47 Cheesecake Recipes for the Ultimate Dessert Experience

There's no reason for cheesecake recipes to seem like a restaurant or bakery-only thing: You can absolutely make creamy, luscious cheesecake at home. With a few packages of cream cheese, some eggs, sugar, and sometimes a bit of sour cream—plus any special flavoring agents that make the dessert feel seasonally perfect—you're well on your way. Some of these dessert recipes don't even require a springform pan. Below, you'll find our favorite classic New York-style cheesecake, easy pumpkin cheesecake bars, and the best cheesecake recipe for banana pudding lovers, too. Preheat your oven and scroll down for our 47 favorite step-by-step recipes for the ultimate creamy dessert.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Susan Ottaviano and Stevie Stewart1/47Original New York Cheesecake
Why mess with perfection? Junior's famous original cheesecake recipe has been baked the same way for more than half a century.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Stevie Stewart2/47Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake
Raspberry swirl cheesecake is better with homemade raspberry purée and an easy brown butter crust.
Photo by Caleb Adams, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell3/47Three Cities of Spain Cheesecake
This cheesecake recipe, a favorite of Epi's Anna Stockwell (and many, many others), was published in Gourmet in 1999. People have been losing their minds over it ever since.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton4/47Basque-Style Sweet Potato Cheesecake
Pumpkin cheesecake may be your Thanksgiving tradition, but have you tried sweet potato cheesecake? This Basque-inspired delight deserves a spot on your holiday table. The active prep time is just 35 minutes, and most of the total time is hands-off.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Pearl Jones5/47Marbled Pumpkin-Maple Cheesecake Bars
Meet the ultimate Thanksgiving dessert—swirled pumpkin cheesecake bars, sweetened with maple syrup and spiced with ginger, layered atop an easy graham cracker crust. If it's your first time making cheesecake, this is a great recipe to start with; there's no water bath or springform pan required.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Lillian Chou6/47Banana Pudding Cheesecake Bars
If you love banana pudding and you adore cheesecake, too, you need to make these luxuriously tall and flavorful cheesecake bars from Epi contributor Tara O'Brady. The crust uses crushed Nilla wafers instead of graham cracker crumbs. Fresh banana cheesecake (made with cream cheese, ripe bananas, sweetened condensed milk, large eggs, and vanilla bean paste) crowned with tangy sour cream whip is the kind of dessert you won't forget quickly. This is one of the best cheesecakes—and the best desserts, period—that we've tried all year.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Astrid Chastka, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson7/47Goat Cheese, Honey, and Rye Crust Pie
This cheesecake-like dessert is based on the first-ever recorded pie recipe, written down by ancient Romans. Be sure to bring the goat cheese, cream cheese, and eggs to room temperature before you start making the filling.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson8/47Pumpkin Cheesecake With Bourbon–Sour Cream Topping
The caramelized flavor of bourbon and the tang of sour cream add balance to the rich, spiced filling of this cheesecake. Chopped pecans add a nutty dimension to the graham cracker crust.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Bill Clark9/47Creole Cream Cheesecake With Caramel-Apple Topping
This cheesecake is silky, tangy, and mousselike, thanks to Creole cream cheese. (You can sub a mix of sour cream and buttermilk.) The crust combines melted butter, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, and graham cracker crumbs. The tart-and-sweet apple topping makes it the perfect cheesecake for fall.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Katherine Sacks10/473-Ingredient Japanese Cheesecake
This easy Japanese-inspired cheesecake is one part soufflé, one part custard, resulting in a lightly sweet and airy cake that is super simple to make. Once you get the batter in the pan, the cook time is 40–45 minutes, but you'll let the cheesecake cool in the turned-off oven for 15 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack.
Photo by Travis Rainey, Prop styling by Alexandra Massillon, Food styling by Kaitlin Wayne11/47Flan de Queso
Tangy cream cheese custard drenched in bittersweet caramel. Cue the oohs and aahs.
Photo by Jonathan Lovekin12/47Ricotta Filo Cake
Bring this one to the table to really wow your dinner companions. As you slice through, the pastry will shatter, offering wisps of crispness with the soft, creamy cheesecake.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova13/47Philadelphia Classic Cheesecake
If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
Photo & Food Styling by Kendra Vaculin14/47Frozen Avocado Cake
The retro-green hue of this dessert comes from avocados. The no-bake filling simply combines the avocado with sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese, lime and lemon juice and zest, and a pinch of salt, then it all chills in your freezer overnight.
