Cheesecake is on my bucket-list of recipes to perfect because I’ve only had failed experiences so far. I’ve followed countless recipes, used water-baths, used “guaranteed” tips, only to be left disappointed. My biggest issue isn’t the taste, but it’s the giant crack that runs through the center of each and every cheesecake recipe I’ve tried.
::Sigh:: I guess I just have to keep looking!
In the meantime, I’ve been making do with these cute cheesecake cupcakes I found over at Annie’s Eats. They’re perfectly portioned, and are surprisingly light (as opposed to a traditional dense cheesecake). The only thing I changed was that instead of a fruit swirl, I topped each cheesecake with a strawberry topping.
If you have any tips or suggestions for me, please leave them in the comment section. In the meantime, my search for the perfect cheesecake continues!
Swirled Cheesecake Cupcakes
Yield: 12 to 15 Servings
Ingredients:
For Crust:
- ¾ cup graham cracker crumbs
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 ½ tablespoons sugar
For Filling:
- 1 pound cream cheese, softened
- ¾ cups sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
For Swirl:
- 3 ounces of raspberries, strawberries, or blackberries
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Directions:
Make Crust:
Preheat oven to 325°F and set aside muffin tins fitted with liners.
In a small bowl, combine all of the crust ingredients. Mix well to make sure all of the dry ingredients are moistened.
Press 1 tablespoon of crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Bake for 5 minutes, or until just set. Cool on a wire rack.
Make Filling:
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese on medium-high until light and fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Pour batter over crust in each cupcake cavity, filling no more than ¾ of the way up.
Make Berry Puree:
Combine berries and sugar in a bowl and allow it to sit for a few minutes. Blitz in a blender or food processor until smooth. Pour through a fine mesh strainer to remove any seeds.
Using ½ teaspoon worth of puree, spoon a few dots over the cheesecake batter. Use a toothpick to lightly swirl and create a marbled effect.
Fill a roasting pan with water and place on the bottom rack of the oven to create a water bath.
Bake cheesecakes until the filling is set, about 22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.
Hey… Pretty attractive recipe….but just help with what are graham cracker crumbs n where all is it available….
Thank you! Graham crackers are just dry biscuits/cookies. If graham crackers aren’t available, you can use digestive biscuits in their place. Just grind them up to fine crumbs in a food processor, or if you’re like me and too lazy to want to wash the food processor afterwards, just put the biscuits in a bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Works like a charm!
Hope that helps 🙂
Cheesecake cupcakes! They look like perfect, bite sized pieces of heaven!
oh they are 😉
Great looking recipe! And thanks for stopping by my blog! I love cheesecake and would love to try out the bite size variety sometime!
About your cheesecake cracking comment – I used to have all kinds of similar problems with cheesecake, until I watched Alton Brown make one on his show Good Eats! He explains all the chemistry that’s going on when you make a cheesecake. I always use his recipe and have had gorgeous cheesecakes since! (The three things I was doing wrong before: Over mixing, not scraping down the bowl enough while mixing, and not leaving the cheese cake to cool slowly in the oven after baking.)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/sour-cream-cheesecake-recipe/index.html
Hopefully these aren’t suggestions you’ve already heard! 😉
Alton Brown is a genius! And you’re so sweet for taking the time to offer all of these suggestion!
Come to think of it, I think my issue might be over-mixing. I think that might be something I need to look into the next time I take on cheesecake-making.
Thank you sooo much for your suggestions!
Wow!! they look yummy! And I like your idea of maintaining a bucket list on the blog itself 🙂 Makes life so much easier.
Thanks! And yes, lol, I need lists to keep me sane!
These little beauties are so convenient in size and look appetizing!
Thanks! I love hearing from you 🙂
My daughter has been demanding a cheesecake for a couple of weeks and I don’t want to make a big one. I think these little cupcakes would be perfect!
My cheese cakes used to crack too, the cause was the cooling. Now I turn off the oven and leave the cheese cake in the oven with the door slightly open until it cools completely.
As sk pointed out. over mixing is another problem.
I use Tylor’s ultimate cheese cake now and it works well every time. Not sure if you ever tried that one
The folks over at Food Network are geniuses, I tell ya’! Thanks for all of your suggestions! I will definitely keep them in mind the next time I give cheesecake a shot 🙂
yummy ! can I have one please ?
Why one? How about 2 or 3 lol 😀
all of them then 🙂
Never ever baked cheesecakes. Not that confident to be honest. All things that need to be baked at a low temperature to ‘set’ never work out with me. If you want, you can hit the ‘cheesecake’ category on my blog on the sidebar and see the recipe I use 🙂
These look very adorable 🙂
Thanks! 🙂
You know it’s funny that you mention that… I had referred to your website for cheesecake well before I went ahead with these. The only problem was that I didn’t have any white chocolate on me at home.
Btw, I’m dying to try your Knafeh! It looks sooo delicious! I have already bought the ricotta and kataifi, so I’m actually planning on making it either this weekend or the next. I’ll let you know how it goes! 🙂
So exciting. 🙂 can’t wait to see it.. I don’t know if I have mentioned this bit my friends use mozzarella instead of haloumi as its less work. And it turns out fine. Just remember not to add any extra salt or use salted butter in that case. Then again you can use fresh mozzarella like bocconini which has no salty flavour to it and stretches so nicely 🙂
All the best, and since I’ve recently been craving some myself I hope to put up a non-white choc cheesecake someday soon 🙂
P.S. I mean bocconcini 🙂 hehehe
Salaam xx
I have only made cheesecake like once. I used water bath and the water leaked into half of the cake. So I had to dispose of one half while the other was yum. Lol
And even if you get a crack, you can easily cover it with some topping. And since you do everything asIninstructed, maybe there’s a problem with the temperature of your oven. I think that could be helped by a oven thermometer though I have never used one 😉
I’ve never thought that may oven temperature might be off :O
Thanks for the tips! 🙂