This Gingerbread Cheesecake is the ultimate show stopping festive desert! A ginger-nut crust filled with a lightly spiced, baked cheesecake filling and topped with swirls of whipped cream and mini gingerbread men. Want to win Christmas this year, read on!
Here we are, a week before Christmas and you still haven’t finalised your festive desert! We all know granny will want her traditional Christmas pud but everyone else wrinkles their nose when offered that boozy ‘treat’. Imagine the looks on their faces when you put the pud down and whip out this baby! Everyone’s gonna want a slice of this Gingerbread Cheesecake! It’s top tier Christmas, talk about a show stopper!
As usual, I’ve gone for a baked cheesecake. You all know I prefer these over the fridge set kind, they’re creamier and infinitely more delicious but can be a touch fiddlier. I promise you it’s worth the extra effort. The main things to remember are to start with room temperature ingredients and don’t over whip your filling. I’ve got a full set of baked cheesecake tips below to help you on your way.
Tips for making Gingerbread Cheesecake
- Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature before you start. This helps everything come together quickly and easily.
- Mix your cheesecake filling as little as possible, extra air in the batter aids in forming surface cracks. Do not want! Keep your mixer on the slowest speed and stop as soon as your ingredients fully incorporated.
- Always use full fat cream cheese, I tend to favour Philadelphia as I’ve never had a bad experience using that particular brand.
- Use a bain marie to bake your cheesecake. Or if you’re a normal person, like me, wrap your cake tin in a double layer of tin foil then use a roasting tin large enough to fit your tin and fill half way with boiling water. This helps regulate the heat and gives your a creamier texture.
- Cool your cheesecake in the oven. Once your cheesecake has baked simply turn your oven off and let the cheesecake sit in there for an hour, then prop open the door with a wooden spoon and leave it for another hour. Then pop in the fridge over night.
- Most importantly, don’t rush it. A baked cheesecake needs a lot of time. Trust me, a few extra steps and you’ll be rewarded with the best cheesecake you’ve ever tasted!
More baked cheesecake ideas:
Gingerbread Cheesecake
Description
This Gingerbread Cheesecake is the ultimate show stopping festive desert! A ginger-nut crust filled with a lightly spiced, baked cheesecake filling and topped with swirls of whipped cream and mini gingerbread men.
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 300g gingersnap biscuits
- 1tsp ground cinnamon
- 70g unsalted butter, melted
For the Cheesecake:
- 900g full fat cream cheese
- 300g light brown sugar
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large, free range eggs at room temperature
- 75g black treacle
- 75g soured cream
- 1tsp ground cinnamon
- 2tsp ground ginger
- 1/2tsp ground allspice
For the decoration:
- 100g full fat cream cheese, room temperature
- 180ml double cream
- 100g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 100g canned dulch de leche
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- mini gingerbread men
- pomegranate seeds
Instructions
- First of all, prepare your crust. Preheat oven to 175°C. Grease and line the bottom of a 9-inch springform tin with baking parchment.
- Place the gingersnaps into a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. Pour in the melted butter, sugar and cinnamon and pulse again for a minute until the crumbs are well coated. Press into the base of your prepared pan and up the sides.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
- Once cool wrap the bottom of the tin tightly with a double layer of tin foil, you want it to be water tight as you’ll be baking the cheesecake in a water bath. Set aside while you make your filling.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese and brown sugar on a low speed until well combined.
- With the mixer still on low add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. Add the black treacle, soured cream and spices and mix until just combined.
- Carefully pour the cheesecake filling into the crust and smooth the top with a spatular. Place the prepared tin inside a large roasting tin. Place the roasting pan containing the cheesecake onto an oven shelf and carefully fill the roasting tin with water until it comes half way up the cheesecake tin making sure not to go above the tin foil.
- Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes then turn off heat and leave cheesecake in oven with door closed for an hour. Then, using a wooden spoon, prop the door of the oven open and wait for another hour. Once cool, remove the cheesecake from the water bath and place in the fridge to chill overnight.
- When ready to serve remove the cheesecake from the tin and place on a serving plate. Spread the dulche de leche evenly over the top of the cheesecake, this is especially helpful if any crack appeared during baking.
- To make the whipped cream, in the bowl of an electric mixer add the fridge cold cream cheese, whipped cream, sugar and cinnamon and mix on a low-medium speed until soft peaks form. Pipe mounds of the cream around the edge of your cheesecake and decorate with pomegranate seeds and mini gingerbread men.
Notes
Keep the cheesecake refrigerated and eat within 3 days.
This cheesecake is rich and delicious. The presentation is stunning!
★★★★★
This cake is adorable!
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Love the ginger nut crust!
★★★★★
The perfect wintery cheesecake!
★★★★★
Such a pretty cake for the holidays.
★★★★★
This is perfect for a holiday dessert!
★★★★★
Gingerbread in combination with a cheesecake is a great food combo! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
★★★★★
What a fabulous cheesecake! It was so rich and creamy and full of holiday flavor.
★★★★★
I’m not that much of a baker, but this cheesecake looks easy enough for my skills 🙂 Will definitely try to bake it next week. Very nice photos by the way!
★★★★★
OMG! I love gingerbread and cheesecake so naturally, this is now one of my most favorite holiday desserts. Thanks for the great recipe!
★★★★★
Rich, creamy and the perfect amount of spice!
★★★★★
I think I just heard my tummy growl. lol! Must print the recipe.
★★★★★