Mini Christmas Cheesecake - Pretty Festive Treats

Fancy making cheesecake for Christmas? Try these mini Christmas cheesecakes, they are so much easier to serve and make really pretty festive treats too!

Pretty & Festive Mini Christmas Cheesecake

These are adapted from my New York Cheesecake recipe and baked in cupcake casings instead of a large springform pan.

I gave these pretty cheesecakes a chocolate Oreo crust and filled them with marbled red and green cheesecake batter. Once done, I peeled off the cupcake casings and topped each cake with a generous topping of whipped cream and decorated them with festive sprinkles. 

If you like, you can even make this cheesecake into a single large cake in a 7 inches round springform pan. 

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How to Make and Decorate Mini Christmas Cheesecakes

Mini cheesecakes take a slightly longer time to prepare than a full, larger cheesecake. This is mainly because the crust has to be individually prepared for each mini cake and the batter divided into many smaller casings. The plus point though, is that mini cheesecakes are in individual serving sizes which means there is less hassle of having to cut the cake. 

Ingredients

Cheesecake Crust

• Oreo Cookies 
• Butter

Cheesecake Batter

• Cream cheese
• Sugar
• Plain flour
• Vanilla essence
• Lemon zest
• Cream
• Eggs
• Red & Green Food Coloring

Topping & Garnish

• Whipped cream
• Sprinkles

 

Making the Crust

1. To begin making the mini Christmas cheesecakes, start by preparing the crust. I used Oreo cookies and melted butter. Since the cookies were processed along with their filling, there is no need for additional sugar in the crust. Mix the crumbs and melted butter until the crumbs are thoroughly moistened.
2. Divide the crumbs equally into 12 cupcake casings. I used about one tablespoon of crumbs in each cupcake casing.
3. Press the cookie crumbs down firmly with the sides of a small rolling pin. You can use any other tool that is small and flat to press the crumbs down into an even layer.
4. Set aside.

Making the Cheesecake Filling

1. Next is the filling for the mini Christmas cheesecakes. In a medium-sized bowl, beat the cream cheese until soft (about 30 to 60 seconds the most), scraping the sides of the bowl constantly.
2. Add the sugar, flour, lemon zest, and salt all together at once into the cheese and beat again for another 20 seconds, scraping the bowl at every 10 seconds interval. 
3. Add both the eggs and vanilla essence and beat again for 10 seconds. Scrape the bowl and beat for another 10 seconds until the mixture is all smooth. Tiny specks of cheese in the mini Christmas cheesecake batter at this point is fine. Do not over mix to avoid air bubbles in the batter. 
4. Fold in the heavy cream with a spatula.
5. Transfer one-third of the batter into 2 bowls. Mix red food color into one bowl. I used Americolor Crimson for the red.
6. Add green food coloring into the other bowl. I used Americolor Forest Green for the green.

The Marbled Effect

1. Spoon the batter into the prepared crusts, starting with the plain batter and then a scoop of green batter.
2. Add the red batter.
3. Top with plain batter.
4. Continue with the final scoops of red and green batter.
5. And finally, top with the remaining plain batter.
6. Fill each casing until they are almost full. Use a skewer to cut through the batter in a circular motion, carefully avoiding cutting through the cookie crust at the bottom. 

Decorating the Festive Cheesecakes

1. Bake the mini Christmas cheesecakes at 150 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. Once done, let them rest in the oven for about 10 minutes before removing them. Let them cool to room temperature. Chill the cheesecakes for at least 4 hours (overnight is preferred) before peeling the cupcake casings off. 
2. When peeling the casings, do it slowly by pulling the sides away all-around before attempting to remove the bottom. 
3. Top each of the mini Christmas cheesecakes with piped whipped cream. I used tip 1M for the swirls.
4. Add the sprinkles just before serving. My sprinkles were from Fancy Sprinkles.

Mini Christmas Cheesecake

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Notes

Use a slightly reduced baking temperature

• The rule of thumb is to reduce the temperature by at least 10 degrees of your normal cake baking temperature. I always use 160 to 170 degrees Celsius for normal cakes and cheesecakes are therefore baked at 150 degrees. Low temperature ensures the cakes do not crack.

Do not overmix the batter

• Over mixing causes too much air to be incorporated into the batter. While this is good for normal cakes, it is not preferred for cheesecakes.
• Too many air bubbles in the batter will result in your Christmas cheesecakes with an unsightly bubbly surface.

Place the cake on the lowest rack in the oven when baking

• This helps prevent cracks in the mini cheesecakes due to close proximity to the heat. It also helps to make sure the top of the cheesecakes does not get over browned.

Water bath

• A water bath or bain-marie is a baking method where a dish of water is placed in the oven while baking. The water helps keep the interior of the oven moist and for cheesecakes, this moisture helps prevent cracks in the cake.
• For a typical 7 inches or 9 inches round cake, you can wrap the sides of your tin in foil and place it in a baking dish filled with water. Or you can place your springform pan in a slightly larger, empty baking tin and place both the tins in a water-filled baking dish.
• For these mini Christmas cheesecakes, you can simply place a water-filled baking dish on the oven floor without having to wrap each individually with foil and placing them directly in the water.

Do not use the 'fan' function in your oven

• While the 'fan' function works best for normal cakes, it is the contrary for cheesecakes. Disable the fan function to prevent cracks in your cheesecakes.

Do not over bake the cakes

• Over baked cheesecakes have the tendency to crack and the texture turning rubbery. Always keep to the baking time. These mini Christmas cheesecakes are done as soon as the sides are firm to the touch.
• Since these Christmas cheesecakes small, the center cooks pretty quickly too so it is important to keep a tab of the baking time.

Decorate the cheesecakes just before serving

• These cheesecakes are best decorated right before serving. While it is still ok to have the whipped cream on slightly early (keep the cakes refrigerated), the sprinkles tend to bleed when you leave them too long on the whipped cream.
• Hence they are best put on right before serving.

How to make a large Christmas cheesecake

• If you wish to make a full large cheesecake instead of mini cheesecakes, the recipe measurement above can be prepared in a 7 inches round tin. Bake the cake for 55 to 60 minutes.
• For 9 inches round cheesecake, double the recipe and increase the time to about 65 to 70 minutes until the sides are firm and the center still wobbly.

Mini Christmas Cheesecake

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Mini Christmas Cheesecake Recipe

Here is the full printable version of my Christmas cheesecake recipe. And while you are at it, don’t forget to read up my recipe notes just above. The notes will help you make the best Christmas cheesecake every single time!

And that’s my super festive Christmas themed cheesecake idea for you.  Try these cakes and let me know how it goes!

Mini Christmas Cheesecake

Here are my other posts you might want to check out:

• Cake Recipes
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• Christmas Tree Cupcakes
• Jam Filled Shortbread Cookies with Homemade Jam
• DIY Cupcake Wrapper Template Tutorial
• Easy Cheesecake Recipe - A Simple Baked Cheesecake
• Ultimate Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake with Oreo Crust
• Cupcakes for Christmas - An Easy Decorating Idea
• Mini Salted Caramel Cheesecake

Happy Baking 🙂