Let’s address the name. Nobody here is baking anything that will clear a room… the ‘smelly’ is a nod to the funk and depth of real cheese, like the parmesan grated over their New York-style cheesecake, rather than the bland cream cheese filler that lets lesser cheesecakes down. This Strathfield cafe (with other outposts scattered around town) has built a cult following with flavours that treat the cheesecake as a canvas rather than a formula: red velvet, mascarpone, matcha and – for the genuinely adventurous – blue cheese, which sounds alarming but tastes revelatory. It’s probably the most interesting thing happening to cheesecake in Sydney, smell and all. 2/2 Albert Rd, Strathfield; thesmellycheesecake.com

There are times a queue is bewildering, and others when it makes total sense. The one that forms outside Pasticceria Papa in Haberfield – and it always forms – is made up of people who have driven across Sydney specifically for the ricotta cheesecake. Salvatore Papa has been making his signature cake for over three decades, using a recipe he’s never written down (and never will). The result is baked ricotta in short pastry that is somehow simultaneously rich and weightless, sweet and citrus-sharp. You can take it plain or have it layered with Nutella, passionfruit or lemon, but the correct answer is plain so you can let the man’s work speak for itself. 145 Ramsay St, Haberfield; ppapa.au

Ask anyone who grew up on the Lower North Shore where their family bought celebration cakes, and there’s a reasonable chance the answer is Maggio’s. The baked ricotta cheesecake is the kind of thing that earns that loyalty: a delicate shortcrust shell cradling a ricotta filling lifted with citrus zest and finished with a dusting of cinnamon and icing sugar. It’s understated in the best Italian way; elegant rather than showy. It tastes like somebody’s nonna made it, except that somebody’s nonna has been perfecting the recipe in a professional kitchen for over two decades. The sfogliatelle pastries are also extraordinary. You’ll be back for those, too. 463 Miller St, Cammeray; maggios.com.au

You’ll probably walk past the window at Regent Place, clock the queue and keep walking. Don’t. This Hokkaido-born Japanese luxury dessert brand has brought its legendary Double Fromage cheesecake to Sydney, and it’s – without any exaggeration – an entirely different category of experience. There are two key layers: a baked cream cheese base, impossibly dense and rich, topped with a barely-set mousse so delicate it trembles if you look at it wrong. The milk is sourced from Hokkaido cows, which sounds like marketing but genuinely explains everything. Sydney-exclusive seasonal flavours rotate, and true devotees arrive early specifically to see what’s behind the spotless glass. Worth every cent of the eye-watering price tag. 501 George St, Sydney; letaoaustralia.com

There’s ‘dessert bar’ and then there’s KOI, a category unto itself, operated by the three Poernomo brothers with the sort of rigorous creativity that made middle sibling Reynold a MasterChef legend. The Basque cheesecakes here come in flavours just as fantastical as you’d expect – tiramisu, choc matcha, tropical. Each is technically flawless – the properly caramelised top, the interior irresistibly molten without collapsing into soup. The Chippendale space, all Japanese tiles and architectural restraint, makes the whole thing feel like a ceremony. There’s also a Ryde location, mercifully, for those unwilling to fight for parking in Chippendale in service of one of Sydney’s best cakes. 6 Central Park Ave, Chippendale; koidessertbar.com.au

The turquoise corner building on Kensington Street used to be a taco joint, but nobody mourns it anymore. Self-taught Thai baker Yeen Veerasenee took up the spot in early 2025 after two years selling out at Sydney’s weekend markets, and the move to a permanent home changed nothing about what makes his baking so good: extraordinary restraint with sugar, and flavour combinations that are Asian in soul without being confused about it. The Basque cheesecakes, available in a rotating roster of flavours that includes matcha and Thai milk tea, are perfectly caramelised and barely sweet, which is exactly what makes them so remarkable. 15 Meagher St, Chippendale; @khanomhouse.syd

Tucked inside Carlingford Court since 2017, this unassuming shop turns out light, quivering Japanese-style cheesecakes that – true to the name – wobble like something almost alive. Flavours span original, matcha marble, strawberry and chocolate marble, with cheese tarts baked fresh in-store daily. The curious trick these cakes pull off is their near-weightlessness. Each bite dissolves almost before you’ve registered eating it, and yet the flavour sticks around long after the last forkful, kind of like a tune you can’t quite stop humming. It takes real precision to create something so magical. Better grab some egg tarts while you’re there, too, so you can nibble on them while you ponder the jiggly mystery. Shop KI 102 Carlingford Rd, Carlingford; jigglecheesecake.com.au

If you came here expecting a regular cheesecake, prepare yourself. Christopher Thé – the man who created the world’s most photographed cake at Black Star Pastry – walked away from all that and opened a chill, Art Deco-styled cafe in Stanmore, where he can follow his own rules entirely. The result is a baked goat’s curd cheesecake flavoured with desert lime, resting on a strawberry gum biscuit, finished with Geraldton wax jelly bubbles and rose petals. It sounds like a florist’s fever dream, but it tastes like nothing you’ve eaten before. The native ingredients aren’t gimmicks; they’re the point. This is Australian cheesecake: genuinely, defiantly, beautifully local. 16 Douglas St, Stanmore; hearthe.com.au

Walk along The Grand Parade at Brighton-Le-Sands on any given night and you’ll eventually – and inevitably – find yourself here. Bay Vista has been keeping the sweet tooths of Sydney’s south satisfied since the 1990s, back when the dessert bar concept was barely even a concept, and it has matured magnificently. The cheesecakes rotate through a roster that includes a New York-style baked number, a mocha version finished with chocolate ganache, a passionfruit cream cheese and an Italian baked ricotta. Late-night trading also makes it the perfect post-dinner dessert stop, after you’ve just told the waiter you’re ‘too full for dessert’. 83 The Grand Parade, Brighton-Le-Sands; bayvista.com.au

The name means ‘15 centimetres’ – the diameter of a whole cake – and the precision doesn’t stop there. Founded during the 2020 lockdowns by a team with a genuine obsession with Japanese Basque cheesecake, 15cenchi has grown into one of Sydney’s most dedicated dessert operations, now with outposts at The Galeries and Darling Square. Everything is gluten free, which sounds like a deliberate move to accommodate as many diners as possible, until you realise nobody eating here is thinking about that at all. They’re thinking about the caramelised top on the Earl Grey cheesecake, or the way the espresso matcha version walks the line between bitter and sweet without flinching. Seasonal drops like Dubai chocolate, black sesame mochi and Lunar New Year specials have followers refreshing the Instagram page before heading to the shop. Shop T07/1 Little Pier St, Haymarket; 15cenchi.com.au