Growing up in Cleveland, my husband Mark has fond memories of his maternal grandmother, Anna Lipton, making this cheesecake. She used to bring it to Mark and his family at their home on Shelburne Road in Shaker Heights, so he appropriately named it Shelburne Cheesecake. It’s now the recipe all other cheesecakes are measured against in my house. I’ve tried other recipes, but none come close to this in his mind and frankly he’s right. The only one I’ve managed to get into the rotation is my pumpkin cheesecake but just for Thanksgiving. I think one of the things he loves most about this cheesecake, other than the fond memories of his grandmother, is the sour cream topping that goes on at the end. For this recipe, having some cracks on the top (see photo) only adds to how the sweetened sour cream seeps down into the cracks of the cheesecake. Like most cheesecakes, it’s rich, creamy and worth the calories. A little goes a long way so you can serve it to a group and still have some to spare which is good because it gets better every day.
Ingredients:
Crust
¾ stick Softened butter
1 cup Graham cracker crumbs
1 tbs Sugar
Filling
3 8-oz pkgs Cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup Sugar
5 Eggs, large
½ tsp Vanilla
Topping
1-pint Sour cream
4 tbs Sugar
½ tsp Vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine butter, graham cracker crumbs and 1 tbs sugar into a bowl and pat into the bottom of a 9” springform pan. Wrap the bottom in foil (depending on what kind of pan you use, some butter from the crust could leak out when you cook the cheesecake and since I hate cleaning cookie sheets, I wrap the pan to avoide it!) and place in refrigerator for 10 minutes.
Mix cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla and add one egg at a time till combined. Carefully pour batter into springform pan and place on a cookie sheet. Back for approximately 50 – 60 minutes. The center should still be a little jiggly in the middle. Let cool for 15 minutes.
Turn the oven to 425. Mix sour cream, 4 tablespoons sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla and then pour onto the cooled cheesecake. Back for five minutes.
Remove and cool before storing in the refrigerator overnight before cutting.
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