Mini Salted Caramel Cheesecake (Creamy and Decadent)

❤️Why you will love this recipe

• The recipe is easy to make and uses simple ingredients, including homemade caramel sauce.
• Baked in cupcakes liners, this mini cheesecake recipe makes individual sized little cheesecakes that are easier to serve compared to a full sized regular cheesecake. They make a good idea for mini desserts.
• The combination of smooth cheesecake batter, buttery crust and gooey salted caramel makes these mini cheesecake bites a perfect dessert after dinner and for special occasion like thanksgiving dinner. 

Crust

• Digestive biscuits / cookies (or graham crackers or any other plain vanilla cookies) for the crunchy biscuit base.
• Granulated sugar (caster sugar)
• Melted butter - I use salted butter. You can also use unsalted butter.

Filling

• Cream cheese - use full fat cream cheese that is sold in blocks. Spreadable cream cheese will not work for this cheesecake.
• Heavy cream - either whipping cream or cooking cream. For best results, use cream with at least 35% fat.
• Granulated Sugar (caster sugar)
• All purpose flour + salt - mix both before adding into the cheesecake mixture.
• Egg - use large eggs.
• Vanilla extract - adds flavor to the mini cheesecakes.

Topping

• Salted Caramel - you will not be needing all, so you can keep the balance in the refrigerator and try out other recipes with it like this chocolate peanut butter cheesecake or Snickers cheesecake.
• Whipped cream
• Dried Rose Buds (food grade)

🧾Substitution and variations

• Heavy cream can be substituted with sour cream in exact same quantity as the cream.
• Digestive biscuits / Graham cookie crust can be substituted with Oreo cookie crust. Crush the cookies to a fine crumb along with its filling. Omit the sugar in the recipe for the crust.
• If you wish to make a full large cheesecake (a whole cheesecake) instead of mini salted caramel cheesecakes, the recipe card measurement below can be prepared in a 7 inches round cake tin or baking pan. Bake the cake for 55 to 60 minutes.
• For 9 inches round cheesecake, double the recipe above and bake for about 65 to 70 minutes until the sides are firm and the center still wobbly.

Making the cheesecake crust

1. Crush the cookies to fine crumbs. You can do this by placing your cookies in a ziplock bag and using a rolling pin to crush them (by rolling on them or lightly hitting them) or by processing the cookies in a food processor. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add granulated sugar to the crumbs and mix well.
2. Next, add melted butter and mix until the crumbs are well moistened.
3. Drop one tablespoon of the crumbs into each cheesecake cupcake liner.
4. Press the cookie crumbs down firmly into each cupcake casing placed in cupcake pan. Do this with a small rolling pin (the ends), or with a spoon. Set the prepared crust aside.

Making the cheesecake filling

1. In a large bowl, whip the room temperature cream cheese until soft and creamy (about 30 to 60 seconds the most) with an electric mixer (hand mixer or stand mixer on paddle attachment). Start with low speed and gradually increase to high speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl constantly.
2. Combine the granulated sugar, salt, and flour in a small bowl.
3. Add it into the creamed cheesecake mixture. Beat for about 20 seconds.
4. Add egg and vanilla extract and beat again for another 20 seconds, scraping the bowl at every 10 seconds interval. 
5. Tiny specks of cheese in the batter at this point is fine. Do not over mix to avoid air bubbles in the cream cheese batter. Fold in the heavy cream with a spatula.
6. Spoon the mini cheesecake batter into the prepared crust (biscuit base) in cupcake casings. Fill each casing until they are almost full.

Baking and decorating the cheesecake

1. Bake the mini salted caramel cheesecake 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 (on a wire rack) before chilling them for at least 4  hours (overnight is preferred) and subsequently peeling the cupcake casings off. 
2. When peeling the casings, start by pulling the sides first before removing the bottom.
3. In a small piping bag, fill the homemade caramel sauce and cut a tiny hole at the tip. Pipe the salted caramel sauce onto each of the mini salted caramel cheesecake, letting it drip on the sides.
4. Whip the cream until stiff peaks form and fill it into a separate piping bag fitted with a large star piping tip (I used tip number 865). Pipe a large whipped cream star on each salted caramel topped cheesecake.
5. Garnish the cheesecakes with 3 dried rosebuds in the center.
6. Keep the cakes chilled.

🍽️Serving & storage

• Keep the miniature cheesecakes chilled all the time. The cheesecakes can last in the fridge for a good 4 to 5 days. The salted caramel sauce and whipped cream are best put on the cheesecakes just before serving.

Reduced baking temperature

• Similar to all my other regular cheesecake recipes, these mini salted caramel cheesecake should be baked at a slightly reduced temperature than normal cakes.
• The rule of thumb is to reduce the temperature by at least 10 percent of your normal cake baking temperature. I always bake normal cakes at 160 to 170 degrees Celsius and cheesecakes are therefore baked at 150 degrees. Keeping the baking temperature low helps avoid cracks in my cheesecakes.

Do not overmix the batter

• When cheesecake batter is overmixed, it tends to incorporate too many air bubbles. These air bubbles will create an unsightly bubbly surface on your cheesecake. It will not affect the taste but your cakes will not have a smooth top.
• To avoid the bubbles, keep to the time I have indicated in each of the steps of making these mini salted caramel cheesecake.

Use the lowest rack in the oven

• This is another tip to avoid cheesecakes from cracking, be it full-sized cheesecakes or mini cheesecakes.
• Placing the cakes in the lowest rack helps avoid the tops from being too near to heat and also prevents the tops from over-browning.

Disable the 'fan' function in the oven

• If you find your cheesecakes cracking, the fan function in your oven could be factor contributing to it.
• To be on the safe side, disable the fan function when baking cheesecakes.

Do not overbake the cheesecakes

• Over baking cheesecakes can make their texture rubbery and sometimes the tops to crack.
• Keep to the baking time indicated in this mini cheesecake recipe. To test if these mini salted caramel cheesecakes are done, press the sides. If they are firm, the cakes are done. Ideally, the sides should be firm but the center still wobbly.

💭FAQs