"Yes, there’s a million different cheesecake recipes out there on the inter-webs… And yes, I’ve tried hundreds. Unfortunately, while on my crusade to create the perfect cheesecake, I also subjected multiple households to a lifetime of sugar. Sorry guys. But y'know what? You know you wanted it. Don’t give me that sass. Anyways… CHEESECAKE. Yes, the legendary cheesecake.
Around the summertime, in 2017, I was making a cheesecake nearly every other day. I’d bring them into the restaurant I was working at and torture the staff with these things. I was getting death threats from weight gains. C’mon ladies, relax. One morning, a baker working for us told me a story of her old Italian chef who she claimed had created the perfect cheesecake. That recipe was the base for this.
No flour, no gelatin, no shenanigans. All you need to create the perfect cheesecake is simply 4 ingredients. I’ll hold tight while you clean your brains off the wall. YES, just 4 ingredients. Cheesecake is about simplicity and delicate handling. It’s about the right process and patience. It’s also about to give your household crippling sugar overdoses but, whatever, right?"
The 4 Ingredient Cheesecake
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- Recipe Card
Prep time 15mins
Cook time 8hrs
Serves or Makes: 16
Recipe Card
ingredients
- 3 pounds Cream Cheese
- 3 cups White Granulated Sugar
- 4 whole Fresh Eggs
- 2 Vanilla Beans
Method
Step 1
Start by taking out your eggs and cream cheese and letting them get to room temperature. Part of the trick to getting this right is making sure everything is at room temperature before baking.
Step 2
Scrape the seeds from both vanilla beans and massage them into your sugar. The pods should go in as well-- no matter how hard you try, there’ll always be leftover seeds in the pods. This ensures that there are no clumps of vanilla beans in the cake. Massage the sugar until the vanilla is completely incorporated. It should be totally freckled and aromatic.
Step 3
Carefully mix the eggs in a bowl until liquidy. DO NOT over mix or whip-- if there are bubbles on the eggs, you’ve incorporated air-- this will cause the cheesecake to puff up in the oven and collapse in on itself.
Step 4
Put the cream cheese into kitchen aid and mix on low, slowly adding the sugar.
Step 5
Add eggs a little at a time. Once again, DO NOT over whip. Lightly fold in till incorporated.
Step 6
Pour cheese cake mix into springform pan, wrap with foil and set into a 2 inch pan. Add hot water into the pan until it’s about halfway up the springform.
Step 7
Put into the oven and set to 350. Once the oven reaches temp, start a timer for 1 hour.
Step 8
Once the timer has gone off, turn off the oven and let the cheesecake sit inside for 8-12 hours.
Step 9
Take the cheesecake out of the oven and rest in the refrigerator until completely chilled. Slice and serve.