Cheesecake

There is nothing like chilled homemade cheesecake with fresh strawberries when the weather gets warmer (fingers crossed). Ian's mom asked me to make something for her Shabbat group, so I made two cheesecakes for fear one would go terribly, terribly wrong. She said it went over well, and that was something I was very happy about. Cheesecake is surprisingly simple. I have to say, they both came out pretty well. I have never heard much about cheesecake except that it should never crack on top, so I think baking it in a water bath helps with that problem. Neither of them had cracks. Also, I used a dark coated springform pan and an aluminum springform pan, and shocker, Ian's mom's aluminum pan is the reigning champion.

The crust is simple:
1 package (three in a box) graham cracker crust
1/2 stick of room temperature butter
sugar, baking soda and some recipes call for flour

Cheesecake (pulled from Rose's Heavenly Cakes):
2 boxes Philadelphia Cream Cheese (I think works the best)
Sugar
3 eggs
3 cups sour cream
Lemon juice, vanilla

There are many ways to make cheesecake, but first I wanted to start with basics.