Super creamy cheesecake made with roasted and pureed strawberries for a concentrated strawberry flavor that can't be missed!
Y’all know I like my bold flavors; if there is a dish that has an ingredient in the title, I want that flavor to be prominent.
If you google “strawberry cheesecake”, or “strawberry cheesecake recipe” you’ll get a ton of hits for a plain cheesecake with a strawberry topping. Maybe there will be 1-2 with a gentle swirl that was baked into it but you probably won’t get anything that looks like the photos you see here (although this Martha one comes a bit close!).
This is a strawberry cheesecake with a ton of strawberry in the filling itself. The strawberries are slow roasted so they soften, cook and their flavor intensifies.
To make these you pour your berries onto a tray and roast them in the oven for at least half an hour. As they bake the water evaporates and the sugars concentrate as does the flavor. For this recipe, I ask you to roast about 3-4 cups of berries to ensure we get 1 cup of puree, if you have leftover you can swirl it into the top of the cheesecake. If you have even more leftover, well it’s great on top of pancakes, french toast, ice cream, anything!
Here are three other roasted berry recipes on the site: roasted strawberry challah rolls, roasted strawberry quick bread, and roasted blueberry ice cream.
They will take about a half an hour to roast, mid-way you’ll want to use the back of a spoon to squish them. Once they are all soft and have released their juices, you’ll puree the berries. Don’t worry about the seeds yet, those will get taken out at a later stage.
Once your cookies are ground this is as simple as melting butter and stirring it with the crumbs and a bit of powdered sugar. It should hold together but not be overly greasy when you squeeze the mix. Press down on the crumb bits, to create an even layer. If you are making this as a round cake you’ll want to press some of the crumbs up the sides.
The most important part of this is having room temperature ingredients (especially the cream cheese). Press it to remove any lumps. Scrape down the bowl often to ensure all of the cream cheese gets mixed and there are no lumps (if there are still some hang on, we’ll get to them). Add the rest of the ingredients and combine well. The eggs go in last, and stop as soon as they are mixed in.
Bake in a water bath and low and slow, until only the center jiggles a bit.
Cheesecake is one of those baking projects that can easily fail. The cakes crack, sink, they over-bake, they can be gummy, or they can be lumpy. But, I have some tricks for getting us a perfectly creamy cheesecake:
I know you’ve read this a lot but it really does yield the best result. The two most important room temperature ingredients here are the cream cheese and the eggs. Take the blocks of cream cheese out at least 4 hours before you make the filling. Take the eggs out too but if you forget, set them in a bowl of warm water to come to room temp right before baking.
Use a stand mixer or even a food processor to make the filling; both machines are pretty good ad beating the cream cheese.
Since we are using a food processor here we need to be extra careful at the very last step when we add the eggs. They just need to be blended into the filling – this will happen in seconds, and if you overbeat them, the cake will sink in the center.
I am very anti-wrap-a-spring-form-pan in foil, so instead I use parchment paper (to lift lift out the cake when it’s done) and put the pan in a bigger cake pan filled with water. The water helps slowly and evenly bake the custard and the steam it releases prevents cracks.
A low temperature for about an hour, then let it cool in the oven. Cheesecake success is all about heating and cooling evenly and slowly.
Organic Strawberries: Fresh or frozen. Depending on how juicy your berries are, you might need to roast more or less berries. We want to end up with over a cup of puree. The color of the berries will also determine the hue and color of the final pie. The reason I specify organic here is because there are too many fresh and frozen conventional strawberries in the store that are well, huge and have zero flavor (like when you slice them open and they’re white). We don’t want that for the cheesecake because we want flavor!
Cream Cheese: Full fat. It should be at room temperature and they must be blocks (not whipped).
Sour Cream or Labneh: If you aren’t familiar with it, labneh is a thick yogurt from the Levant. I normally use sour cream in my cheesecakes but only had lebnah in my fridge the first time I made this and it worked like a dream.
Cookie crumbs: Graham or digestive. I know graham is the standard, but they aren’t my favorite. Digestives are a British cookie with stellar flavor and crumble. Here’s a source on amazon for them. I find them in the ‘international’ section of a lot of grocery stores. Buy a bunch because they also make a fabulous snack. Oreo crumbs can work too but you’ll need to remove the cream from inside (or reduce the amount of butter in the recipe.
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These were amazing and the cheesecake turned out perfectly! The roasted strawberry puree is delicious. Im still putting strawberry puree on toast!
YUMMO! So creamy and strawberry forward. I always approach the first recipe from a baker I’m unfamiliar with with trepidation. I added two heaping tablespoons of freeze dried strawberry powder to the sugar in the filling mix and placed atop a peanut butter cookie crust with a scant 1/2 tsp of kosher salt and coarsely chopped almonds for texture…. Perfection. Time to study your offerings for my next bake. Thank you so much!
Love it
Just made these and it is some of the creamiest cheesecake I have had! I will only be making cheesecakes from here going forward (have made the cheesecake bars with Lemon shortbread as well, which I also recommend!). I brought some to work as well and they were a hit! This will definitely be added to desserts I make for holidays 🙂
This was my first time making cheesecake and it worked out perfectly! Rave reviews from everyone who tried it. I used biscoff cookies for the crust because I had a bunch on hand. My strawberries weren’t as red as they could’ve been so the cake didn’t turn out super pink but the flavor was still very good. Texture was on point, super smooth and creamy. I think there is a small mistake in the recipe – vanilla extract is mentioned in the ingredients list but I didn’t see it in the recipe (might have missed it) and step 1 of the filling step mentions lemon, which I didn’t see in the ingredients list.
Hi Audrey! I think I just wrote lemon in place of vanilla in the instructions, it’s fixed now. But you could add lemon if you wanted actually, it’ll go well in there. And I’m so happy to hear you all loved it 😀
Hi! Is it possible to make this on a shortbread crust instead of the cookie crust? Thanks!
yes! but you’ll need to pre-bake it for at least 20 minutes (until golden). see this recipe https://buttermilkbysam.com/easy-cheesecake-bars-lemon-shortbread-crust/
Made this with a bit of freeze dried strawberry powder and labneh. It’s the best cheesecake ever. You can do this with other berries. I made another version with raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. Both were equally amazing.
I love this recipe – it’s become my go to cheesecake. The fruit method here has worked for me with multiple fruits (and pumpkin puree), as cupcakes, and once without the water bath because the vacation house only had a springform for some reason. I am waiting for our strawberry plants to fruit with bated breath and mixer ready.
Hi Sam!! Is it possible to reduce the sugar in the cheesecake by 1/4 cup without affecting the texture? Thanks!
Should be ok, a little less sweet but fine!
I made this delicious cheesecake for my dad for Father’s Day and it was another resounding hit (like all your recipes have been). I loved the tip about digestive biscuits bc I am not a big graham cracker fan either! Will definitely be subbing with these all the time now. The texture was sooo creamy and the strawberry flavor was very prominent (something hard to achieve with strawberry recipes). Plus the swirl on top makes it look so professional! You’re so talented, Sam and we’re lucky you share your gift with us!
Sara, thank you SO much for all of your reviews. I just read through them all and it truly makes me so so happy that one person has enjoyed this many of my recipes 😀 😀 I’m honored you’ve chosen mine for your special occasions and thrilled all of the recipes lived up to their promise!
Hello! Could you please tell me if the temperature you used is in C or F? Thank you
F!
Do you need to bake the crust first?
yup for ten mins
This was the best cheesecake I’ve ever eaten or made- a wonderful summer dessert! The strawberry flavor is so strong! I can’t help myself from eating the leftover puree by the spoonful. Sam’s notes about the recipe are always incredibly helpful.
Renee, you made my sunday! Thank you for the reviews on the double chocolate cookies, the one yolks, the oatmeal and this cheesecake! I can’t tell you how big my smile was reading them all (esp your love for the oatmeal cookies and this cheesecake!)
Awesome made it in springform pan turn out great. One of the best I have ever made.
What size springform did you use and how long did you bake it?
Query: Have you ever replaced flour with cornstarch in filling as thickening agent? Or is flour itself crucial to outcome? Planning to make this – springform pan – with chocolate graham cracker crust. I can’t wait!
I very rarely use cornstarch tbh (don’t love the taste). The flour is just to help it firm up; a lot of cheesecake recipes add it!
AMAZING!! It turned out exactly as it looks in the pictures!! And so very tasty! Thanks, Sam!! ❤️❤️❤️
Kippie! I loved the photos you sent – you did a wonderful job baking this!
Hi! This looks so pretty! I’m planning to make this in a 9” springform pan. I’m increasing the ingredients by half. How long do you think it will take to bake at 325?
Hi Shilpa! This is hard to say but I’d check it at 45 and again at 60; you want the center to still be a bit jiggly to ensure it’s not overdone.
Thankyou so much for getting back to me. I ended up baking for 75 min. Probably could’ve taken it out 5 min earlier, but there is still a slight jiggle.
I followed directions exactly and I found the cheesecake to be runny in certain spots..closer to the middle..also, the strawberries color were not as vibrant as yours..
Sorry to hear it Rose! What kind of berries did you use? The type of strawberries you use will affect the color (I think I mentioned somewhere that I used hand picked, farm fresh – we have picking farms near us in Virginia) so my berries were small and VERY red. About the runny parts, I wonder what kind of pan you used? Some materials take longer to conduct heat so perhaps yours needed a longer bake time.
One of the best desserts I’ve made. Thank you!
I’m gonna make this in a few hours, but I’m confused by an ingredient. Where am I supposed to use the powdered sugar?
Hi Alex! The powdered sugar goes in the crust.
Rina, that makes me so happy!!! Thank you!