17 Indulgent Cheesecake Recipes

By Food & Wine
Updated July 29, 2019
Abby Hocking / Food & Wine
Creamy, tangy, and decadent, cheesecake is a timeless dessert that we can never get enough of. While we love the classic version with a graham cracker crust, we’ve also tested plenty of spins and variations that we’d happily make again and again—including Alex Guarnaschelli’s sweet take, brightened with marmalade and pink grapefruit, or Marcela Valladolid’s creamy, rich dulce de leche cheesecake. Tempted? Read on for more cheesecakes we love.
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Mini Black-Bottom Cheesecakes

Tina Rupp
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In these single-serving desserts from Grace Parisi, the rich and creamy cheesecakes are baked atop a chocolate-wafer base. You don’t need any special equipment to make them—just a muffin tin and foil liners.

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Triple-Cheese Cheesecake with Amaretti Crust

Johnny Miller
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This killer cheesecake has an ethereally light, creamy texture and fantastic crunchy crust made from honey graham crackers and amaretti cookies.

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Slow-Cooker Sour Cream Cheesecake

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Cheesecake cooked in a slow cooker has an unbelievably silky texture because the machine steams the cake as it bakes. The toughest part about making it is resisting the urge to peek inside the slow cooker—the lid must stay closed to retain heat.

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Pecan-Praline Cheesecake with Caramel Sauce

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You can use store-bought pralines to make the crust for this fluffy cheesecake, but Big Sugar’s quick praline recipe is worth the extra effort, as is the buttery caramel sauce that gets pooled on top.

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Lemon, Poppy and Chèvre Cheesecakes with Rhubarb

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“I am obsessed with the chèvre from Texas’s Pure Luck Farm,” says Laura Sawicki. “I love how well it pairs with the cooked rhubarb in my cheesecakes.”

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Mini Chocolate-Hazelnut Cheesecakes

© Fredrika Stjärne
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Grace Parisi breaks up whole, cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies in a food processor with hazelnuts and butter to create a supercrunchy crust for these delectable little cheesecakes. The cream filling in the cookies both sweetens the crust and prevents it from becoming too crumbly.

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Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Brownie Crust

© William Meppem
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This dessert pairs well with a sweet, fortified, fragrant Muscat.

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Gingerbread with Quark Cheesecake

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This clever recipe combines two cakes in one: gingerbread and cheesecake. The cheesecake half is light and creamy, with a pleasant tang from quark (a soft, unripened cheese that’s similar to sour cream), while the gingerbread half is fragrant, moist and delicately spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

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Lemon-Blueberry Cheesecake Parfaits

CON POULOS
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The three components in these parfaits—the creamy, tangy cheesecake custard, the crunchy cornmeal shortbread and the fresh blueberry compote—are fantastic together, but each can be used in lots of other ways. Try the custard with any fresh fruit, serve the shortbread with sorbet or drizzle the compote over ice cream.

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Mini Cheesecakes with Wine Gelées

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This recipe also can be adapted to make one 6-inch cheesecake.

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Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars with Caramel Swirl

© Alexandra Rowley
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These decadent chocolate-crusted bars are topped with a homemade caramel that sinks into the pumpkin cheesecake batter during baking.

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Icebox Chocolate Cheesecake

© CON POULOS
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Grace Parisi brilliantly layers chocolate cookies with a quick mix of cream cheese, chocolate syrup and a little water. The cookies soften as the cake chills overnight for a perfectly moist, chocolaty “cheater’s” cheesecake.

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Dulce de Leche Cheesecake

Antonis Achilleos
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Earthy and less cloying than caramel, dulce de leche finds a gorgeous home in this creamy classic.

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Strawberry Almond Cheesecake with Matzoh Crust

Abby Hocking
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This silky cheesecake gets sweetness and tang from a blend of cream cheese and sour cream. Matzo meal and ground almonds replace the usual graham crackers in the crust for a nutty, toasty crunch. Topped with sugary strawberries and toasted almond slivers, this cake makes a beautiful centerpiece at any table.

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Sour Cherry–Cheesecake Trifle with Black Pepper and Saba

Christopher Testani
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At Brothers and Sisters in Washington, D.C., pastry director Pichet Ong’s riff on a proper British trifle retains the classic form while reinventing the components. Cheesecake stands in for egg custard; pound cake replaces ladyfingers. Rather than sherry, Ong’s trifle uses saba, a syrup made from cooking down grape must, which has a flavor similar to balsamic vinegar.

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New York–Style Cheesecake with Pink Grapefruit and Marmalade

Charissa Fay
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“I watched New York–style cheesecakes spin around in the glass cases of various coffee shops my whole childhood,” says TV personality Alex Guarnaschelli. “While there are as many definitions of various cheesecakes as there are types of barbecue, New York–style is defined by a browned top with a silky cream cheese interior.”

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Red Velvet Cheesecake

Abby Hocking / Food & Wine
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Upgrade your classic recipe with picture-perfect red velvet marbling.

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