Basic Cheesecake Filling
Submitted by John400
Master cheesecake filling formula with cream cheese, powdered sugar, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Learn the ratios for dense, fluffy, chocolate, fruit, or liqueur-spiked variations.
YIELD
1 cakePREP
20 minCOOK
20 minREADY
40 minForget hunting for a different cheesecake recipe every time you want a new flavor. This is the one filling to rule them all.
It’s less a recipe and more a blueprint: cream cheese, powdered sugar, eggs, vanilla, and optional sour cream or yogurt form the base, and from there you customize.
Want dense and rich? More cream cheese. Light and fluffy? More eggs. Boozy? Add liqueur. Chocolatey? Fold in cocoa or melted chocolate. Fruity? Swirl in a thick puree.
The powdered sugar is a smart choice here. The cornstarch it contains acts as a thickener, and it dissolves completely so you never get gritty bites.
Variations
- Chocolate swirl: Reserve a cup of batter, fold in 2 to 3 ounces of cooled melted chocolate, and swirl it through the plain batter with a knife.
- Fruit cheesecake: Stir in up to 1 cup of thick, well-drained fruit puree (strawberry, mango, or blueberry all work).
- Liqueur-infused: Add up to ¾ cup of your chosen liqueur. Amaretto with almond extract or Chambord with raspberry puree are knockout combinations.
Kitchen Tips
- Three eggs is the magic number for 2 pounds of cream cheese. Fewer and the cake falls flat. More and you’ll taste the eggs.
- The sour cream or yogurt adds moisture and tang. Skip it for a purer cream cheese flavor, or add it to balance citrus or fruit additions.
- If using melted chocolate, let it cool before mixing into the batter. Hot chocolate will cook the eggs on contact.
- Powdered sugar over granulated, always. No grittiness and the built-in cornstarch gives the filling better structure.
Ingredients
Directions
The more cream cheese you use, the denser the cheesecake will be (but not dry!) The more eggs you use, the fluffier it will be.
There’s a delicate balance here - 1 lb cheese and 3 eggs will give you a fluffy cheesecake, but if you use 2 lbs cheese, 3 eggs is an absolute must if you don’t want it to be flat.
More eggs than 3, and you’ll taste the eggs.
1 lb cheese and 2 eggs is a nice balance, too, but going any lower than that you’ll just end up with something flat.
The powdered sugar works best for two reasons - number one, powdered sugar contains corn starch, which acts as a thickener, and number two, you don’t have to worry about the grittiness of undissolved sugar in your cake.
The yogurt or sour cream adds moistness and a little bit of tang to the cake.
It’s not necessary, but it adds oomph to either a bland cake or a citrus-flavored cake.
For liqueur, add no more than ½ cup if you’re using the yogurt or sour cream, and make sure you’re using the three eggs.
If you eliminate the yogurt/sour cream, you can increase the liqueur to ¾ cup, and 2 eggs will work (but three is still better - two works best only if you’re not using the yogurt/sour cream andgt;andandlt; your liqueur is only ½ cup.
) A fruit or vegetable purée should be relatively dry - drain off the liquid in a sieve, or put it in a saucepan, mix in some cornstarch, and heat it until it’s thick.
You can use an entire cup of purée if you eliminate the yogurt/sour cream.
Either mix in the purée with the batter, or reserve a cup or so of batter, mix it with the purée, then swirl it into the cheesecake.
The vanilla is a must, in my opinion.
Lots of times, I’ll throw in an extra teaspoon for good measure.
Other extracts can enhance the flavor - banana extract in a strawberry cheesecake, coconut extract or almond extract in an Amaretto cheesecake, etc.
Another addition would be cocoa or chocolate.
Cocoa mixes in nicely without making the cheesecake gooey - 4 to 6 tablespoon will do it.
Melted chocolate or white chocolate chips shouldn’t really exceed 6 oz, even 4 oz will usually do enough for the flavor.
If you’re doing the swirl thing, use only 2 to 3 oz melted chocolate for the batter that’s being swirled in.
Make sure the melted stuff is cooled before you mix it in.
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