The BEST Strawberry Cheesecake Recipe

This strawberry cheesecake recipe is my all time favourite! It's creamy, smooth—paired with a delicious strawberry sauce. It will become your new go-to recipe!

Making this recipe was a bit of a mistake because my family now DEMANDS I make this for any get-together or function. Without fail, I will be requested to make this because they love it. My 12 year old cousin is absolutely obsessed with this cheesecake and even asked for it on his birthday!

The strawberry sauce adds a fruity freshness to the cheesecake and makes the whole flavour profile so bright. It goes so well with the creamy richness of the cheesecake and balances it all out.

Ingredients for the Strawberry Cheesecake

The ingredients for the cheesecake are few but so important:

• Cream Cheese
• Sugar
• Sour cream
• Lemon Juice
• Vanilla extract
• Salt
• Eggs

Crust

• Graham crackers - I use the honey ones so I don't add more sugar
• Sugar - Optional - If you use regular graham crackers, add in about ¼ cup-⅓ cup sugar
• Melted butter
• Pinch of salt

Strawberry Sauce

• Fresh or frozen strawberries
• Good quality strawberry jam
• Sugar
• Cornstarch slurry

Tips to

• Use room temperature ingredients - This allows you to blend the batter well without any lumps. This is especially important for the cream cheese! Take out the ingredients a few hours before you plan on making the cheesecake.

• Add the eggs one by one and don't overmix - Crack in each egg and beat it until almost combined. Repeat with each egg and then switch to a spatula to make sure everything is combined well. You do not want to over mix it in this stage because it will incorporate too much air into the batter, which will lead to cracking.

• Bake cheesecake in a water bath - Fill a roasting tray with boiling water and place the cheesecake pan in it. Make sure the bottom of the cheesecake pan is covered with at least 2 layers aluminum foil to prevent any water seeping into the springform pan and getting into the cheesecake. This helps the cheesecake to bake slowly and evenly, so the edges don't overcook while the inside is still cooking.

• Do not open the oven door for at least the first 30 minutes of baking - This prevents a sudden drop in temperature, which is one of the causes of cracking on cheesecakes.

• Once cheesecake is done, let it sit in the oven for another hour with the oven door slightly open - Again, this makes sure the cheesecake temperature goes down slowly, instead of being taken out of a hot oven and placed at room temp/cold kitchen. This prevents the cake from cracking.

• To check if it's done - Slightly shake the pan: if the sides are set and the middle slightly jiggles, it is done. If it's too jiggly all over, it still needs more time. If it doesn't jiggle at all, it's overdone and may curdle.

Nabeah Wahab

Strawberry Cheesecake

5 from 6 votes

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Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Resting time 4 hours hrs

Total Time 5 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Servings: 12

Course: Dessert

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

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Crust

• 175 grams - graham crackers I use honey ones so I don't add extra sugar
• 6 tablespoon - unsalted butter, melted (84g)
• Pinch - salt

Cheesecake

• 2 pounds - full fat cream cheese, room temp (907g)
• ¾ cup - granulated sugar (150g)
• 1 cup - sour cream, room temp (250g)
• ½ teaspoon - vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoon - lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon - salt
• 3 - eggs room temp

Strawberry Sauce

• 1 ¼ cup strawberries frozen or fresh cut into quarters
• ¼ cup strawberry jam
• 3 tablespoon water
• 3 tablespoon sugar
• pinch salt
• ½ teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 1 teaspoon cold water

Method

 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease sides of a springform pan (line bottom with parchment paper as well if you want to take it off the bottom)
2. Grind the crackers down into a powder. Pour in butter and salt and mix well.
3. Press into the pan to make an even crust and bake it for 10 minutes. Take out and let it cool. Then line the outside of the pan with 2 layers of aluminum foil. This is to prevent any water leaking into the pan and making the crust soggy.
4. Beat the cream cheese in a large bowl of a stand mixer or with handheld mixer.
5. Add in the sugar and beat it well. Add in sour cream and beat. Mix in the vanilla, lemon juice and salt.
6. Crack in and mix the eggs in one at a time. Add in the next one just when the last one starts to mix in the batter. Don’t mix too much with the electric mixer because it will incorporate too much air, leading to your cheesecake cracking at the end.
7. Once all the eggs are in, mix gently and thoroughly with a spatula. Do not mix it too much
8. Start boiling the water for the water bath
9. Pour the batter into the pan and pop out the air bubbles
10. Put the cheesecake in a bigger pan for the water bath and place into the oven. The pan should be tall enough to be able to hold enough water to be at least an inch high on the side of the pan.
11. Place both pans into the oven and then pour in the boiling water in the bigger pan (water should be 1 inch high)
12. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until the sides are set and the middle is kind of jiggly
13. Turn off the oven and keep the oven door slightly open with a wooden spoon and let it cool for an hour.
14. Then take the cheesecake out and remove from the water bath and let it cool completely and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours. This slow cool is important so the temperature doesn't change drastically, which leads to cracking.

Make the Strawberry Sauce

1. In a small saucepan add in the strawberry jam, sugar, water and salt and heat it up until it comes to a boil and then add in the strawberries
2. Cook that until the strawberries are softened and the water starts reducing a bit. Add in the cornstarch slurry and cook until it starts to thicken up
3. Let that cool down. It thickens up a little more when it cools.
4. Take out the cheesecake from the pan and place it on the serving platter
5. Spread the strawberry sauce evenly on top, cut and serve
6. Enjoy and let me know how it turned out by reviewing the recipe!

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