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Raspberries, Chocolate and Apricots are a winning combination! This is the best cheesecake I’ve ever made, or tried. #ForReals. It’s creamy, decadent and will excite your taste buds.
The cheesecake portion was modified from the brilliant Ina Garten’s Classic Cheesecake. I’ve made the base of this cheesecake so many times, I’ve lost count and it always wins a crowd. Make sure it’s completely chilled in the fridge before serving it. I like to make it the night before so it can chill completely in the fridge.
The raspberries, chocolate crust, apricot and chocolate shavings take it over the top. This one’s a keeper and if you’ve never made a cheesecake before; it’s easier than you think!
Cheesecake Chocolate Crust Ingredients:
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs (about 12-14 graham crackers crackers or half of a 14 oz box)
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) melted, unsalted butter
The Cheesecake:
2 ½ lb cream cheese (5 blocks – 8oz each) at room temperature
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
¼ cup sour cream
7 whole large eggs (at room temp)
1/2 Tbsp real vanilla extract
Decoration/topping:
Raspberries (about 1 1/4 cups)
Apricot preserves
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream with 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
What You Will Need:
How to Make the Chocolate Crust:
Preheat oven to 350˚F
1. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse 12 graham crackers with 1 Tbsp sugar and 2 Tbsp cocoa until you have fine crumbs. Melt butter and pour it into the chocolate cookie mixture. Pulse a few more times or until crumbs are evenly moistened with butter.
2. Press cookie mixture evenly over the bottom of a 9″ springform mold going 1″ up the sides. Bake at 350˚ F for 8 min. Remove from oven and cool to room temp.
How to Make the Cheesecake Portion:
Preheat Oven to 450˚F.
1. Beat together 5 softened sticks cream cheese with 1 1/2 cups sugar on medium/high speed for 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl halfway through.
2. Turn mixer down to medium speed and add eggs, one by one letting them incorporate fully before adding the next egg. Scrape down the bowl well and continue mixing on medium speed another minute or until well blended.
3. Turn mixer down to low speed and add 1/4 cup sour cream and 1/2 Tbsp vanilla. Mix until well incorporated. Pour the cheesecake mixture over your cookie crust and smooth out the top.
4. Place the middle oven rack one level lower so it is in the bottom 1/3rd of the oven (In my oven, it’s on the third shelf). Bake at 450˚F for 15 minutes then (without opening the oven door), reduce oven to 225˚F and continue baking another 1 hour and 5-10 minutes or until the center is almost set (it should barely wiggle on top when you give the pan a little jolt).
Cool the cheesecake to room temperature then refrigerate until fully chilled; at least 4 hours in the fridge or overnight. I love making my cheesecake the night before an event and decorate the next day. Cheesecakes are best served cold
Tips for success:
I’ve had the best results when I did not open the oven door to look at the cheesecake in the baking process. About 90% of my cheesecakes are crack-free (I mean they don’t crack on top, not that I put crack in my cheesecake; just wanted to clarify that you shouldn’t put crack in your cake,.. never mind).
Anyways, occasionally I’ll still get a tiny crack but it doesn’t matter since you’ll be covering the top with the apricot preserves and raspberries. It will be delicious either way so even if you get a solid crack on top; it’s all good. #KeepCalmAndEatCheeseCake <— did I just hashtag my own blog? #HopelessHashtagger P.S. What’s your all-time best #hashtag ever?
How to Decorate the Top:
1. Warm up 3/4 cup of apricot preserves in a small saucepan just until it loosens up a little. You don’t want it to get hot. Let it cool down until it’s just warm then spread it over the top of your cheesecake leaving a 1-inch border.
2. Arrange Raspberries over the surface of the apricot preserves.
3. Beat 1/2 cup heavy cream together with 1 Tbsp sugar on high speed until stiff. I did this in my Blendtec blender. So quick & easy! Pipe the frosting around the top border of the cheesecake. I used a large closed-flower tip and just pulled straight up to make it look like carnations. I also sprinkled with shaved chocolate to pull it all together.
Raspberry Apricot Cheesecake with Chocolate Crust
Ingredients
Chocolate Crust Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs, about 12-14 graham crackers crackers or half of a 14 oz box
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 6 Tbsp 3/4 stick melted, unsalted butter
Ingredients for the Cheesecake:
- 2 ½ lb cream cheese, 5 blocks – 8oz each at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 7 whole large eggs, at room temp
- 1/2 Tbsp real vanilla extract
Decoration/topping:
- Raspberries
- Apricot preserves
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream with 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
Instructions
How to Make the Chocolate Crust: Preheat oven to 350˚F
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse 10 graham crackers with 1 Tbsp sugar and 2 Tbsp cocoa until you have fine crumbs. Melt butter and pour it into the chocolate cookie mixture. Pulse a few more times or until crumbs are evenly moistened.
- *Press cookie mixture evenly over the bottom of a 9" springform mold going 1" up the sides. Bake at 350˚F for 8 min. Remove from oven and cool to room temp.
How to Make the Cheesecake Portion: Preheat Oven to 450˚F.
- Beat together 5 softened sticks cream cheese with 1 1/2 cups sugar on medium/high speed for 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl halfway through.
- Turn mixer down to medium speed and add eggs, one by one letting them incorporate fully before adding the next egg. Scrape down the bowl well and continue mixing on medium speed another minute or until well blended.
- Turn mixer down to low speed and add 1/4 cup sour cream and 1/2 Tbsp vanilla. Mix until well incorporated. Pour the cheesecake mixture over your cookie crust.**
- Place the middle oven rack one level lower so it is in the bottom 1/3rd of the oven (In my oven, it's on the third shelf). Bake at 450˚F for 15 minutes then (without opening the oven door), reduce oven to 225˚F and continue baking another 1 hour and 5-10 minutes or until the center is almost set (it should barely wiggle on top when you give the pan a little jolt). Cool cheesecake to room temp then refrigerate until fully chilled; at least 4 hours or overnight.
How to Decorate the Top:
- Warm up 3/4 cup of apricot preserves in a small saucepan just until it loosens up a little. You don't want it to get hot. Let it cool down until it's just warm then spread it over the top of your cheesecake leaving a 1-inch border.
- Arrange Raspberries over the surface of the apricot preserves.
- Beat 1/2 cup cream together with 1 Tbsp sugar on high speed until stiff. Pipe frosting around the top border of the cheesecake. I also sprinkled shaved chocolate over the frosting.
Notes
- I've had the best results when I did not open the oven door to look at the cheesecake in the baking process. About 90% of my cheesecakes are crack-free. Occasionally I'll still get a tiny crack but it doesn't matter since you'll be covering the top with the apricot preserves and raspberries. It will be delicious either way.
- I love making my cheesecake the night before an event and decorating the next day. Cheesecakes are best served cold.
- *If you want to remove the cake from the springform pan, you can place a ring of parchment paper on the bottom.
- **To prevent leaks from the springform pan while baking, wrap a piece of foil under the outside of the pan.
My top 2 holidays are: Christmas and Easter so this Sunday’s a-gonna-be a pretty big deal! We’re going to church for the first part of the day followed by lunch and treats for the littles at Mom’s. I bought two books for my son on Amazon to help teach him what Easter is all about:
1. The Berenstain Bears and the Easter Story (Berenstain Bears/Living Lights)
2.God Gave Us Easter
I’m hoping I picked well! 🙂
How are you teaching your family about why Easter is such a BIG DEAL?
Do you have any fun traditions or plans for Sunday?
Natasha, I am making miniature cheesecakes for a bachelorette party this weekend. I have never baked the small ones before, but in my research have seen success with aluminum cupcake liners. Have you tried this before? If you were to do so with this recipe, how would you personally alter the cooking time and/or temperature?
I appreciate your advice,
Abbie
I have actually tried making this into miniatures cheesecakes and was not successful. There’s something about the combination of ingredients that causes the cheese cakes to cave-in when they are mini. I’ve tested them several times and have not been able to make it work. You may have to use a different recipe to make mini cheesecakes.
Hi, I absolutely love your recipe! Thank you so much!
I was wondering though, if I replace 7 large eggs with 7 extra large eggs, will it make my filling too runny?
Thank you:-)
If you need to substitute, I would recommend using 5 extra large eggs.
Hi Natasha, thank you so much for all the delicious recipes 😊I am making the cheesecake with bluberries and I was wondering if I can use fresh bluberries instead of frozen?
Hi Alina, fresh blueberries would work.
Hi Natasha,
How long does the heavy whopping Creme decore stayed on like you have on the picture? Because I’m not sure if I should decorate it 4 hours before the party or right before I serve. Thank you:) I made this cheesecake to every party, a church event and on regular days. It’s great!! I just never decorated it with with heavy whip. Thank you!
It will be fine for 4 hours if you refrigerate it after putting it on. 🙂 Enjoy!
Hey Natasha, umm i was wondering if your cheesecake was like dark brown on top cause i baked it at 450 for 15 min. then reduced it to 225 but the oven was still hot and my conventional oven does not cool it down so is that normal for that to happen
Alena, you might have a stronger oven then my. Where was the rack placed in your oven? It helps if its positioned in the lower third of the oven.
Hi, Natasha,
How tall is your springform mold? I have a standard 9″ one and for some reason not all batter fit in, I filled it to the brim and still had at least half a cup left. The batter rose up really well, but then went over the brim a little. Tasted deliciously, but disaster architecture wise 🙂
Not sure what a did wrong, used the right amount of cream cheese, the eggs were not especially big to make more batter than would fit…
My springform pan has 3″ tall walls. How tall are the walls of yours?
3″ as well. I guess it’s not bad the batter rose so well if the walls were tall enough 🙂
The cake tasted great, I’m going to do it again. Will see what happens
Hi Natasha, so I made this cheesecake exactly by the recipe and I was disappointed: because after an hour in the over I took it out and the cheesecake raised by like an inch and half showing the white part. I let it cool for 2.5 hours and it settled to just like you have on the picture. After that I was super excited!!! So, is that okay? Because I just took another one out just to experiment and it’s the same. I have no cracks but it just raises. Any comments on that?
P.S. When I took it out of the fridge the next morning and put the topping on top, my husband and sisters were just absolutely amazed by it!! Thank you:)
It will rise and that is normal and good, great actually! The initial baking at a high temp causes it rise above the mold even and then it settles down as it cools. Yes, totally normal 🙂
Hi Natasha,
I followed your recipe exactly and would like to check with you regarding the quantity of cream cheese? My cheesecake has taken so long to cook in my oven – it’s still in and has taken almost 2 hours already (I even turned the temperature up after 1 hour because it was nowhere near ready). I’m using a high-sided, 9″ springform tin and it has risen so much that it’s coming over the sides and bits are breaking off and falling to the bottom of my oven. I have had to open the oven door to clean the oven out 2 or 3 times now. Please could you clarify the amount of cream cheese?
Many thanks 🙂
Judith
Hi Judith, Did you use the 5 sticks of cream cheese (8 oz each)? I’ve made this recipe at least 10 times if not more and have always used the same amount of cream cheese. How tall are the walls of your springform pan? Did you make sure to use the higher temp bake setting prior to decreasing the temperature to finish off the baking? I sure hope that is helpful to you.
Hi Natasha,
Thanks for getting back to me. We have been enjoying the cheesecake very much. It’s delicious!
Yes, I used 5x8oz of cream cheese (we don’t have sticks here in France, so I weighed it out). And my pan is 9cm tall. You may be right about my oven temperature. My thermometer is no longer working and it’s an old oven, so I did put it high at first and then dropped the temperature but it may not have been the correct temperature exactly.
Thanks again!
Judith
You’re welcome Judith. Thanks for writing in 🙂
Hi, Natasha! You do such a great job! How do you take the cheese cake of the base of the spring form pan?
I either serve it on the base or slide a thin-edge spatula under it and it comes off pretty easily since there is plenty of butter in the crust.
Hey Natasha! I’m getting ready to make this cake… And my springform pans are 8 1/2 and 9 1/2 . Which one should I use?
I’d go with the 9 1/2. It fits a 9″ just right but an 8 1/2 might be too small.
Making it again! I had so many compliments with this cake! People said it was the best cheesecake they have ever eaten! Even those that were not so found of cheesecakes liked it. Thank you Natasha.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you Angelina 🙂
Made this wonderful, delicious cake and just enjoyed it with coffee! I told my self that I’m probably not buying a cheesecake in the store ever again! Thank you!!!
I’m so happy you loved it :). That’s music to my ears 🙂
Hey Natasha! I made this cheesecake and it was yummy! Thanks for the recipe , I have a couple questions though, do I like the cheesecake in the springform pan overnight? Because mine fell apart alittle when I took it out right away, and also can I use wax paper to lay under the crust because because it came away from the cake and broke?
You definitely want to leave it in the springform pan overnight before removing it. The cake needs time to fully set in the pan and chill completely. I haven’t tried with wax paper, but it may work well. I’d probably lean more toward parchment paper though for higher heat resistance. It may also have broken due to removing it too early. I haven’t had it crack before. Hope that helps 🙂
I made this cheesecake for the Greek easter weekend…WOW!!! it was great, creamy and delicious. Did not have apricot jam on hand and used fig jam,= Will make this again. It was a big cheesecake and I used a bigger cake pan.Thanks Natasha.
The fig jam sounds wonderful! I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe.
My all time favorite cheesecake recipe. And trust me-ive tried many dif ones. Your amazing!
I am so happy you love the recipe! Thanks for sharing that with me.
Hi Natasha,
After you bake the cheesecake, do you take it out of the pan? Do you keep the bottom of the spring-form? Is there a way to remove it and place on a prettier plate?
You definitely want it to cool completely in the fridge (best if overnight) before removing it from the pan. If it doesn’t set adequately, you run the risk of having the cake fall apart. You can transfer it to a cake plate by running a thin spatula under the crust and then sliding it over. Just, be careful, if your cake plate is very slick and doesn’t have any lip around the edge, the cake can be slippery. I’ve had one of mine slip off my cake plate and land upside down! :-O
It it ok if I bake the chesse cake and serve it the same day? Or u prefer do it night before ?
It’s best the night before because it really needs the time to fully chill and set in the fridge. If you cut it too soon, the consistency won’t be idea.
Hey Natasha your cheesecake looks absolutely divine!!!!! Quick question i saw no mention of a water bath, i was just wondering if i missed something reading?
thanks Courtney
I don’t use a water bath with this recipe. You could if you were more comfortable doing it that way, but I haven’t needed to 🙂
Hello Natasha,
I live in Serbia and don’t have cream cheese available.What do you suggest is a good substitute for it but to achieve the same tasty results? My husband adores cheese cake and I would like to prepare this for his birthday in April.
Thanks ,
Luisa
Since the majority of this cake is cream cheese, you’d probably have to use a different recipe if trying with another ingredient. It’s really hard to guess if something might work without testing it. Sorry, I know that’s not very helpful…
Luisa, I found this information online. Maybe it will help, maybe it won’t…
https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-good-substitute-for-cream-cheese-in-a-cheesecake-recipe
If i made individual cheesecakes with this recipe,would that be possible and how long would I bake them for? Thank you 🙂
I’ve tried turning these into minis and it didn’t work. I’ve also tried 3 other variations and have yet to figure out a way to keep them from sinking in the center. They rise beautifully but then they cave into the middle and they don’t have nearly the same texture that the cheesecake does. They seem drier. I’ll keep you posted if I come up with a great mini-cheesecake recipe! 😉