Creamy Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake
This creamy and decadent strawberry swirl cheesecake is easy, fresh, and delicious, and is made without a water bath.
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups Graham crackers crumbs
- ½ cup Butter unsalted, melted
Filling
- 28.2 oz Cream cheese softened, room temp
- ⅔ cup Sour cream softened, room temp
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups Granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon Lemon zest
- 2 teaspoon Lemon juice
- 3 Eggs
- 1 Egg yolks
- 2 ½ tablespoon Cornstarch
For the strawberry sauce
- ½ pound Strawberries fresh or frozen strawberries
- ½ tablespoon Lemon juice
- 3 tablespoon Granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon Cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon Lemon zest
For the whipped cream
- ¾ cup Heavy cream cold
- 2 tablespoon Powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a saucepan, add strawberries that are cut in quarters, add the sugar, and lemon juice, and mix over medium-high heat.
- Decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes mixing occasionally.
- Mix the cornstarch in a small bowl with a little bit of water and pour it into the strawberry mixture mixing constantly. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes until the mixture thickens.
- Set aside and let it cool while you make the cheesecake crust and filling.
- Prepare a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper, and preheat an oven to 180c (350f).
- Pulse graham crackers or digestive biscuits 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 them with a cup until fine crumbs form.
- Into a small to medium mixing bowl, add the crumbs, and melted butter. Mix with a spoon until the crumbs are coated with butter.
- Transfer the crumbs into a prepared 9-inch springform pan, pressing evenly and firmly into the pan.
- Bake the crust in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 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.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the room-temperature cream cheese, granulated sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, sour cream, and vanilla extract, and mix with an electric hand mixer until is creamy.
- Whisk the eggs in a small bowl add them to the cheesecake mixture and mix until the mixture is smooth.
- Sift the cornstarch into the mixture and mix until combined and there are no lumps of cornstarch showing. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure there are no lumps of cream cheese or unmixed batter.
- Pour the cheesecake batter over the crust, and release air bubbles by gently tapping the pan onto a flat surface.
- Top the cheesecake batter with dollops of the strawberry sauce, and use a toothpick or a butter knife to make swirls.
- 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 whipped cream. In a large mixing bowl, add the cold heavy cream, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. Whip with an electric hand mixer or in a stand mixer with the balloon attachment to stiff peaks.
- Transfer the whipped cream to a pastry bag fitted with a star piping tip and pipe dollops of whipped cream around the edges of the cake. Top it with more sliced strawberries if desired and serve.
Notes
- Make sure that you are using 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.
- Use ripe, juicy strawberries for the best flavor in your sauce. Look for berries that are deep red in color and fragrant.
- Let your cheesecake chill in the fridge for at least 5 hours. We know it’s very hard to resist eating this delicious cheesecake right away, but you have to let the cheesecake cool and set it in the pan. We like to let the cheesecake sit in the fridge overnight.
- For a smooth and creamy cheesecake, make sure that you are using room-temperature ingredients. Before you begin to make this cheesecake, make sure that your ingredients are at room temperature like eggs, sour cream, and cream cheese.
- 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.
- Don't open the oven door before the cake 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.
Nutrition
Calories: 683kcalCarbohydrates: 53gProtein: 9gFat: 50gSaturated Fat: 29gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 0.4gCholesterol: 203mgSodium: 473mgPotassium: 237mgFiber: 1gSugar: 38gVitamin A: 1816IUVitamin C: 15mgCalcium: 137mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!