Can cheesecake be cooked without a spring-form pan?

Alton Brown says never to cook a cheesecake in a springform pan. He uses a regular pan and lines it with parchment paper so that the cheesecake won't stick to the bottom.

I always make mine in a 9 x 3" Fat Daddio's anodized cake pan. You can buy precut parchment rounds for the bottom, and you can cut a 30 x 3" strip of parchment to line the sides of the pan (I line the whole thing - makes it come out easier, and WAY cleaner - looks picture perfect when it's done). I use Crisco to "glue" the 30 x 3 strip to itself (not the pan) so I don't have to hold it in place when pouring the batter.

The key is after it's set for a long time in the fridge (at least 8-9 hours), to cover the top with parchment too, that way when you flip it it doesn't mess up the top at all. Then just use something to pop it out onto. I use a cardboard cake round, and "pop" the sides and bottom of the pan with my hand or a butter knife handle, it takes a little practice. You may want to run the knife around the pan on the outside of the parchment lining too, that helps. Take the parchment off the cake and flip it back over onto whatever you want to serve it on.

I used to do springform, but once I got the hang of this, I'll never go back; it produces a much better end result. And you can make it taller too because a regular cake pan is slightly deeper that most springforms of the same diameter.

You can cook it in a regular pan. Even a non-stick pan without parchment paper is fine. Just cut it like brownies. You'll definitely need to adjust down cooking times given that your cheesecake will be a lot less thick, but be careful in doing so, especially if trying to add a brownie layer.

If you start making cheesecakes regularly, however, I strongly recommend a springform pan for 3 reasons:

1) It's more traditional and improves presentation

2) It's standard, so it's more compatible with recipes

3) A springform can more easily be fit into a water bath, which is, IMO, the best of all methods for making cheesecake. (and if surrounded carefully with foil, it will rarely leak, and even if it does the crust will provide some protection)

No, you do not need a springform pan. I make both savory and sweet cheesecakes all the time. You also don't always need a water bath, or a crust. Alton Brown's cooking method is probably one of the best, just a regular pan, in a water bath, or without, cook at 225-250 for 1 hour, then turn off the oven and let the cheesecake sit in it for another hour. Then pull out and cool.

In my experience, the best cheesecake is made in a glass pyrex pan, 9 or 10 inches, if you can find it or most likely have it or your mom or grandma or aunt. Bake it on 300 degrees, making your own graham cracker crust with unsalted butter, vanilla, and sugar, using 16 to 24 ounces cream cheese, 2 to 3 eggs, one half to three quarter cups sugar, real vanilla, fresh lemon juice, baked 40 to 60 minutes depending on your oven, on the rack, then, take out of oven, let cool 10 minutes, top with sour cream, vanilla, sugar mixture, put back in oven 5 more minutes, let cool complete, cover, put in fridge at least 12 hours. Serve totally naked, please do not ruin with toppings, and enjoy. The beauty is the cheesecake taste, not how it looks but how a cheesecake fanatic ends up eating the whole darn thing. No springform pan, no parchment, just a pryrex glass round pie dish, old as the hills which I'm hopeful you have and no waterbath. Oops, I just also Just gave you a receipe that is simple and very much sought after. Enjoy

In addition to springform pans, there are also non-spring removable-bottom pans, e.g.:

https://www.amazon.com/Ateco-Aluminum-Removable-Bottom-3-Inch/dp/B000FEM2XO

In use, they look like regular cake pans. They're simpler to make and use, and they don't wear out. Most commercial bakeries use them rather than spring-form pans.

The downside is that they leak more readily, since the bottom isn't locked in place. That's fine for a cheesecake: the crust will prevent the filling from leaking (and the filling is usually too thick to leak much anyway). They are inappropriate for cooking in a water bath -- unless you wrap them in aluminum foil, which you really should be doing for spring-form pans anyway.

They're superior to regular cake pans for cheesecake and other cakes that are too fragile to turn over, since you can just pop them right out when done, and you don't have to fuss with a spring. If they didn't turn the cake over to remove, they may have been using a removable-bottom pan.

I do a lot of baking, from cupcakes to cheesecakes, but one thing I struggle with is getting the cheesecakes out of a normal, pan even a glass pan. I found out that you could butter the pan before doing anything in it and you can flip the cheesecake over and it comes out nicely.