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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?
Made your Cheesecake but I used strawberries and it came out wonderful.
That’s so great Linda! Thank you for sharing that with me!
Everything turned out. The hardest thing to cut it clean.
Thank you so much for sharing that with us.
Hi Natasha. I need your help. My cheesecake crack all the time I think my very first time making it was my best one. Since then I have no luck. I do not open the oven, like never but still cracks and sometimes goes lover that it’s hight before over. I just baked one and the crack is so huge that made me so upset… Don’t have a clue why it’s doing that
Hi Natasha, that’s a great question. Do you feel like your oven needs calibrating? Have moisture levels or brand of ingredients changed possible causing thise?
Hi Natasha,
First, you are my favorite Adorable funny Baker/Cook … i used all your recipes without any conflicts or problems, Unfortunately this time I followed all the instructions with the same Ingredients but when i used the 9” spring form it did not fit for the quantity of the Cheesecake mix, and i would love to share with you a picture of the results of using the 9” spring form, I should have used the 10” and everything would looks much better than this blooming flower Cheesecake shape … don’t you think ?
Too bad I cant attach the picture of my cheesecake
Hi Selwa, You’re so sweet and thank you for the thoughtful message. I am always happy to help troubleshoot. There are some springform pans that have lower walls. I definitely recommend using one that is at least 3″ tall or it would overflow. Now, keep in mind, this cake does rise up above the level of the springform pan as it bakes but it settles back down to normal as it cools and settles and that is normal, but it should not flow over the sides of the pan unless the oven heat is too low or the cake pan is too short. I sure hope that helps! Also, one more thought – whipping the cream cheese on too high of a speed can incorporate too much air and cause the cheesecake filling to increase in volume as it is whipped.
Thank you so much for your reply. might be right, I did mix it on high speed after adding the eggs after cream cheese mixing with the mascarbone cheese. That makes total Sense. I love your analysis and love all your recipes shows… you are the BEST <3
Would it be ok to freeze it for 2-3 weeks?
HI Natalia, I haven’t tried freezing this cheesecake but that should work just fine. I would freeze without any of the toppings though. I hope you love the cheesecake!
Natasha! Under the ingredients yo stated that you use 12-14 graham crackers, but under the recipe itself (printed version) it says 10 crackers. So, how many crackers did you use exactly?
Thank you in advance for your input.
Hi Yelena, Hi Stacey! The recipe calls for 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs or (about 12-14 graham crackers or half of a 14 oz box) We used ten for this recipe since that’s what measured 1 ½ cups 🙂
Thank you, Natasha! I used 12 crackers, and it turned out just beautiful! If I could give 10 stars to this cheesecake I would! It s a showstopper and absolutely delicious!
Also, I invented a technique how to fix cracks on the surface of cheesecake if someone cares. When your cheesecake is almost room temperature, just slightly above, put loosely double plastic wrap, then carefully press down plastic to the surface of your cake and pull the edges of the crack toward each other smoothly moving plastic with your fingers. It works like a glue. Leave it like that overnight. In the morning the crack will be gone.You’ll see just a tiny line as if you sewed something together 🤗
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review 🙂
Hi Natasha, you make me love baking now. Everybody love my cheesecake, but only problem is my cheesecake always crack. It’s beautiful when I’m take out from the oven but 15 minutes later it’s crack. Please help, thanks
Hi Jessie, it could be due to over-beating the cream cheese portion which incorporates more air bubbles and can cause the cracking. Hope that helps! 🙂
Thanks for your answer. I will try it again and just let’s you know I love leaning baking from you. Specially the recipe and video together ( I’m Vietnamese I’m still learning English). Thanks a lot😊
You’re so welcome!
Hey Natasha! I have a question. If I leave the cake in the refrigerator over night and put the toppings on it the next morning (including whipped cream) and place in back in the frige will the whipped cream melt fast? or at all?
Hi Jessica, that should work fine and if the whip cream is beat until stiff peaks form, it should hold up fine.
Hi Jessica, that would depend on how long you plan on keeping it in the fridge after the fact. If served shortly after it should be fine.
Hey! Do you think gluten free graham crackers would work as well as the regular ones?
Hi Juliya, I think they would work well as a gluten free version of the cheesecake. I hope you love the recipe! 🙂
hi natasha, can i use stoneware type dish that’s oven safe? just wondering if baking time changes
Hi Anita. From my understanding Stoneware is safe to use with chooesecake. Since it does heat up so much it will affect the bake time. I would recommend watching it closely. You may have to start off at a high temperature and then lower the temperate for a longer, slower baking process. I hope this helps
Hi Natasha
I’m going to try a cheesecake for the 1st time but my husband wants a chocolate cheesecake. What and how much should I add to make this a chocolate cheesecake filling?
Hi Val, I honestly haven’t experimented with making this chocolate so it is difficult to advise. Thanks for the suggestion – I will definitely keep it in mind (chocolate lover over here!) 🙂
Hi Natasha
Do you think the cheesecake covered in cling wrap will hold well in the fridge for a week? Without any toppings, just the cheesecake itself. I just want to make it ahead of time and not exactly sure how long it can hold…
Hi Lena, I would say up to 7 days covered in the refrigerator (without toppings) should be fine. I probably wouldn’t push it further than that.:)
Made this for a birthday party. It’s amazing. The presentation was spectacular. The taste devine.
I’m happy to hear how much you love the recipe! Thanks for sharing your excellent review Marion!
Unfortunately I did not have success with this recipe. I followed the recipe exactly and used the correct size pan. The batter did not fit in the pan (there was way too much, I had to throw out probably a 1/4 of the batter). I checked the cake after I reduced the heat and the top was practically burnt. After 45 minutes on the lower heat it was so dark on top that I pulled it out of the oven and of course it was still not cooked properly inside. This cake turned out to be a disaster. I am thinking 450 degrees was way too high. I have made plenty of cheesecakes and never had this problem. I am not sure why there was so much batter either. This was such a waste of ingredients. I was really looking forward to having this cake at our Christmas dinner.
Hi Julie, it sounds like the pan might have been too small. I used a 9″ springform pan with 3″ tall walls. Did you possibly add an extra stick of cream cheese or beat on too high of speed than what the recipe states (if you whip on high speed for too long, it will incorporate more air into the mixture and give it more volume, which may be why it overwhelmed the pan if everything else was per the recipe). I hope that helps!
450 for 15 min then lower the temperature to 225 and bake for an hour
Hi Natasha, the cheesecake looks delicious, I’d really like to try it out. I live in Germany and we don’t get Graham Crackers here. Do you think I could try the same recipe with Digestive cookies or Walker’s shortbread (a kind of English shortbread with a strong flavor of salted butter) ?
I think either of those could be good options. I hope you love the recipe! 🙂
Hi Natasha! I’m thinking of making this cheesecake and my mom suggested using condensed milk instead of the sugar. Have you tried it like that? Would love your input.
That sounds really good but I haven’t tested it in this recipe. Since baking is so much a science, it’s difficult to suggest something I haven’t tested myself. If you experiment, please let me know how it goes 🙂
I made this cheesecake last night with a GF crust. My first time making a cheesecake so nothing to compare this recipe to but it seemed pretty fool proof. I appreciated having the detailed instructions that I referred back to about a million times. Would it be possible to add a list of items the recipe requires at the top of the recipe near ingredients? Took me forever to find where you wrote the size of spring form pan needed.
I’m so glad you liked it!! I followed your advice and added the note near the ingredients 🙂
Hi, I have a question , I followed the recipe as written , and at the end of 1 hour and 10 minutes my cheesecake is still very wiggly in the middle so I let in bake another 20 minutes and still the same , oh boy …. How much longer do I need to cook it for ??
Hi Mika, it should still be wobbly in the center and that is normal – it sets completely after it cools and is chilled in the refrigerator.
Hi Natasha, If I were to make 2 cheesecakes, would I need to adjust time or temp? Or is it better to bake them separately? Thanks!
Hi Mariya, I haven’t tried baking them together so I can’t really say how that would affect the baking time. I don’t want to guess and lead you astray! 🙂
Just made mini cheesecakes with your recipe (just baked at 350F for 18 minutes) and they came out perfect and yummy.
Thank you for sharing the bake time and temp! I haven’t been able to get it right so that is so helpful! Did you line a muffin tin with cupcake liners or just do it straight in the tin?
First cheesecakes I made with the liners but it is better without it, just put butter on sides of baking pan for muffins. First I baked the crust (for 3 minutes )and then poured cheese filling on it.
And one tip: don’t take out from the pan, let them cool down a little and then take out (I used other side of tea spoon for this).
Great tip! Thank you Olya! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing that!! I can’t wait to try your method! If you posted a picture somewhere, I would totally love to see them! 🙂
Ah yes, I added 1 table spoon of potato starch. Where I can post the picture?
You can either post it on my Facebook page: facebook.com/natashaskitchen or email it to me if you don’t have facebook: natasha @ natashaskitchen.com (no spaces) Thanks Olya! 🙂