for this recipe, I believe it is the 9 inch pan.

Several places I looked at online said to line the bottom with a piece of foil or baking parchment. The last cake we did, we didn’t line it and it turned out just fine. I guess in the future, I’ll not waste the foil if it really wasn’t needed.

You mix up your crust, which is usually just graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and a little bit of sugar. I’ll post the recipe at the bottom of this post. Then press into the bottom of the pan. It’s best if it goes up the edge on the bottom a bit. I suppose that is to help seal the bottom nice and tight. One we did that and one we didn’t, and to be honest, it was fine both times. I think for presentation, it’s a little nicer with the crust coming up the side a bit.

Your hand works best really. We tried a spoon and all, but the hand was the best.

The cheese used is cream cheese and when it’s room temperature, you mix in cheese and a cup of sweetened condenser milk with your eggs. And you just follow the recipe. It’s really easy.

And then you squeeze out a little lemon juice. We just happened to have a lemon, so we did it fresh, but it’s a small amount, so I would think that just bottled lemon juice is fine.

Once the 4 items are put in and mixed good, you just pour it in the pan and bake! Honest, that’s it. Really very easy.

Easy Baked Cheese Cake

Crust
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 1/4 cups graham wafer crumbs
1/4 cup sugar

Filling
2 packages (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 can sweetened condensed milk (300 ml)
3 eggs
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Crust Directions
Combine butter, graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Press into the bottom of a 9″ springform pan.

Filling Directions
In a large bow, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add sweetened condensed milk and beat until smooth.

Add eggs one at a time and mix. Add lemon juice and vanillia and mix well. Pour over crust.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes at 300 degrees F. Cake is done when it springs back when lightly touched. Cool to room temperature and then chill until serving.

(Note… we ended up with like an hour and 15 minutes in our small oven….)

And it was best to let it set nice over night. It was definitely better the next day.

We really liked this cake the best. However, second place was Bakerella’s Simple Cheese Cake… It is a nice and simple cheesecake and it is better after a day or two of setting and with some sort of dressing, like raspberry jam or a little chocolate drizzle…

Bakerella’s Simple Cheese Cake

And a picture of our Bakerella’s example…

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