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Hello Strawberry Cheesecake! The most glorious, delicious, classic dessert is here! This is a showstopper no matter who you serve it to or when you serve it. This recipe is a variation of The Best Cheesecake Recipe and is one of my favorites. It’s a thick and creamy classic cheesecake topped with fresh strawberries and homemade strawberry-vanilla sauce. It’s truly the perfect dessert.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This recipe for Strawberry Cheesecake is made with very few ingredients when mixed together give you an amazing finished product. I do recommend certain brands because I have found the best results with them, but feel free to use no-name brands if you prefer them better or would like to save a few dollars. Cheesecake is notoriously labor intensive and expensive for dessert standards, but I try to streamline this process to make it as simple and straightforward as possible with the best ingredients.
Ingredients For Strawberry Cheesecake
for the crust
- graham cracker crumbs
- granulated sugar
- butter
for the cheesecake filling:
- cream cheese– I recommend using Philadelphia full-fat cream cheese
- granulated sugar
- sour cream– use full-fat sour cream
- vanilla extract
- largeeggs
for the strawberry topping:
- fresh strawberries
- granulated sugar
- water
- vanilla extract
Equipment
- 9″ Springform Pan– I would highly *highly* recommend using one. The best baking pan for this cheesecake recipe is a 9-inch springform pan. You can definitely put this into a 10-incher but definitely won’t fit into an 8. Also, I know you can buy larger 9″x 3″ cake pans without the springform option, but just don’t see any good way to remove the whole cheesecake without ruining it. Moral of the story? Splurge and get the springform pan. Or find a friend and borrow one (I find that this is super easy when you are willing to share some of your strawberry cheesecake).
Some Important Notes Before You Begin:
- I recommend using Honey Maid graham cracker crumbs and Philadelphia cream cheese for this recipe. These are the brands I use when testing all my cheesecake recipes, so I know your finished results will be good.
- Use a good quality vanilla extract when possible. Obviously if you only have artificial vanilla extract, use that, but I always recommend PURE vanilla extract.
- Don’t forget to have room temperature ingredients before you begin. I cannot stress this enough!! Everything incorporates easily when it’s all the same temperature, giving you a smooth, thick cheesecake batter. I’m mainly talking about the cream cheese, eggs and sour cream.
- You will use two full pounds of fresh strawberries. I know that seems like a lot, but half is for the sauce and half is for the garnish. This is a strawberry cheesecake, after all.
While there is nothing HARD about this recipe, it does take some time. Do your best to follow my instructions for making the batter and baking and you too will have a gorgeous strawberry cheesecake, just like my pictures show.
Love Cheesecake? Try these other favorites: New York Style Cheesecake, NY-Style Nutella Cheesecake, Amazing No-Bake Cheesecake, Perfect Pumpkin Cheesecake, Cheesecake Factory copycat Vanilla Bean Cheesecake.
How to Make Strawberry Cheesecake
I know there are a lot of steps, but following this method exactly will give you a beautiful, thick, crack-free cheesecake. Here are my step-by-step instructions for the best homemade cheesecake. The FULL recipe is in the printable recipe card below.
Make the Graham Cracker Crust
Start by stirring graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter together and press into a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 7 minutes in a 350° F oven. Set aside to cool.
I have had great success making this strawberry cheesecake in a 9×13 baking dish and serving as cheesecake bars. None of the ingredients, directions, or baking times are changed. Simply just replace the springform pan with a 9×13 baking dish. You will need more strawberries for garnish (about 1/2 pound), but that is the only change.
Make the Cheesecake Filling
In a large bowl, stir the very soft cream cheese together with the granulated sugar. Stir in the vanilla extract and sour cream. Scrape the sides really, really well and stir again to ensure there are no lumps.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs together and slowly add to the cheesecake filling with the hand mixer on. Once eggs are incorporated turn the mixer off. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl really well to ensure a very smooth batter. If there are lumps, stir them in by hand.
Remove Air Bubbles
Tap bowl on the counter for 30-45 secondsto remove air bubbles. Air bubbles can contribute to why cheesecakes crack, so we definitely want to prevent that.
Bake, Cool, Chill
Pour batter onto graham cracker crust, smooth the top and bake. Bake at 325° F for 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 250° F to finish cooking. Let the cheesecake sit in the hot ovenwith the oven closed for 30 minutes before cracking the oven door and letting it continue cooling for another hour. Remove from ovenand bring cheesecake to room temperature (3-4 hours).
Refrigerate Your Cheesecake
Once the cheesecake has cooled to room temperature, cover and refrigerate until completely chilled (6 hours to overnight).
Once the cheesecake is chilled, unhinge the sides of the springform pan and remove the collar. The great thing about cheesecake is that it’s a wonderful dessert to make ahead because it stores so well in the fridge.
Make the Strawberry Sauce Topping
The homemade strawberry sauce recipe that makes this cheesecake quintessentially strawberry is only 4 ingredients. After you cook those ingredients together, you blend them until smooth. You will still have seeds! If you’d prefer the sauce to be seedless, strain out the seeds using cheesecloth.
Wash, hull and slice 1 pound of strawberries. Wash and slice the other pound keeping the green part in place, if desired. Slice in half and reserve those berries for the garnish.
Place the hulled and sliced berries, sugar, and water in a medium saucepan. Simmer on low to medium heat for 10 minutes or until berries are very soft. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Place into a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth. Refrigerate until completely chilled before topping the strawberry cheesecake with it. After the sauce has chilled, it should thicken slightly.
Of course, you can definitely just buy strawberry puree sauce from the store if you’d prefer to not make it. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.
Slice + Serve Strawberry Cheesecake
To serve, top with the fresh berries and drizzle half of the strawberry topping overtop. Slice strawberry cheesecake into pieces and serve with remaining strawberry sauce.
Pro Tip: For cleaner slicing, dip a sharp knife into hot water, wipe off any excess water and slice. I like to dip my knife in water between each slice to get really clean-looking pieces.
A Few Tips to Prevent Your Cheesecake From Cracking
There are several reasons why cheesecakes can get a giant crack down the center but through my recipe testing and research, I’ve found the main three reasons are: air bubbles, lumps in the batter and baking and cooling. Here’s how I’ve dealt and adjusted my recipe to ensure these three things don’t cause any issues:
Make sure the batter is lump-free
Using room temperature cream cheese, eggs, and sour cream makes everything incorporate smoother, thus more of a lump-free batter. Also, be diligent in scraping the sides AND BOTTOM of the bowl. You want to ensure the cheesecake batter is lump-free before adding in the eggs.
Stir in the eggs last
When you are using a hand or stand mixer, it has a tendency to incorporate air into any batter you make, not just cheesecake. Particularly after you add in eggs. When eggs get whipped, they hold that volume. So, we want to reduce the mixing time after we add in the eggs and remove any extra air bubbles. How do we do this? Crack all four eggs into a bowl and whisk with a fork before adding them into the cheesecake batter. Then, stir in the eggs last and mix until they are just incorporated.
Tap the bowl on the counter to get rid of the air bubbles
Before pouring the batter into the graham cracker crust, tap the bowl on the counter for 30 to 45 seconds to remove as many air bubbles as possible.
Cool it gently and slowly…without using a water bath
Baking a cheesecake in a water bath helps moderate oven temperatures not only for baking but for cooling too. Since I hate water baths and think they should go die, I had to MacGyver this whole cheesecake recipe to ensure it was baking at a lower oven temperature for a longer period and also cooling very slowly. Once baking is finished and the oven gets turned off, you’ll notice the cheesecake still spends over an hour in the hot oven, not only to help finish baking it (called carryover cooking) but also to cool it gently and slowly. This is what gets you that beautiful, crack-free top.
In love with this strawberry cheesecake flavor combo? Check out these other recipes:Strawberry Cheesecake Milkshake,Strawberry Cheesecake Tart, and Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies.
Storing Strawberry Cheesecake
Like I mentioned above, cheesecake in general makes a great make ahead dessert because it does so well in the fridge and freezer!
In the Fridge: After your fully baked cheesecake has come to room temperature, refrigerate covered for up to 1 week.
In the Freezer: If you are a kitchen expert, you’ll know cream cheese by itself doesn’t freeze well, but baked it does! Cheesecake is a perfect candidate for freezing!
First, un-mold cheesecake from the springform pan. Place into the freezer uncovered for about 4 hours or until its mostly solid. Remove springform bottom and wrap the cheesecake well in two layers of plastic wrap or aluminum foil. It will stay good for up to3 months in the freezer.
Love Strawberries? Try these recipes:
If you loved this strawberry cheesecake recipe, you’re going to devour these other strawberry recipes.
- Strawberries and Cream Layer Cake
- Easiest Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
- Strawberry Shortcake
- Summer Strawberry Jello Pie
- Nutella Deviled Strawberries
- Strawberry Mint Limeade
- Strawberry Pretzel Salad
The printable recipe card is below! Enjoy, friends! 🙂
If you make this recipe, I would really appreciate it if you wouldgive it a star rating and leave your review in the comments! If you have a picture of your finished dish, post it on Instagram using the hashtag #laurenslatest and tagging me @laurens_latest.
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4 from 10 votes
Strawberry Cheesecake
This Strawberry Cheesecake is a showstopper. You only need a few simple ingredients and a little bit of time to make this amazing cheesecake.
servings 12 servings
Prep Time 9 hours hrs 30 minutes mins
Cook Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins
Total Time 10 hours hrs 45 minutes mins
Ingredients
for the graham cracker crust:
- 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 5 tbsp granulated sugar
- 6 tbsp melted butter
ror the cheesecake filling:
- 40 oz cream cheese at room temperature (get FIVE 8 oz packages; 2 1/2 lbs total)
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup sour cream at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
for the strawberry topping:
- 2 lbs strawberries fresh, divided
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
US Customary – Metric
Equipment
Instructions
Place oven racks in the center of the oven. Preheat oven to 350° F.
In a medium-sized bowl, stir graham cracker crumbs together with sugar and melted butter until well incorporated and the mixture looks like damp sand. Using the bottom of a measuring cup, press crust into the bottom and halfway up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake 7 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Reduce oven temperature to 325° F.
In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix cream cheese 30 seconds 'til smooth. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and add in granulated sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. Mix again until incorporated. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix again briefly.
Crack eggs into a liquid measuring cup and using a fork, beat until well scrambled.With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the eggs into the cream cheese mixture and stop stirring once the eggs have been incorporated. Remove bowl from mixer and scrape the sides and bottom again, ensuring the entire mixture is smooth. If there are a few small lumps, try to fold in using the rubber scraper.
Once the batter is completely smooth and ready, tap the bowl on the counter for 30-45 seconds to remove as many air bubbles as possible. You should see them popping on the surface as you tap the bowl. Pour filling into the center of the graham cracker crust and gently smooth the top. It will be very full!
Bake for 30 minutes at 325° F. Reduce temperature to 250° F and continue cooking for 45 minutes more. Once this time has elapsed, turn the oven off and keep cheesecake inside for another 30 minutes for some carryover cookingwithout opening the oven door. Crack oven door to let cheesecake cool slowly for one hour before removing. At this point, cheesecake should be slightly warm. Bring cheesecake to room temperature on the counter (3-4 hours) before covering with plastic wrap and transferring to the fridge.
Refrigerate until chilled completely (6 hours to overnight).Open springform pan and remove the collar.
For the Strawberry Sauce, wash and slice 1 pound of strawberries and place into a small saucepan. Sprinkle in sugar and water. Heat over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook strawberries for 10 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Pour into a blender and blitz until completely smooth. Chill in the freezer for 10-15 minutes in a shallow dish.
Wash and slice the remaining pound of strawberries and decorate the chilled cheesecake with them. (Pile them high!) Pour half of the strawberry sauce over top of the entire cheesecake and reserve the other half to pour onto each individual serving, if desired.
Cut into slices** and serve with remaining strawberry sauce.
Notes
**Dip a sharp knife into hot water, wipe off any excess water and slice. I like to dip my knife in water between each slice to get really clean-looking pieces.
Nutrition
Calories: 606kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 43g | Saturated Fat: 24g | Cholesterol: 186mg | Sodium: 467mg | Potassium: 304mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 1603IU | Vitamin C: 45mg | Calcium: 136mg | Iron: 1mg
Course: Dessert, Desserts
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Cheesecake, Strawberry Cheesecake, Strawberry Cheesecake Recipe
