These creamy mini cheesecakes are inspired by none other than.. the Cheesecake Factory! This recipe has more than 17 million views on our Youtube (as this post is published) and is also one of our readers' favourites.
We have uncountable messages and emails from our viewers and readers saying how they loved it as it's so easy and never fails. Many have also started selling these and they become one of their customers' favourites also.
We can't express enough how happy, grateful and satisfied we feel to know all the stories and feedback. This recipe truly has a soft spot in our hearts.
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Recipe Highlights
Texture and flavour - Creamy luscious filling with a crunchy base. The mildly sweet filling with delicious cream cheese flavour goes amazing with the contrast of the base that has a touch of saltiness to it. Amazing combo!
Level - Super easy, even for beginners. No water bath is needed.
Size - 12 mini cheesecakes, muffin size.
Occasion - I hate to limit these beauties to any occasion as they are perfect for any time, more when you want to impress somebody who's a cheesecake lover.
Lets Talk Ingredients
Digestive biscuits - Don't get taken aback by their name. We're based in Europe and instead of graham crackers, we use digestive biscuits which are easier to find. Honestly, I love the touch of saltiness from the biscuits, it's a nice contrast flavour.
SUBSTITUTION: Use graham crackers or any other similar biscuits.
Cream cheese - Use full fat, block ones. Not the ones for spreading on toasts, alright?
Sugar - Granulated sugar. Add a bit more if you want to use confectioner sugar as it's not as sweet as granulated. Or adjust to your liking.
SUBSTITUTIONS: Any dry sweetener will work. Add 30% more if you're using erythritol. The same amount for brown and coconut sugar but just know that they'll make the cheesecakes colour darker.
NOTE: I don't recommend using liquid sweetener as it'll affect the texture (too liquid).
All-purpose flour - I know it's not conventional but this small amount of flour will help prevent cracks, which is a huge no-no in baked cheesecakes.
Sour cream - Use full fat, please. We are making cheesecakes here. Go big or go home?
SUBSTITUTION: Use the same amount of full-fat unsweetened Greek yogurt.
Why This Recipe Has More Than 17 Million YouTube Views
These are the feedbacks that we keep getting from everybody who's made this recipe:
Super easy - Many who've never baked a cake, let alone made a baked cheesecake (which we know is tricky), have successfully made this recipe on the first try. No fancy method is needed here.
It works - The recipe never fails. I know it's difficult to find reliable recipes in the internet world but no recipes are published here on our website without me testing them first. We're also known for our reliable recipes here, just letting you know. What you see is what you get.
No water bath - Baked cheesecakes usually need a water bath to cook properly and beautifully. This recipe doesn't need it. Less hassle with great results.
Easy ingredients - No fancy ingredients here. So if you follow exactly my recipe or tips for ingredient substitutions above, then you'll nail it every single time.
Quick cooking time - Only 15 minutes in the oven, yep.
How To Prevent Cracks In Cheesecakes
Baked cheesecakes are considered a success if there's no crack on them. Right? And also when they maintain the flat top, or in other words, they don't deflate when they come out from the oven. Here's how you can easily achieve those:
Room temperature - Ingredients should be at room temperature. This is so that they mix easily with each other.
Don't over-mix - Never, at any point, in any of my baked cheesecake recipes, should you over-mix the filling. Less is extremely more in this case. Over mixing will whip in the air, which will cause the filling to inflate and crack in the oven.
Low speed - Use the lowest speed on your handheld or stand mixer. Remember, we don't want to over-mix.
Low temperature - Not all ovens are made the same. Yours could be hotter than mine, and vice versa. Use a portable oven thermometer to get the accurate temperature, it's very affordable. The high temperature will make them inflate, deflate and crack.
Conventional - Use conventional mode (without fan-assisted) as it'll keep the temperature stable-low. Lower by 20-25 degrees if you're using a convection oven.
Don't overbake - With the correct temperature, they take only 15 minutes to cook. Not more. They should still wiggle in the center when you lightly shake the pan. Over baking will cause them to crack.
Great Cheesecakes Need Time
Making these cheesecakes is super easy and quick. But we want that depth in flavour in our cheesecakes, right?
And we can achieve that by giving some time for the wonderful flavours to blend with each other. Chill the baked room temperature cheesecakes in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours. Preferably 8 hours. Trust me, you'll appreciate it.
Can I Put Them At Room Temperature For A Long Time?
The answer is, no.
All cheesecakes either baked or no-bake, are better-kept chill to maintain their structure. You can have these out on the table for a maximum of 30 minutes, not more.
If for some reason you want them to be longer than that, I'd recommend you freeze them for 1-2 hours, so that they hold longer at room temperature.
Can I Freeze Them?
Yes, you can. I do it all the time.
Place on a tray and freeze for 1 hour. Then put them in an airtight container and back in the freezer, for up to 6 months.
Thaw in the fridge.
More Recipes
- The BEST double chocolate cheesecake
- Fudgy pumpkin cheesecake brownies
- Pecan cheesecake bars
- Whole normal sized Cheesecake Factory inspired
- Cinnamon roll flavoured cheesecake
Recipe Video
📖 Recipe
Easy Mini Cheesecakes
Equipment
- Bowls (1 big and 1 small)
- Food processor or rolling pin (for biscuit crumbs)
- Muffin liners
- Handheld whisk
Ingredients
The Base
- 1 ½ cup biscuits crumbs (150 g) or use graham crackers
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (60 g), melted
The Cheese Filling
- 10.5 oz cream cheese, full fat (300 g), room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 g)
- 2 large eggs , room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 ½ tablespoon all purpose flour (14 g)
- ¾ cup sour cream, full fat (185 g), room temperature
Optional Toppings
- some strawberry marmalade
- berries of your choice
Instructions
The Base
- Using a food processor, blend digestive biscuits into fine mixture. Pour into a bowl and add melted butter. Mix well.
- Divide evenly into 12 muffin liners in a muffin pan. Using a spoon, press the mixture tightly and evenly. Set aside.
The Cheese Filling
- Using a low speed in your mixer, mix cream cheese until just creamy. While mixing, gradually add in sugar. Then add in eggs 1 by 1, mixing just until well combined.
- Then add in vanilla extract, lemon juice, flour and mix again just until combined. Finally add in sour cream and mix everything together.
- Using an ice cream scoop, divide the cheesecake filling evenly into prepared muffin pan. Gently shake the pan to make the top surface flat.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 320ºF (160ºC), conventional mode, on ⅔ lower rack for 15 minutes or when you gently shake the pan, the cheesecake wiggle a bit and the center look not as set.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool to room temperature in the pan. Place the pan in the fridge overnight.
How To Serve
- Serve as they are or with some strawberry marmalade and your favourite berries.
Notes
- Do not over-mix to avoid cheesecake from cracking while baking.
- Use a portable oven thermometer to get the accurate oven temperature.
- After chilling them in the fridge, removing the cheesecakes from the pan is easier.
- Don't leave them at room temperature for too long to maintain their structure. The maximum is 30 minutes. Freeze for 1-2 hours if you want them to hold a bit longer than that.
- They last up to 6 months in the freezer.
Nutrition Facts
The nutrition facts provided are an estimate per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Originally published on Feb 16, 2019. Updated with improved text and pictures on Aug 11, 2021.
Chedva says
Do I freeze them straight away or first put them in fridge and then freeze them?
Bea says
You can directly freeze them, hope it helps!
Karima says
Thanksna lot for the mini cheese cake recipes, I love it very much and already made it several times.
If we make double recipes, how many minutes I should bake it?
Arina says
Hi! Should I also make a Bain-Marie condition in my oven ? Or I should just bake a cheesecake without it?
Bea says
Hi Arina! You don't need bain-marie for this recipe (or any baked cheesecake recipe in my website). Hope it helps!
Faiza Alam says
Hi
Would you be able to post the recipe in cups especially for the cream cheese and sour cream. I really like this recipe and will make it for my Eid Celebrations.
Rakhsar says
Hi. I am not getting 55% chocolate, can I use dark bitter sweet chocolate?
Kim Nguyen says
Your cheese cake are amazing delicious I loved it
Lily says
Hi there tried this cheesecake bites they are absolutely delicious. Great for dessert for company. Love them.
Shaznin says
Hi. Can I use this recipe to bake in a 20 cm pan? Should I triple the amount? N use the same temperature?
Bea says
Hi! You can refer to my easy cheesecake recipe for the ingredients. Hope it helps.
Lorraine Clark says
What sugar do you use ?
Icing sugar, caster sugar or normal ?
Thank you
Bea says
I use normal sugar, hope it helps.
Hamza Fazli says
I left the cheesecakes at room temperature in hot humid weather.. they look shiny and i inserted a toothpick and it's coming out dipped in chocolate liquid. But not batter sticking on it. Also some surfaces my finger is sticking back with batter others aren't. Do i pop it back in preheated oven of high or low temperature? Or should I refrigerate instead?
Bea S. says
Hello,
Thank you very much for this recipe. I made double the amount and they were easy to make but most important they were DELICIOUS. My family loved them, definitely will be making these mini cheesecakes again. Have you ever made Oreo cookie mini cheesecakes? Do you think I could make them using your same recipe but replace the graham cracker with an Oreo cookie and add some bits of cookie to the mix and they would turn out as delicious? I would appreciate your feedback as you are the expert. Thank you….
Seema Kanodia says
Absolutely delicious, everyone loved it..thank you
Bea says
Thank you Seema! 😍
Gaynor Wilyeo says
Hi
Can these cheesecakes be frozen
Thank you
Gaynor xx
Bea says
Yes, they can 🙂
Jasmine says
This looks amazing! I only have 250g of cream cheese, can I substitute anything else in to make up for the remaining 50g? Also, would it work if I made them into baby cupcake sized instead?
Alysha says
Hey!
Can I use this mini recipe to create a 7" cheese cake
Or do you have any recipes available for different size Cheesecakes?
Bea says
Use this easy cheesecake recipe for a 7 inch pan. Hope it helps!
Neeta says
This looks so awesome and simple. Defi going to try this out!
Could you kindly let me know what is the purpose of the flour? If its for thickening, Could I use xanthan gum instead? Thank you so much 🥰
Bea says
Hi Neeta! The flour is to help prevent cracks as we're not using water bath to cook them. Hope you give them a try! 😍
Jodi says
Hi can these be frozen for later use?
Bea says
Yes! I do it all the time 😊.