I don’t know about waterproof pans, but I make a lot of cheesecakes, and discovered a trick that makes a water bath unnecessary. I put a 9X13 pan with an inch or so of water in it, and put it on the bottom rack of the oven. Then let the oven come to temperature, and put the cheesecake pan on the rack above the water. I put foil around the cheesecake pan as well.

Baking the cheesecake with the pan of water in the oven has worked like a charm. They come out perfectly every time.

I agree with the 9X13 pan of water on the rack below. There is no need to wrap the springform pan in foil and get everything wet.

I just saw Claire Saffitz make a cheesecake and she showed using plastic wrap first on the outside of the springform pan before adding foil on the outside. She said the plastic wrap never melted in the oven. I'm not sure I would have the confidence for that, but...your call. If you want to watch the video, just search for Dessert Person cheesecake on YouTube.

All the YouTube recipes I've seen for putting a springform in a bain marie have the springform wrapped in a large sheet of foil on the outside.

Real springform pans are supposed to be leakproof. My old steel one was and I think I did use it in a bain marie once without any extra covering. I currently have an adequate tin one for baking a cake, but while it keeps in batter, and I tried it recently holding water just to make sure it hadn't warped, I haven't tried it with liquid for a full cooktime, let alone in a bain marie. You get what you pay for, IMHO, and this was a cheap pan. :)

Both NordicWare and Fat Daddio make a less traditional (IME) kind which has a tray bottom, with the cake bottom pushed up. The ring latches around the pushed up part, and sets in the trough made by the edge of the tray. That looks like it might make a better seal from the contents (or maybe doesn't seal well at all, but those are generally reliable makers), but the old kind with the carefully machined curled lip and matching grip in the ring was really good, if expensive. I sound like an old crank.

OTOH, any springform that isn't warped should be leakproof to cheesecake batter, and the batter should seal it against the water of the bath. "Cheesecake pans", just have a loose bottom setting in a ridge and work fine. Though I can't say for sure that I didn't use parchment or something. I haven't made a cheesecake in a decade.

Thanks, everyone, for ringing in here!

I've always done a bain marie, but will try the other way with a pan of water in the over on a lower rack.

This is the pan I bought because many reviews said it was leak proof. I think the leakproof thing meant that almost whatever you put in the pan like cake or pizza, will not leak out (someone noted that using it for monkey bread will have the butter leaking out into your oven), versus having a water bath do it's diffusion or osmosis thing. I had a couple of Amazon credits, and this only cost me 18¢.

I have that same pan, and it's been put through the dishwasher countless times and still looks like new.