I recently received a mini cheesecake pan and could hardly wait to try it out. This pan is much like a mini muffin pan, but with removable bottoms. The pan has a hole in the bottom of each compartment, and a small disc is used to cover the hole. When the cheesecakes are done, you can use the handle of a wooden spoon or your finger to push the cheesecakes up and out of the pan.
I read through many a recipe and averaged one to use for my maiden mini cheesecake voyage. I started with a graham cracker crust. This is a very simple recipe. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter and mix with 1 & 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs and 1/4 cup of sugar. You could also use other crumbs - oreos, chocolate graham crackers, vanilla wafers, etc. For 12 cheesecakes, fill each cup with about 1 & 1/2 tablespoons of crumb mixture. Press into the bottoms and sides of the pan. I covered the sides about half way up.
For the filling, mix together 8 ounces of softened cream cheese, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 egg, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Pour the batter on top of the crusts and smooth out the tops. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes.
I thought the individual size of the cheesecakes was just begging for various toppings. First up was a topping similar to Quinn’s praline whipped cream that topped my birthday cheesecake. Basically, it’s the same recipe but with Creme de Cacao instead of Praline. This on top of a cheesecake with some chocolate grated over and around it, and you’ve got yourself a pretty little dessert.
The other topping I whipped up was a White Chocolate Raspberry glaze. This is incredibly simple to make. All you need is white chocolate baking squares and raspberry preserves. I didn’t make much because I didn’t really need much. Basically, you need about a tablespoon of raspberry preserves for each ounce of white chocolate. Melt the white chocolate and stir in the preserves. The glaze is a bit thick. Don’t think you can drizzle it. A little dollop on top of one of these cheesecakes is just perfect, though.
I had bigger ambitions for other toppings, but I ran out of time for experimenting. I really wanted a chocolate caramel mixture to drizzle on top. And maybe something involving nuts. There’s always next time.
29 responses so far ↓
1 Nicole // Sep 3, 2006 at 1:05 am
These look great! I loved the mini cherry cheesecakes I made and I’ve been trying to think of what to try next. This post gives me some great ideas
2 peabody // Sep 3, 2006 at 1:38 am
Excellent. I am such a big fan of the mini food movement.
3 Jen // Sep 3, 2006 at 2:17 am
Oh! I’m going to have to get a mini cheesecake pan, I’d love to have results as nice as yours and Nicole!
4 Ivonne // Sep 3, 2006 at 8:15 am
Those are soooooooo cute! I want to squish them and eat them all!!!
5 Abby // Sep 3, 2006 at 6:44 pm
We make mini cheesecakes often - you know, the ones in the cupcake liners. These look much more fantastic, however! I added one of those pans to my amazon wishlist! Christmas, maybe.
6 Anita // Sep 3, 2006 at 10:58 pm
They are so cute! I love mini anythings!
7 joanh // Sep 12, 2006 at 3:44 am
wow i’ve never heard of a mini-cheesecake pan! i’ve only made them in cupcake liners too…
yours looks awesome!
8 Sara // Sep 19, 2006 at 10:58 pm
A coworker of mine who’s leaving for LA this weekend requested strawberry cheesecake cupcakes as a going-away present (I’m the cupcake baker at work :p). This is probably the best candidate for a recipe I’ve found, but I’ve never experimented with altering recipes before. Do you think substituting 1/2 of the vanilla with strawberry extract, and then just topping them with strawberries, would suffice? And could I bake them in cupcake liners?
9 jennifer // Sep 20, 2006 at 6:28 am
Sara, I think that would work. The extract would give the cheesecake a bit of strawberry flavor. Topping with strawberries would be so pretty. Or you could mix strawberry preserves with white chocolate. Certainly, the cupcake liners would work. This pan I used eliminates the need for them, but with a muffin pan I would highly recommend using liners.
10 Sara // Sep 21, 2006 at 9:37 pm
Oh wow, these things taste so good — and the substitutions worked perfectly. Thanks loads for sharing!
11 jennifer // Sep 21, 2006 at 9:41 pm
Sara, I’m glad they worked out for you!
12 Emma // Oct 25, 2006 at 12:25 am
Thanks for your entry to DMBLGIT - have a look at all the entries here.
I am coveting a mini cheesecake pan . . . !
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15 Teri Roegge // Apr 8, 2007 at 9:41 am
I made these mini cheesecakes for an Easter dinner that I am attending later this evening. The addition that I made to the recipe was mixing raspberry preserves with the white chocolate and dropping a teaspoonful onto the crust and a fresh raspberry in the center before I added the filling. It turned out great. The fresh raspberry added a hint of tartness.
16 jennifer // Apr 9, 2007 at 8:07 am
Teri, that sounds delicious! I bet they were lovely to look at, too, with the raspberry layer between the crust and the cheesecake.
17 Faiza // Jun 29, 2007 at 11:31 am
Hey, I’d love to make these mini cheesecakes but i dont even have a muffin. i wonder if these would work just with cup cake liners? is it a must to use a muffin pan when making cup cakes? im wondering if it actually helps in mainaining the shape?
18 jennifer // Jun 29, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Faiza, cupcake liners should work fine. If you don’t use liners, just make sure you spray those muffin tins very well. Enjoy!
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20 sydney // Dec 11, 2007 at 1:28 am
hi thanks for the recipe tips & confidence to have a go. i just bought the tin but was unsure about converting a recipe to smaller quantities. do u have anymore suggestions for this great cooking tin. also what do u think about freezing them for when doing larger quantities.
21 jennifer // Dec 11, 2007 at 10:11 am
Sydney, you’re very welcome. I’m actually going to have another recipe that uses the pan in the next couple of days. I’ve also thought that little muffins or cakes would be great to make in these. Those straight sides would give them a little different look than a muffin tin. As far as freezing the cheesecakes, I read on a similar recipe that they could be frozen for up to a month.
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23 sydney // Dec 13, 2007 at 8:54 am
Hi again jennifer, can u use instant whip puddings in cheesecakes for flavouring & if so what quantitys would i use. I look forward to seeing what ur up to next with the mini cheesecake pan
24 sydney // Dec 14, 2007 at 4:39 am
hi again jennifer, i have tackled the mini cheesecake pan today & found pushing the crumbs up the sides to be a real pain so after 3 batches decided to only put it on the bottom where i could squash it easily with a sml jar & was really quick to do, my crust was possibly a bit too thick because of that so shall use less next time, is there an easy & quick way to get it around the sides , & how hard should i compact it. when its cooked should the crust be a little crumbly or hard like a cookie? also a lot of my tops were cracked when they first came out of the oven but settled ok after cooling ( still very edible of course) does this mean i cooked them too long? & should the crust & cheese mix still look pale after 14 mins sorry about all the questions but i havent made cheesecakes before so have nothing to compare to & really want to master this mini tin. hope u can help
25 jennifer // Dec 14, 2007 at 11:43 am
Sydney, I don’t know of a trick to getting the crust pressed onto the sides. It’s just a tedious process, especially with as many batches as you’re making. It just needs to be compacted enough to stick to the sides. The filling will then create enough pressure to hold it all together. The finished crust should be a bit crumbly. It’s just a simple graham cracker crust, and those don’t really have anything in them to make them hard.
As for the cracking, that is a common problem in cheesecakes. There are several theories on how to prevent that. The most common one is the water bath. That is done my placing the cheesecake pan in another pan filled about halfway up with water. I don’t usually go that route. I do recommend not opening your oven door while they’re baking. Also, you might try cutting your baking time down and then turning off the oven and leaving the cheesecakes in the oven for a bit before taking them out.
The crust isn’t going to brown much. As for the filling, there’s not much browning there either. Pale is fine. A good way to check if they’re done is to give the pan a little shake. If they still jiggle a good bit, then they’re not done. Ideally, you won’t have to open your oven, but when in doubt this may be your best test.
I don’t really know about using instant whip puddings in the cheesecakes. I’ve never tried that.
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28 Valerie // Jul 15, 2008 at 11:22 am
any guides for converting cook time from a regular cheesecake recipe to the mini pop-up ones?
29 jennifer // Jul 16, 2008 at 9:24 am
Valerie, I don’t know if there is a standard conversion out there. These should take considerably less baking time to set. For your first batch, I would just estimate then watch them closely. Sorry I couldn’t be more help. If you find any kind of conversion, let me know. Good luck!
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