Anyone who knows me knows that cheesecake has to be one of my all-time favourite things, so this recipe for mini cheesecakes is right at home in my kitchen. These cakes are individual sized, easy to make, and completely creamy and delicious. An essential, in my opinion, to any well-rounded dessert spread!
What is cheesecake?
Cheesecake seems to be to be one of those things that wears a different robe depending on where you are when you find it. In North America, cheesecake is usually made to have a thick, creamy sweetened soft cheese topping on a thin, cookie crust base. They can be baked or unbaked, and typically come quite dense and creamy (like this recipe), or soft, fluffy and light as a cloud (as in the unbaked versions).
How are mini cheesecakes made?
I make my mini cheesecakes in muffin tins, with a thin later of crust in the base of each cup. Once the crusts have been made, the filling is poured on top and then baked.
In this recipe, you’ll find that the centre tends to sink in a little bit, which is perfect for keeping the topping nicely centred and properly generous on top!
What kinds of topping to use with mini cheesecakes
Today, as you may have guessed, cherries are the way to go: that is, cherry pie filling, to be exact. You can also use any of the following toppings, or whatever you can dream up to make these your own. Here are a few of my favourite options:
- Blueberry Pie Filling
- Apple Pie Filling
- Raspberry Sauce
- Rhubarb Sauce
- Frozen berries, as shown on My Favourite Cheesecake Recipe
- Dark Chocolate Truffles
- Milk Chocolate Truffles
- White chocolate Truffles
Can you substitute the graham cracker base for a different type of crust?
Yes, for sure! Use chocolate cookie crumbs instead graham cracker crumbs to make a chocolate crust, or even try baking a little bit of your favourite cookie dough into the bottom of each muffin cup before pouring the batter on top. Delicious!
Are these cheesecakes gluten free?
The filling is; however, the crust is not. So, you can make these as crustless cheesecakes (works perfectly), or go ahead and substitute a gluten free cookie base instead of the graham cracker crumb base in the recipe. Just make sure that if your crust needs to be baked, you do that before you pour the batter over top.
Can you add other ingredients/additions to the cheesecake filling?
Yes, for sure! Try adding crushed Oreos, mini chocolate chips, dehydrated strawberries, dried fruit, or whatever suits your fancy. Just keep in mind that a little goes a long way; I would not add more than 1/4-1/2 cup of any one addition to this cheesecake batter.
Ways to display mini cheesecakes
Personally, I’m a big fan of creating beautiful dessert tables. One of the best ways to do that, I have learned, is to create varying heights for different things on display. You can do this by using some flat plates, some pedestals, and some bowls; or, you can just put boxes of different heights either on the table top or on the table top underneath a tablecloth to make a bunch of simple serving platters take on a new look! I have also arranged assorted dessert platters with these in the centre, which always makes for beautiful display.
When to serve mini cheesecakes
Any time you want! These cheesecakes have been a favourite at weddings, showers, and holiday parties. Just about any occasion where there will be people eating dessert, these mini cheesecakes will not last for very long!
Can mini cheesecakes be made in advance?
Yes, easily! You can bake these several days before your event and keep them in the fridge, or you can make them ahead and freeze them weeks ahead of time. Just don’t add the fruit topping until right before you want to serve them.
How to make mini cherry cheesecakes:
Scroll down for my printable recipe!
Mini Cherry Cheesecakes
This recipe is rich, simple to make, and oh so beautiful. Make these to add to any sweet table or to contribute to a large gathering; they are always a crowd pleaser!
Prep Time 45 minutes
Chilling Time 2 hours
Servings 12 cheesecakes
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 c. graham cracker crumbs
- 1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 4 Tbsp. butter melted
Filling
- 12 oz. 1-1/2 bricks cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 c. granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 c. sour cream
Topping
- Homemade or canned cherry pie filling
Instructions
For the crusts:
-
Position a rack in the center of your oven and preheat it to 325 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
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In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine all of the crust ingredients together and mix until well combined. Divide this mixture among the paper liners, and press evenly into the base of each one.
-
Bake this for 5-7 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool.
For the Filling:
-
In a medium-large mixing bowl, beat your cream cheese and sugar until creamy. Add the vanilla, salt, eggs, and egg yolk. Beat until well combined. Stir in the sour cream until well incorporated.
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Pour the cheesecake batter over the baked crusts, dividing evenly (you should be able to fill each cup almost to the top). Bake the cheesecakes 20-25 minutes, until the tops begin to crack and the centres are set. Cool on wire racks completely (the centres will sink slightly as they cool).
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Once the cheesecakes are cool, refrigerate in sealed containers until serving.
For the Topping:
-
Just before serving, spoon a few cherries over top of each cheesecake.
Used in this recipe:
- Ingredients (see the recipe)
- Electric hand held mixer
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Spatula
- Muffin tins
- Muffin liners
And that’s it for today! As always, if you make these mini cheesecakes, I’d love to see a photo of your work! Tag me @naomicakesofficial on Instagram so that I can see your beautiful creations!
As always, thanks for stopping in, and bye for now!
Naomi
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hahaha I was looking for a recipe for the church picnic tomorrow and came across this pin that I pinned. I chose these to make and then noticed that I knew who the baker is. lol We are friends of the Prindlers.
how far ahead can they be made?
Hi Nora! Sorry for the delayed response to your comment here – You can make them weeks in advance, and just freeze them. They freeze very well!
All the best to you!
Yay Neely, you commented! You're also making my recipe, which makes me excited. Thanks for the note! 🙂
Made these last night for New Year's Eve and they were a huge hit! Made some with cherry and some with blueberry. Thank you so much for this great recipe!!
I also made these for New Years Eve and they were great! I found this on Pinterest.
Used to make something very similiar, but I used a couple of vanilla wafers instead of graham cracker crumbs.
Hi..
How do I do the cherry like yours?
Hi there!
You can make the cherries look like that by using the tip of a teaspoon to spoon them on top. I like do do 3-4 cherries per cheesecake.
Thanks for the comment!
Someone said put a vanilla wafer in the bottom, instead of the delicious crumbs, easy route. And a bowl of water in the oven while baking (on another rack) will keep the cheesecake from “cracking”.
How do you make homemade filling? I have raspberries instead of strawberries in my freezer and I would like to use those for the fillings instead.
Hey Raquel!
You can use this recipe for making a homemade raspberry sauce: http://naomi-sugarspice.blogspot.ca/2013/07/easy-homemade-raspberry-sauce-recipe.html
If you wanted to make your own cherry or strawberry sauce, you can find a recipe on this blog in the post about banana splits – Just look it up in the search bar, and it should come up! 🙂 If using that recipe for cherries, make sure to use sour cherries if you can find them, and pit them before cooking with them if you can. (A bobby pin works really well to dig out the pits.)
All the best!
Oh great!!!! Thanks!! I can't wait to try them out!! I have some time now to actually try it out! This should be fun!
a mis hijos no les gusta la galleta en el cheesecake. puedo hacer la receta sin galleta? sabes si se quema? me encanta tu blog.
Hi Jose!
Yes, you should be able to make it without the cookie crust on the bottom – The cheesecake part will get brown along the edge a bit, but it should still taste good. So glad you like my blog!
Thanks for your comment!
Hi! I am wanting to make these for a picnic, and i don't think it would be as good of a presentation having family top their own mini cheesecakes, so i was wondering if it would be okay to top with cherry filling for overnight storage?
Hi there!
You can definitely top them the night before, if you keep them refrigerated and make sure they stay upright and cool during transportation. They might not look *quite* as perfect when they arrive as they would when they're first assembled, but they should be alright – I have made these for wedding sweet tables before, and I always top all of the cheesecakes at home before I deliver them.
All the best, and have fun with it!
Thank you so much for this recipe, my husband loves cheesecake, I am making these for him for this 50th birthday party tomorrow!!!!
These were amazing! So easy to make to! Thanks for sharing this recipe! 🙂
Thanks for the recipe! Do you think that I could freeze these for an event next week?
Yes, absolutely! I do that often. Just don't put the cherries on until just before you serve them.
If I wanted to do strawberries instead of cherries, could I? If so, how?
You totally could! You can either use a strawberry sauce recipe (mine is posted here – http://www.naomicakes.com/2012/07/banana-splits-tutorial.html), or just arrange fresh sliced strawberries on the top. You could also do glazed fruit, which you could likely find a tutorial on Google… Hope this helps!
Those look simple and beautiful! Can't wait to try them. I'll have to adjust for gluten free, which should be simple, but I was wondering if you've ever added chocolate, nuts or caramel? Maybe push a caramel into cake just out of oven or should I do it before baking? I also wondered if the same recipe would work and set properly if done as a single in a pie dish? I will try your version first but was wondering for the future how much variation I could use. Thank you so much! Shelley
Gluten free won't be a problem, and of course, be creative! I have not used this recipe specifically with chocolate or caramel, but having experience with cheesecake, I can tell you it will work! I wouldn't add a hard caramel candy, but rather something soft – so you can either melt caramels with cream to make it softer and then put some over the batter before you bake it, or you could cheat and get some soft caramel ice cream topping to drizzle over top… either way, I'm sure it will be great! You could also bake this in a pie dish as well, but it will likely need a bit more time in the oven; just make sure it's set before you take it out (jiggle it a little bit to see).
Thanks for your comment, and enjoy! I'd love to hear of your success as you experiment.
–Naomi
About to make these with my 5 year old daughter 🙂
I would like to make these, but I would like to top them with lemon . should I put lemon pie filling on top or do you have a better recipe for lemon cheesecake?
Are these made in a mini cupcake pan or are they regular cupcake size? Thanks 🙂
Regular cupcake size, but you can make them either way and the recipe works great. You'll just get a lot more minis out of this than you would large ones. 🙂
If I make these in mini pans, how long do I bake them?
I would try for 10-15 minutes – Sorry for the late response! Thanks for your comment. 🙂
–Naomi
I love adding lemon zest to the lemon filling for a bit of zip. You could also use pie filling on top, but I think I would sooner make lemon pie filling and spoon some into the unbaked cheese filling, and then bake it like that for an easy lemon cheesecake… Hope it works well for you!
Was on a cheesecake kick today and found your recipe on pinterest and me and my boyfriend made them immediatly! It was fairly quick and easy and they turned out great! Thanks!!
I used to make these when I was head chef at a nursing home, with one exception, instead of using a graham cracker crust, I would use a vanilla wafer cookie or lorna doones as my base.
I made these yesterday for my husband birthday. Oh my goodness, they were delicious. The whole family wants to make me them again very soon. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome recipe!
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I’m thinking of making these tomorrow but adding a salted caramel sauce on top instead of cherries !