BEST Bananas Foster Cheesecake
This bananas foster cheesecake features a cinnamon graham cracker crust, banana cheesecake filling, and caramelized banana topping.
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 ½ cups Graham crackers crumbs
- 1 tablespoon Brown sugar
- ½ cup Butter
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
Cheesecake filling
- 25.4 oz Cream cheese full fat, room temp
- 1 cup Brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ½ cup Sour cream
- 1 cup Bananas mashed
- 3 Eggs
- 2 tablespoon Cornstarch
Bananas foster topping
- ½ cup Butter
- ½ cup Brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ½ cup Heavy cream
- 3 Bananas sliced
Instructions
- Prepare a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper, and preheat an oven to 180c (350f).
- Pulse graham crackers in a food processor until fine crumbs form. If you don’t have a food processor on hand, place the crackers in a Ziplock bag and smash the crackers with a cup until fine crumbs form.
- Into a small to medium mixing bowl, add the graham crackers crumbs, brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter. Mix with a spoon until the crumbs are coated with butter.
- Transfer the crumbs into a prepared 9-inch cake pan, pressing evenly and firmly into the pan.
- Bake the crust in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 7-8 minutes. Keep an eye on the crust and make sure it doesn’t burn. Take the crust out of the oven and let it cool to room temperature.
- Lower the temperature to 140c (280f). In a large mixing bowl, add the room-temperature cream cheese, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, sour cream, and vanilla extract, and mix with an electric hand mixer until is creamy.
- Add the mashed bananas and whisked eggs, and mix until well combined.
- Sift the cornstarch into the mixture and mix until combined and there are no lumps showing.
- Pour the cheesecake batter over the crust, and release air bubbles by gently tapping the pan onto a flat surface.
- Bake it in a 140c (280f) preheated oven for about an hour or until the edges of the cheesecake are set, but the middle is a bit jiggly.
- Open the oven door halfway, and let the cheesecake cool to room temperature for 1-2 hours.
- After the cheesecake is cooled, wrap the cheesecake with plastic wrap tightly, and place the cheesecake in the fridge to cool completely for at least 5 hours.
Make the bananas foster topping
- Into a saucepan or regular pan, add the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract, and bring to a simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes, mixing every 20-30 seconds.
- Add the heavy cream and simmer for another 2 minutes over medium-low heat.
- Add the bananas and simmer for about 8 minutes until they are slightly cooked through. Remove from the heat and let it cool at room temperature.
- Pour the banana topping on the cheesecake and spread it with an offset spatula. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Use room-temperature cream cheese in this recipe, this step makes it easier to mix the cream cheese with no unnecessary lumps, we don’t want that.
- Use a springform tin. We use springform tins for all of our cheesecake recipes. This makes sure that your cake will be easy to release from the pan.
- Use high-fat cream cheese or the well-known Philadelphia cream cheese. Using full-fat cream cheese ensures that your cheesecake will be stable and will not crack.
- Room temperature ingredients. Ensure all your ingredients, especially cream cheese and eggs, are at room temperature before mixing. This helps achieve a smooth batter without lumps.
- Don’t overbeat the mixture! It's really easy to overbeat the mixture, and that is one of the most common mistakes. To avoid overbeating your mixture, make sure that you lower the speed of the hand mixer and add each egg at a time.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently to ensure that you have a homogeneous mixture that has no cream cheese lumps.
- Assemble before serving. Add your caramelized bananas atop the chilled cheesecake just before serving to maintain their fresh appearance and avoid any sogginess from setting in overnight.
- Don't open the oven door before the cheesecake is fully baked or about to be baked! Drastic changes in the temperature of the cake while baking can cause the cake to collapse or crack.
- Cool gradually. Allow your baked cheesecake to cool slowly in the oven with the door slightly ajar before refrigerating it overnight for optimal texture and flavor development.
Nutrition
Calories: 648kcalCarbohydrates: 58gProtein: 8gFat: 45gSaturated Fat: 26gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 159mgSodium: 464mgPotassium: 345mgFiber: 2gSugar: 40gVitamin A: 1572IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 131mgIron: 1mg
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