Place cheesecake in a large deep roasting pan and set in the middle of your preheated oven. Slowly pour boiling water into roasting pan until water is about halfway up the sides of the springform pan.
Bake cheesecake at 325 degrees for about 70-85 minutes or until light golden brown around edges. Careful to not overbake. The cheesecake should still be a bit soft and jiggly in the middle at this point. Turn off oven, crack oven door slightly (can place a wooden spoon in door to crack if needed), and let cheesecake cool in oven in waterbath for one hour.
Carefully remove roasting pan and cheesecake from oven. Carefully lift springform pan out of waterbath and remove aluminum foil. Place springform pan on cooling rack and let cheesecake come to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Once at room temperature cover top of springform pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight would be better.
Carefully remove sides of springform pan. Cut cheesecake into slices and garnish with whipped cream, mini chocolate chips, chopped nuts, and/or maraschino cherries as desired. Store cheesecake in refrigerator.
Notes
SNAPPY TIPS: I suggest using full-fat ricotta and mascarpone cheese (see note below about draining). You can add more chocolate chips to the filling if you like a lot of chocolate. Please follow directions carefully and slowly cool the cheesecake as directed for best results and to help prevent the top from cracking.
SNAPPY SUBSTITUTIONS: Instead of mascarpone, you could substitute cream cheese. Instead of waffle cones, you could use cannoli shells or graham crackers (chocolate or original).
CONE CRUMBS: Best way to make the waffle ice cream cone crumbs is to place the cones in a food processor and process until very fine crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor you could put the cones in a bag and use a meat malle or rolling pin to crush cones into crumbs.
