Apple Cider Cheesecake
A cheesecake for fall (that isn't pumpkin!): this wonderfully creamy cheesecake is made with reduced fresh apple cider which gives it a tangy, tart and most autumn-like apple flavor.
Last autumn I came up with a killer recipe for an apple cider caramel ice cream. Oh my god that stuff is good. I made it 4-5 more times after that because I was either serving it with apple pie on thanksgiving, handing tubs out as christmas gifts, or just making it because we wanted some. When cider appeared at our local markets this year, I bought some planning to make it again.
But then I did something else. I boiled down my cider and decided I wanted to venture the flavors into a cheesecake (a la this pistachio number). And oh, I am so glad I did.
Easy Creamy Apple Cider Cheesecake
This recipe has a lot in common with my pistachio butter cheesecake – it’s tall, it’s SO CREAMY and yet somehow remains light (the sour cream helps). The tang from the cream cheese is complimented by the sweet tartness of apple cider. I only added cinnamon to mine but I can imagine adding other types of mulling spices (cloves, allspice, etc) would be lovely too. I followed the methodology for my basic cheesecake recipe which does away with a water bath (which I find too tedious) and instead puts the pan of water in the oven to create more steam. We’ll cool it it very, very slowly to prevent it from sinking in the middle and retain that perfect texture. It’s quick to prepare (all in a food processor) but has a long bake, and an even longer cooling time in the fridge – and it is oh so worth the wait! Move over pumpkin – apple cider is the new fall favorite cheesecake!
Recipe Ingredients
Cider: fresh apple cider, also known as unfiltered apple juice. You can use any kind but I’ve started to use Honeycrisp cider more often because it’s more tart and the flavor comes through a bit more.
Mulling spices: optional but will add flavor to the reduced cider if you add them to the pot when boiling the cider.
Sugar: brown sugar, light or dark is fine.
Cream cheese: we’re using three bricks of cream cheese. It should be firm (not spreadable!). I like using Philadelphia because it’s always tangier and firmer than other brands. It MUST be at room temperature.
Cookie crumbs: Either graham crackers or digestive cookies. They’ll be ground into a powder for the crust. Ginger snaps would be great here too.
Sour cream: Full fat.
Flavorings: I use cinnamon, fine sea salt and pure vanilla extract. If you’re using another salt, like table salt, halve the amount. Allspice would be great here too.
Eggs: they need to be at room temperature. If you forget, set them in a bowl of warm water to warm them up before starting to make the cheesecake batter.
Flour: this helps the cheesecake set firm.
How to make Apple Cider Cheesecake
First the prepwork:
Reduce the cider: start with three full cups of fresh apple cider (unfiltered apple juice). Pour it into a large pot and boil the juice on medium high for 30-45 minutes until it has considerably reduced in volume and is thick, like a warm syrup. You’ll need 1/3 of a cup of the reduced cider for the cheesecake but you’ll probably have a little over half a cup after boiling.
Preheat the oven and prep the pan: while springform pans are more popular for cheescake because they give you that straight-edged crust, I prefer a cake pan lined with parchment paper. This way I can use the water bath (guaranteed to produce a creamier cheesecake) without worry. To prep the pan I grease it then press a sheet of parchment paper into it and secure it with metal clips:
Prepare the crust: grind the cookies into a powder then add the melted butter. Stir until you have the texture of wet sand:
Press the crust into an even layer at the bottom of the pan and up the sides. If you’re using the lined cake pan method the sides are a bit challenging, just do your best!
The crust goes in for a short bake to help it set. Then set it aside to cool.
Then make the filling
Gather your ingredients: room temperature eggs, room temperature cream cheese, room temperature sour cream and cool or room temperature reduced cider (as well as the rest of the ingredients like spices and flour).
Start by beating the cream cheese with the sugar and flavorings until it’s smooth
Then add the sour cream and beat until combined
Add the cooled, reduced cider and flour and beat. Scrape down the bowl as necessary to ensure you don’t have any pesky cream cheese lumps.
Eggs should go in one by one and we’re going to do our best to not overbeat them. Once the last egg is incorporated, stop the mixer.
Pour the mix into the cooled crust then set the cheesecake in a large cake pan and fill the large cake pan halfway with water. This is the water bath.
Bake the cheesecake for about an hour and 20-30 minutes, until the sides are set and it only jiggles just a bit in the center.
Cool it slowly: first by turning off the oven and leaving the oven door open then by placing the cheesecake with the water bath on the counter until it’s cool enough to lift it out by hand.
Topping Options for the Cheesecake
In the photos you’ll see one with caramel and one with whipped cream. Here are the details:
- To top the cheesecake with Apple Cider Caramel use this recipe.
- Stabilized cinnamon whipped cream: use this recipe but add half a teaspoon of cinnamon and use brown sugar.
- Fresh apples: I loved adding these to the top of the whipped cream because they added our star ingredient: APPLES! Rather than just adding freshly sliced apples I sliced two whole apples then macerated them in a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, a tablespoon of sugar and a pinch of salt. You can put this together a few hours before serving but only put it on top of the whipped cream right before serving as apples drop water and will make your cream wet.
Notes on cheesecake pan
- Some of the photos show the cheesecake very tall, baked in a 6″ springform. While grand, I don’t recommend this as the filling is too much for such a small pan and will cause the cake to sink.
- If you are using a springform pan, wrap it really well so no water seeps in when it goes into the water-bath. A more sure-way to avoid that is to use a tall cake pan (3″ high). You can prep it like I show how to in this video.
Make ahead notes
- You can boil down your cider a day or more ahead of time and store it in the fridge.
- The cheesecake can be made up to 2 days ahead of time and stored in the fridge.
Recipe for Apple Cider Cheesecake
Apple Cider Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
- 270g or 2 packed cups digestive cookies or graham crackers
- 85g or 6 tablespoons butter melted
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Filling
- 720g or 3 cups fresh apple cider honeycrisp cider is more tart, tastes great here
- mulling spices
- 3 full fat cream cheese bricks 227g each, softened and at room temperature
- 200g or 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 240g or 1 cup sour cream
- ⅓ cup reduced apple cider from above
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
Method
- Boil the cider with the mulling spices on high in a large pot for about 1 hour, until it has reduced to a thick syrup and you have about 1/3 cup. Set aside and allow to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Make the crust in your food processor: pulse the cookies until finely ground, add the butter, salt and sugar and pulse until it all comes together in wet crumbs.
- Press the crumbs into an 8” round springform pan wrapped with foil or into a 8" wide, 3" high cake pan greased and lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool then chill.
- Lower oven temperature to 325 F.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and sugar until the mixture is completely lump free. This can take a few minutes and you will likely need to scrape down a few times.
- Add the sour cream, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and reduced cider and pulse again repeatedly scraping down and beating until you have a very creamy mixture.
- Add the eggs and flour and beat until just combined – no more.
- Place the cheesecake pan in a 13×9” pan filled with hot water.
- Pour your filling into the crust and bake for 90 or more minutes, until you can shake it and the edges look set but the middle is still wobbly.
- Shut off the oven but leave the cheesecake in. Use a wooden spoon to crack open the oven door. Let the cheesecake cool inside for about 30 minutes.
- After the 30 minutes, close the oven door and allow the cheesecake to cool for another 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool on the counter, once cool place in fridge for 8 hours before serving.
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Hello, would gluten free flour work?
yup as long as it’s a 1 to 1 swap.
Do you think I could put my 9in round spring form in a Dutch oven filled with water for the water bath? I wasn’t sure if the higher sides would impeed the cooking. Sadly, I don’t have another cake pan that is big enough to hold it.
dutch ovens will take longer to heat so your bake time will be different, go by visual cues. Also you need to wrap it with a roasting bag or something like it to prevent any water getting into the cheesecake.
I was blown away by this cheesecake!! I always make one of Sam’s reduced cider recipes every fall and this one did not disappoint. Didn’t crack and it was beautifully creamy. Two modifications: I used about half gingersnaps in the crust because I ran out of graham crackers, and I served it with extra reduced cider instead of caramel on top because I ran out of time to make caramel. highly recommend both!
Turned out great! Everyone enjoyed it! I may make an extra half batch of cheesecake filling to make it taller next time!
I made your brown butter cheesecake and it was a huge hit.
I was going to make it again when I stumbled on this recipe. I already had bought the golden Oreos to make the crust.
Do you think that this would work with an Oreo crust?
I think it will be fine though you can skip the powdered sugar as those are much sweeter than regular graham crackers. And note, if the crumbs feel overly oily you can add more to balance out the butter.
The recipe says to add the reduced cider to the filling, but the comments and photo show it on top. Which is correct?
And someone mentioned lemon juice, but I don’t see that in the ingredients— is it part of “mulling spices”?
The stuff on top of the cheesecake is apple cider caramel (a separate recipe, also made with reduced cider). The reduced cider listed goes into the batter. There’s no lemon juice.
Silly question, but do I top with the caramel before chilling overnight or just before serving?
Either works!
I made this cheesecake twice, once before the addition of the flour and it was delicious both times but I preferred the texture without. Either way, 10/10, especially with the apple cider caramel recipe!
I made this for Thanksgiving–it was so, so good! I’ll be making it again next year.
Made these in mini cheesecake pans. They were big hit at the office potluck. Super easy to make!
I had made this before with honeycrisp apple cider from TJs and it was delicious. But we have an apple baking contest at work where we all have to use the apples from the tree outside our office. I made homemade apple cider and then made this cheesecake with it (I also dried apples that I threw in the crust) and made the caramel apple cider and whipped cream. Took home first price for tastiest bake! Thanks, Sam, it’s a winner!
It’s me again. My pals can’t get over how good this cheesecake is. More compliments than on any recipe in a long while. I just wanted to note that the caramel never really set (I had same issue with the smores bars). I’m thinking that the caramel recipe is spot on and doesn’t need the lemon juice to keep it from hardening (or else I used too much lemon juice). It’s easier to fix a hard caramel by remelting it than to fix a soft caramel!
What a lovely cake. I used a 7 inch fat daddio with removable bottom and all went well. I made a slightly thicker crust at the bottom, and included some melted white chocolate along with the butter to make sure it held together. No crust on the side as I aim to paint it with the caramel. The apple cider caramel is pure genius. I try to keep things simple so I skip the water bath. I just cook my cheesecakes at around 260f for as long as it takes for the mixture to reach appx 160 F. I use a thermometer and check it the way you would check a roast for doneness. Never cracks never fails. Of course, some cheesecakes like Basque cake want to crack so then I crank up the heat and monitor the top for browning. Cheers
I wasn’t as blown away by this recipe as I was with the lemon curd cheesecake. It was well received by guests though. It only chilled for perhaps 2 hours instead of 8, so maybe the flavors will deepen tomorrow.
I made a 2/3 batch in a 9in cake pan, baked in the water bath for 1 hour but probably could’ve turned the oven off at 50 minutes. Topped with plain whipped cream (just 1/2 cup), apple cider caramel (used most of a half batch) and fresh sliced apples.
One more thing- since it’s hard to find cider near me, I pureed six medium sized apples and pressed them in a cheesecloth to get just over 2 cups of cider. Cheaper than a whole gallon and no leftovers.
I’ve baked a lot of things, but never a cheesecake. And I chose yours to try as my first! I’m sitting here, wooden spoon in the oven door (after the 90min) with the oven off, and my cheesecake is much taller than when it went in. Like it rose and grew. But only a tiny crack.
What did I do wrong?
So far I think you’ve done nothing wrong. Maybe slightly overbaked it if it has cracked, but it should be fine. Once it chills for a few hours you’ll be able to slice in and see.
Such a beautiful recipe. This cheesecake turned out absolutely amazing and it was my first time using a water bath. I actually purchased an aluminum pan from the Dollar Tree because I didn’t have a pan big enough for my 9inch cheesecake pan. The flavors were so yummy and I made Sans Apple Cider caramel plus made a compote of sliced apples, brown sugar, butter and bourbon to put on top then drizzled the caramel on top????I love Sams recipes they never disappoint, plus she’s always willing to answer any questions I have about the recipes.
This turned out great! It was a big hit with the entire family, and my 10 year old niece declared it the best cheesecake she’s ever had. I will definitely be making it again!
what’s the measurement for the mulling spices?
I usually just do a couple of tablespoons but you can do about a 1/4 cup if you want it stronger.
I have a standard 9” springform pan and it’s about 2.5” tall. Do you recommend I still use all of the filling? I’m just worried about it sinking or overflowing. I’ve never made a cheesecake before so I’m nervous haha
Ah yeah I’d be wary too, this one is quite tall! You could always go with 2/3 of the recipe (so 2 bricks cream cheese, etc., do some math with the rest of the ingredients). One big caution: wrap it very well with foil, you don’t want any water getting into the cheesecake!
This cheesecake was delicious! I made 2 for my Dad’s 60th birthday today. It had great reviews from his family and friends.
I made a different apple cider caramel recipe for the top along with some cinnamon whipped cream.
Thank you for sharing your recipe!
I just made this cheesecake tonight and it smells divine!!! I happen to have fresh apple cider in my fridge so I thought I’d give this recipe a try. I loved making the reduced cider syrup. Came out yummy! When the cheesecake is cooled down I plan to freeze it and save it for an upcoming ladies night. I plan on making your cider caramel recipe to pour over the cheesecake once it’s defrosted. I can’t wait to try this cheesecake! It will be hard to wait. I’ll post it on my Instagram and tag you when it’s all done and cut into.😉
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
It’ll keep as long as a regular cheesecake, about 3-4 days in the fridge.
This looks so good! What a great way to enjoy the flavors of autumn in a new way!
I’m an avid home baker and this is the best thing I’ve ever made. I baked it months ago and still think about it. A lot. Thanks for the recipe – I can’t wait to make the ice cream!
Hi there, just to be clear on the ingredients: is it 3 packages of cream cheese @ 227g each, or a total of 227g of cream cheese?
Hi Chris, it’s 227 each (so 681g total)
This is a labor of love, but I love all your recipes that I make. Reducing the apple cider takes patience, the outcome was well worth it. I made the cheesecake, which is one of my favorite dessert cakes to bake. The apple cider syrup or reduction is tart and tangy and just a powerhouse of flavor on the cheesecake. The tanginess- if that’s even a word is wickedly good. I had a little left over and drizzled it on oatmeal a few days after (I am not pregnant) but wanted something tart and it hit the spot. Thanks for exposing me to the wonderful flavors and recipes. I’ll eventually get to the beautiful Pistachio Cheesecake and can’t wait to taste and review.
I believe I burned my syrup. Do you have any tips for avoiding that?
Oops, that’s a bummer! The best way to avoid that is to keep an eye on it, especially once it starts to ‘foam’
Hello! Any changes that need to be made if I’m making it in a 9″ springform pan instead of an 8″?
wrap it well if you are putting it in the water and I would check it earlier since it’ll be spread over a wider base and cook quicker
Thank you so much for this recipe! I’ve been making cheesecakes for a few years as it’s my fiancé’s family’s favorite dessert. I’ve done Martha Stewart cheesecakes and different variations but they all agreed this is their favorite! I did use graham crackers and regular sugar for the crust, same proportions. I also added a cup of cider as the comments mentioned 4 cups and it reduced nicely to 1/3 cup. Added some extra cinnamon (Ceylon cinnamon) too. And I wrap my spring form in foil then tie an oven bag around it to prevent any leaks from the water bath and it works like a charm! Thanks again and I look forward to making more of your recipes!
That’s so wonderful to hear Tara! I’m absolutely delighted the family chose this one as their favorite!
Hello! I’m thinking of making this recipe into individual cupcake tins. Do you have a recommended baking time for this? Also using fresh pressed cider that we made last week, 50 total gallons!
Hi! I made this a few days ago for a party. My son didn’t get his share, so he requested I make it again. But I seem to remember the recipe differently. Previously, the recipe called for 2 eggs and 1 yolk, and the baking time was 50-60 minutes, whereas now it’s 3 eggs and 90 minutes? Please help!
Hi Mary! Yep, good eye. I updated the recipe this week. I wanted you to be able to bake it straight in a water bath to keep it nice and creamy and avoid any sinking and drying out on the top. I also didn’t want to ask you to separate an egg, the extra white in the recipe does well. If you like it the way you first made it (water bath on the lower rack rather than directly surrounding the cake) then you can do it that way.
I am so excited to try this recipe but I am a baking novice. I can only seem to find the mulling spices as whole spices. Should I be looking for a ground version or do I put them in something so I can get them out of the reduced apple cider after I’ve boiled it?
Hi Elizabeth! You boil the spices with the cider to reduce it. Strain them out when it’s done reducing
How do you use the mulling spices for the apple cider syrup? I keep finding mulling spices as whole spices. Do you use ground mulling spices? Do you try to get the spices out after you reduce the cider?
Hi! I want to try this with a 6 inch pan, with the crust pressed from bottom to the sides of the pan, same as yours. If I do that, would I still be needing to bake it in a water bath? And do you grease the sides of the pan so the crust won’t stick?
Hi Trish! The cake in the photos was baked in a 6″ pan which was placed in a waterbath. I did not grease the sides.
Thank you! Been scared to do that water bath thing coz water might seep through, and I would need some foil for it haha! And I am scared of the hot water when i get it from the oven 😂
Wrap it very very well in foil to keep the water from getting in! And hey, you’ll be taking it out of the oven after it cools so the water won’t be so hot by then!
My first time ever making cheesecake and this recipe was just perfection. That apple cuder reduction I wanted to eat with a spoon too.
Wow, honored you tried mine as a first! So glad it was a success 😀
Using fresh pressed cider from my family’s farm and baking this beauty now. A bit of a hiccup with cooking the cider down too much, but my scientist brother came to the rescue. We added the candy back on the heat and added heavy cream… fingers crossed!
Jealous of that fresh pressed cider! Sounds heavenly! Hope it turns out well!
My husband works at an apple orchard bottling the apple cider. When I came upon this on your Instagram I was very excited to try it out. Mine has baked and is cooking on the counter. We can’t wait to try tomorrow for Thanksgiving. It looks amazing!
Hi Haley, that is so awesome! Crossing my fingers it’s everything you hope it will be!
Hi, this looks so wonderful! Do you think it’d be possible to halve the recipe and make a smaller (shorter) cheesecake in a 6” pan? What baking/cooling times would you recommend in that case? Thank you!
Hi Jocelyn, I think for a small cheesecake of that size I would just halve the recipe.
Hey! This recipe looks amazing, and I can’t wait to try it. I’ve searched your Instagram a bit to see if you’ve answered a question like this before or not but here’s my question: I’ve seen people put the cheesecake directly in a water bath while baking to help it bake evenly and not crack. Is there a difference between putting the cheesecake directly in water versus having the water in the bottom of the oven? Thanks so much!
Hi Seth! Great question. The purpose of the water bath is twofold: to slow the baking slightly and so that the water releases steam (this prevents the filling from drying and cracking). I personally haven’t noticed a huge difference between having it directly in the water or just above it but I definitely have noticed that without the water at all, it is much more likely to crack. Short answer? If you don’t mind going through the hassle of double wrapping the pan to prevent from water getting into the cheesecake, put it directly in the water. If you do, put the pan of water on the lowest rack of the oven.
Hey is this ok to be refrigerated for a day or two?
Yes! It needs to be made the day before anyway.
I love your site and recipes but struggle with the volume measures. Conversion tools aren’t truly reliable and I hope that the number of similar comments nudges you towards the accuracy and universality of metric weights soon. Then I could make the things I see here!
Hi! This recipe looks so interesting! If I halve the recipe can I make them into cheesecake bars like the roasted strawberry cheesecake? Looking for a way to try these flavors out but not have a lot of leftovers. Thanks!
Hi! Absolutely yes you can, I’ve done it myself! I follow the bake time for the strawberry cheesecake instead since this is much deeper.
Thanks! Do you halve the recipe? How do deal with the eggs? The recipe calls for 2 eggs and a yolk? Can I add 1 egg and a yolk or just 1 egg?
Yep halve the recipe and skip the yolk!
Hello I have a question about the ingredients. You have listed 4 cups of fresh cider and then 6 tablespoons of boiked cider, are you adding both 4 cups of cider and the 6 tablespoons of boiled cider, or do you get the 6 tablespoons after being down the 4 cups?
Hi Nikki, it’s the same cider. You’ll reduce 4 cups to about 6 TB and use that.
Hi – i tried making the recipe but used regular apple cider (since i can’t find fresh) but it came out too sweet… do you think i can reduce the sugar to balance it out a bit?
Hi Chrissy. I’m not sure what you mean by regular – do you mean regular apple juice? That would definitely be too sweet as they are different liquids. The cider is raw and unfiltered, no sugar added. Regular juice is sweeter and often has added sugars. My concern with reducing the sugar too much is that the structure of the cheesecake might suffer. Alternatively you can buy something called ‘boiled cider’ which you can find on amazon and then you won’t have to find or boil down cider. Hope that helps!
Thank you!
Hi there, just want to make sure I’m looking at the recipe correctly, the four cups of cider get boiled down and the syrup is what is added in to the cheesecake mixture, correct?
Your Instagram link isnt working for me
Yes!
How dark is the boiled down mixture supposed to look?
Hi Chloe! I would look more at the quantity it has boiled down to which should be roughly 6 TB. If you are interested, I have an Instagram Stories where there is a photo of the cider.
What are digestive cookies?
Would there be a substitute for them that is gluten free and maybe grain free?
They are cookies made by McVities; a google search should pull them up. I don’t know much about gluten and grain free cookies so I can’t be much help there, sorry!
This looks delicious! Is the baking temperature and time the same with a 6” pan? I love the dramatic height.
Hi Rachael! I’m so glad you love it too! For the 6" I baked it for about 60 minutes, and kept the cooling times the same. I always like to judge doneness by what I see and feel – the edges should be set and the center still jiggly.
Hallo from Italy! Please can you help me with the translation of your measurements? How much is a cup in grams or milliliter? And a “tablespoon” is just a large spoon of something? Please excuse me and thank you! Laura
Hi Laura! A tablespoon is a specific measurement. If you have access to any cooking stores with american products you should find a set of spoons with measurements ranging from 1/4 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon. They should also have set of measuring cups which will help with the rest of the ingredients for the cheesecake.
Measurements always vary by ingredient. Here is a chart that should help with some: https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/5490-baking-conversion-chart
hello I follow you from Spain could you tell me of some reliable page to convert the measures into grams, by the way that cake looks great … Thanks for sharing
Hi Almudena! Thank you for stopping by!
Here are two links I trust:
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/5490-baking-conversion-chart
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart