This Is The Best Cheesecake Recipe Ever

It was published in Gourmet Magazine in 1999. People have been losing their minds over it ever since. 

No cheesecake roundup would be complete without this one, created by Santa Fe’s Three Cities of Spain coffeehouse (which closed in the mid-1970s) and our absolute favourite in the creamy category.

YIELD: Makes 8 to 10 servings

ACTIVE TIME: 30 min

TOTAL TIME: 9 1/2 hr

Make filling and bake cake:

1. Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy and add eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla and sugar, beating on low speed until each ingredient is incorporated and scraping down the bowl between additions.
2. Put springform pan with crust in a shallow baking pan. Pour filling into crust and bake in a baking pan (to catch drips) in middle of oven 45 minutes, or until cake is set 3 inches from edge but the centre is still slightly wobbly when the pan is gently shaken. Let stand in baking pan on a rack 5 minutes. Leave oven on.

1. Stir together sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. Drop spoonfuls of topping around edge of the cake and spread gently over the centre, smoothing evenly. Bake cake with topping 10 minutes.
2. Run a knife around the top edge of cake to loosen and cool completely in springform pan on rack. (Cake will continue to set as it cools.) Chill cake, loosely covered, at least 6 hours. Remove side from pan and transfer cake to a plate. Bring to room temperature before serving.