This Strawberry Cheesecake is a stunner! Based on my classic Baked Cheesecake which I describe as a magically rich-yet-light, finished with a gorgeous strawberry topping that tastes as amazing as it looks.
You’ll love how the sauce slowly drips down the cheesecake with every bite, and how the filling is creamy and rich, but it’s a bit fluffy rather than heavy and dense. And because I love the biscuit base so much, I’ve made it go aalll the way up the sides….
Strawberry Cheesecake
This has been my go-to cheesecake recipe for many years now. It’s the cheesecake that rendered a group of girls silent when we were on a weekend away. And that’s saying something with my friends!
I’ve shared this cheesecake recipe in all its naked glory. Because it really is the sort of cake that’s rich enough and so good (and that BISCUIT BASE!!) that you don’t need to trick it up with anything – just serve a plain slice and it will be devoured.
But it’s that time of the year for excesses. Where we take a cake that’s already perfect as it is, and take it over the top with a glossy Strawberry Topping for Cheesecake….
PS You’re going to go a little bit bonkers when that Strawberry Sauce is on the stove. The smell is outrageous!
I did say that this Strawberry Cheesecake is pretty straightforward, but I never said it’s a quick and easy recipe! It takes time but it’s not complicated. I’m going to walk you through each part, there are process photos and a recipe tutorial video too.
Here are the 3 main components:
Cheesecake biscuit base and walls: blitz and press. No baking required;
Cheesecake filling – plonk and mix. The easiest part!
4 ingredient strawberry sauce – couldn’t be easier (hardest part is trying not to “taste test” too much)
The Cheesecake Biscuit base
Oh that buttery base!!! I love it so much, I make an entire wall of it for this Strawberry Cheesecake. Actually, the practical reason for the biscuit wall is to hold the Strawberry Topping in. But even without topping, I always make my cheesecakes with biscuit walls!
It’s as simple as blitzing (or bashing) biscuits into crumbs then stirring in melted butter. The biscuit base can be made with pretty much any type of plain biscuit – or even plain flavoured biscuits (like gingersnaps!). Arnott’s Marie Crackers or Nice biscuits (Australia), digestives (UK), and in the States, Graham Crackers are ideal.
PRO TIP: Inverted base & paper overhang
To make it easier to remove finished cake: Flip the base of the springform pan. Grease then top with a square sheet of paper. Secure sides of pan so excess paper is sticking out. Then you can easily move the cheesecake as follows:
use the paper overhang to grip, and slide the cake off the base onto the cake stand;
finished cake will slide safely off the inverted base (because it has no lip); then
once the cake on the paper is on the cake stand, slide the paper out from under the cake. Voila!
Cheesecake Filling
The easiest part! The ingredients in the cheesecake filling are simply cream cheese (Philadelphia all the way!), sugar, lemon zest (this really gives it a special touch), vanilla, a tiny amount of flour (for stability – keeps it fluffy) and eggs. It’s a plonk-and-mix deal.
This cheesecake has sour cream in it which lightens it up a bit. While rich, it has a slightly aerated texture which is quite different from a New York cheesecake which is much denser and calls for twice as much cream cheese as this Strawberry Cheesecake recipe!
PRO TIP: Don’t overbeat, it can cause craters
No need for water bath
Some recipes say to bake cheesecake in a water bath, swearing that this a) makes the cake more moist; and b) is the secret to avoiding cracks.
Out of curiosity (because some people are so adamant!) I made this exact cheesecake with and without a water batch just to compare. Logistical issues aside (because no springform pan is 100% leakproof, it requires double layers of heavy duty foil and even then, I was still wary).
Both cheesecakes looked exactly the same – no cracks, and tasted exactly the same. Except one was a heck of a lot more of a hassle to get in the oven.
So it’s confirmed. NO WATER BATH!
PS Santa, may I please have new matching oven mitts for Christmas?
Strawberry Topping for Cheesecake
5 simple ingredients – strawberries, sugar, cornflour/cornstarch, lemon juice (or water) and vanilla. Plonk in saucepan, simmer for 10 minutes, stand over stove and inhale the incredible smells. Stir through halved strawberries (nice to soften them a bit), cool then spread on cheesecake.
Don’t fret about getting the strawberry sauce consistency 100% right straight off the stove. Cook the sauce until it’s the thickness you want for your cheesecake (ie slow ooze – watch the video!), then it will thicken more as it cools. THEN use the teeniest touch of water to loosen it up to the desired consistency – as in, 1/2 teaspoon at a time. That’s the safest way to get the sauce consistency perfect. 👍🏼
That Strawberry Topping for the cheesecake…. it is unbelievable. Not only does it make the cheesecake look stunning, it tastes incredible. The addition of a sauce to an already amazing cheesecake really does take it over the top.
As regular readers know, I specialise in “brown foods”. Think – stews, roasts, curries.
So when I make things as beautiful and colourful as this Strawberry Cheesecake, the immature child within can’t help getting overly excited and sending these photos to everyone in the RecipeTin family and more friends than she cares to admit.
And their reactions made my head swell. 😂
Make this. You WILL be praised for days on end! – Nagi x
Strawberry Cheesecake
Watch how to make it
Accidentally forgot to include adding cornflour/cornstarch in the strawberry topping in the video! Whisked it in off camera. 🙂
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Strawberry Cheesecake
Ingredients
Cheesecake Biscuit Base:
- 200g / 7oz Arnott’s Marie crackers or other plain biscuit (Aus) or 28 Graham Cracker squares (Note 1)
- 120 g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
Cheesecake Filling:
- 1 lb / 500g cream cheese , softened (Note 2)
- 2 tbsp plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream (full fat, sub sour cream)
- 1 1/2 cups caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 3 eggs , at room temperature
Strawberry Topping for Cheesecake:
- 500g / 1 lb strawberries , half diced and half halved
- 2 tbsp lemon juice OR water (Note 3)
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp cornflour/cornstarch
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 160C/320F (standard) or 140C/295F (fan/convection).
- Get a 20cm/8″ springform cake tin. Turn the base UPSIDE DOWN (Note 4), butter lightly and place a square piece of parchment/baking paper on the base. Then clip into the springform pan – excess paper will stick out, see photos in post and video.
- Butter and line the side of the pan.
Cheesecake Biscuit Base:
- Break up biscuits roughly by hand and place in a food processor.
- Blitz until fine crumbs (Note 5). Add butter, briefly blitz until dispersed and it resembles wet sand.
- Pour into the prepared cake tin. Use a spatula to roughly spread it out over the base and up the walls.
- Use something with a flat base and vertical edges (I used a measuring cup) to press the crumbs up the wall almost to the top of the sides, and flatten the base.
Filling:
- Use a mixer or beater to beat the cream cheese until just smooth, no longer than 20 seconds on speed 4. (You do not want to aerate cheesecake filling as it causes cracks when it bakes)
- Add flour, beat for 5 seconds on speed 4 until just incorporated.
- Add vanilla, sour cream, sugar and lemon zest. Beat until just combined (10 sec max, speed 5).
- Add eggs one at a time, beat in between until just combined (5 sec each), and after the last one, beat just until the egg is fully incorporated.
- Pour into prepared crust.
- Bake for 55 minutes. The top should be a very light golden brown, not cracked, and near perfectly flat. It should jiggle slightly when you gently shake the pan.
- Cool the cake in the oven with the door open 20 cm / 8″ (Note 6), then refrigerate for 4 hours+ in the pan.
- Remove sides. Use overhang paper to slide cheesecake off the cake pan. Then slide the cheesecake off the paper.
Strawberry Topping for Cheesecake:
- Place chopped strawberries, vanilla, sugar and lemon juices in a saucepan. Stir then bring to simmer over medium heat.
- Simmer for 10 minutes until strawberries breakdown.
- Mix cornflour with water, then add into saucepan and stir.
- Add halved strawberries and cook for 1 minute to soften.
- Sauce should be syrupy – remove from stove and cool. Will thicken as it cools.
- Once cool, stirl. Adjust thickness to make it the right “oozing” consistency (see video, Note 7) with a tiny touch of water (be careful!).
- Spoon onto cheesecake so it’s covered with a single layer of strawberries. Flip strawberry halves so they are facedown. Refrigerate 2 hours+.
- Slice and serve with remaining Strawberry Sauce!
Recipe Notes:
Australia: Arnott’s Marie Crackers, Arrowroot and Nice are ideal, I’ve made it with all these.
US: Use 28 squares / 14 full sheets, yes I measured it with my last Graham Cracker packet I brought back from my last trip.
UK: Digestives are ideal, I LOVE digestives! The crumb should be like wet sand so when pressed, it stays packed firmly, especially up the wall. It’s delicate when uncooked but once the filling is cooked, it becomes much more stable. 2. Cream Cheese – In the UK and some parts of Europe, block cream cheese isn’t available. If you can only get spreadable cream cheese in tubs (softer than block), skip the sour cream. 3. Lemon Juice or Water – Depends on sweetness of strawberries. If they aren’t that sweet, use water instead. 4. Inverted cake pan with overhang paper: The base of springform pans have a slight ridge. By inverting it, there is no ridge which makes it easier to slide the cheesecake on a serving platter without ruining the crust. There is no risk of batter leakage as the crust is thick enough to hold it all in. 5. Crumbs: OR crush in a ziplock bag using a rolling pin or large can. 6. Cool in oven: This helps stop the surface from cracking. 7. Strawberry topping should be like jam consistency, not a set jelly. It should ooze slightly when cut. 8. Different measures: Cups and spoons vary slightly between countries (US and CAN are different to most of the rest of the world). I have made this recipe using both US and Australian measures, using Australia Marie crackers and US Graham Crackers. The Graham Cracker crust is slightly crunchier because the biscuit doesn’t crush to a fine sand like Marie Crackers do. Both are delicious! 9. Make Ahead / Storage: Cake is at its best consumed within 4 days, after that I feel like it starts getting denser but still really fab, most people wouldn’t notice a difference! Ideal to top the day or or day before. After 2 to 3 days, the top does start to “sweat” but it’s not very noticeable.
Nutrition Information:
More Cheesecake recipes
And more strawberry goodness …
Life of Dozer
He’s been waiting all year for a moment like this – when a whole piece of Strawberry Cheesecake fell on the floor!!
(But no, he didn’t get the whole thing. Can you imagine the other mess I’d have to deal with if I did let him?!)
Hi Nagi! Your cheesecake recipe is awesome. However, it was way too sweet for me. Maybe i should reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup instead of 1 1/2
Hi! I have a Nordicware 9” springform which doesn’t invert. Wondering if outcome will be the same and if I should adjust bake time. Thanks!
How did the 9″ work?
Trying this tonight can I use the graham cracker pie crust instead
Hi Nagi, your cheesecake recipe is awesome. I make it couple times already. I follow your recipe but when I bake it it always deflated after I took it out which cause it to crack and ruin the shape. Will you be able to me what I did wrong?
Thanks!
Hi, Nagi! I just want to thank you for this fantastic recipe, especially the strawberry topping—it was very easy to follow and the ingredients are easy to find. My boys loved the strawberry cheesecake—I added some of the strawberry syrup into the cheesecake batter to make pretty swirls😊 Thanks again and happy holidays to you!
My 15 year old daughter made this cheese cake today. It was absolutely amazing! Everyone enjoyed it and said how delicious it was. Thankyou so much for the recipe we will definitely make it again x
Hey Nagi,
I want to make a chocholate marble cheesecake with your recipe! Your recipe is so detailed and is better than anything else I can find.
I will skip the strawberry topping and probably add cocoa powder/melted choc to half of the filling.
I’m gonna use a 26cm pan. Do you think the cooking time would be the same still? And if I want to make more filling, how much of everything should I add?
It’s okay if you cant answer everything, thanks Nagi! <3
Hi Katelyn, it will be a completely different recipe unfortunately and something I’d need to test. Pop a request on my recipe request page though! N x
I had to bake it an extra 15 mins and a huge crack appeared down the middle so I was pretty worried that I’d overcooked it … but thankfully, the crack was hidden by the delicious strawberry sauce and the cheesecake turned out really well and got rave reviews (“lovely creamy texture”, “best cheesecake ever!”) 😅 thanks Nagi!
Hi Jackz, sounds like you may of just overbooked it slightly. Don’t be concerned about the jiggle, it will set in the fridge! N x
Followed everything. But my cake rises above the pan haha! I guess from the overbeating? So if I put the strawberry topping they will slide down the sides by the crust. Any quick fix?
Hi Nagi,
Would this cheesecake still work if i added melted white chocolate to the mixture? Thanks! xx
Hi Nagi,
I don’t have any sour cream can i sub with Greek yogurt?
Thanks
Hi Maddie – yes that will work fine! N x
Hi! I love this cheesecake so much! What would be the cooking time if I wanted to make 2 smaller cheesecakes ?
Hi Vika, it all depends on the size to be honest, what size are you planning on making? N x
Hi! I was wanting to do 2 tins which are 21cm wide? And just dividing the recipe equally
Hi Vika, how did your cheesecakes turn out? I wanted to make 2 smaller cakes as well
I didn’t end up making 2! I didn’t want to risk it, it’s 100% worth making 2 whole ones, it’s so good!
Hi Nagi, would frozen strawberries work as good? Or have to use fresh strawberries?
Thanks!
Hi Mariz, frozen should be fine, just thaw and drain any excess liquid 🙂 N x
Hello Nagi, It will be my first time to make a cheesecake. Is it possible to halve this recipe as theres only 3 of us to consume it. Im so excited to try this! Thank you in advance!
Hi Abs, you can halve it if you like, you’ll need to use a smaller pan though – what size are you wanting to make? N x
I made it Nagi! It’s on a 18cm pan. It’s not too sweet just as I like it! I am so happy! Thank you for your recipe!
I made this cheesecake for my son’s birthday cake. It had to be good and it was. It was sensational thanks to spot on directions and great research. Thank you so much Nagi. It couldn’t have been better received.
wonderful!
thanks a lot 🙂
hello dear nagi,
first i have tried a lot of your recipes and they are always a win so thank you a lot!
second can i use philadelphia as a cream cheese sub here?
Hi Marina, yes Philadelphia is just a brand of cream cheese – same thing 🙂 N x
Thank you for the recipe Nagi! I love biscuit crust cakes. So delicious. Wanted to ask – are there other fruits we could use as toppings? I love the cheesecake part of this recipe but was hoping to try blueberries/raspberries or even mangoes! Thanks!
Hi Yiling, yes any berry will work great here too! I have a blueberry cheesecake here as well – https://promotown.info/blueberry-cheesecake/%3C/a%3E N x
hi there! incredibly delicious cheesecake 🙏🏼 if i am going to double the recipe, should i double the AP flour as well?? thanks!!
Hi Shayne, if you’re going to double, you will need to adjust cook time as well as the pan size. If you scale the recipe up, all the ingredients will change for you. To ensure the cake doesn’t brown – you may need to cover with foil at some point in the cook time. I haven’t doubled it just yet so would love to know how you go! N x
If I double the recipe and use a 10in pan-how long will it need to cook?
I haven’t tried with this size sorry Dawn – I really think you’d need to keep an eye on it and you’d probably only need an extra 50% onto of the original recipe to fill a 10″ pan. I imagine it will cook in approximately 1 hour 20 though. N x