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Gingerbread Cheesecake

Gingerbread cheesecake bakes a molasses-spiced creamy filling over a buttery gingersnap crust, then tops it with whipped cream and sugared cranberries — the make-ahead Christmas dessert that tastes like the holidays in every bite.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 6 hours
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12 slices
Calories 420 kcal

Ingredients
  

Gingersnap crust

  • 2 cups 280 g gingersnap cookie crumbs (about 40 cookies)
  • 5 tablespoons 70 g unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 tablespoons light brown sugar packed
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cheesecake filling

  • 24 ounces 680 g full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 cup 200 g light brown sugar, packed
  • 3 large eggs at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup 120 g full-fat sour cream
  • 1/4 cup 80 g unsulphured molasses
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine salt

Topping

  • 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Sugared cranberries for decorating
  • Mini gingerbread cookies for decorating (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Make the crust: heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Stir the gingersnap crumbs, melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon together until the crumbs look like wet sand. Press firmly into the bottom and about 1 inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan, using the bottom of a measuring cup to pack it tight. Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool slightly. Reduce the oven to 300°F (150°C).
  • Beat the cream cheese: in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and brown sugar on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes until completely smooth and fluffy, scraping the bowl twice. No lumps should remain — this is the step that decides the texture.
  • Add the wet ingredients: beat in the sour cream, molasses, vanilla, and salt until just combined. Then add the ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves and mix on low until evenly distributed. The batter will be a warm caramel-brown color.
  • Add the eggs: add the eggs one at a time, beating on low speed just until each one disappears. Do not overbeat — too much air is what cracks a cheesecake.
  • Bake in a water bath: wrap the outside of the springform pan tightly in two layers of heavy-duty foil. Set it in a large roasting pan and pour in boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides. Bake at 300°F (150°C) for 55 to 65 minutes, until the edges are set and the center still jiggles like gelatin when you nudge the pan.
  • Cool slowly: turn the oven off, crack the door open, and leave the cheesecake inside for 1 hour. This slow cool is what keeps the top smooth and crack-free. Remove from the water bath, run a thin knife around the edge, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
  • Whip the topping: just before serving, whip the heavy cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla to soft peaks. Spread or pipe it over the chilled cheesecake.
  • Decorate and serve: crown the cake with sugared cranberries and a few mini gingerbread cookies. Slice with a hot, dry knife, wiping the blade between cuts, for clean bakery-style slices.

Notes

Use full-fat block cream cheese, not the tub or low-fat kind — it is the whole structure of the cake. Room-temperature ingredients are not optional here: cold cream cheese lumps, and lumps never bake out. Unsulphured molasses gives warm, clean spice flavor; blackstrap molasses is too bitter for this cake.
  • Room-temperature cream cheese, eggs, and sour cream are the whole game. Cold ingredients leave lumps that no amount of beating fixes — set everything out an hour before you start.
  • Do not skip the water bath. Gentle, humid heat is what gives you a creamy, dense center and a smooth, crack-free top. A dry oven makes a puffy, cracked cake.
  • The center should still jiggle when the timer goes off. It finishes setting in the fridge; a cheesecake baked until firm is a cheesecake baked too long.
  • Chill overnight if you can. The flavor deepens, the molasses and spice bloom, and the slices cut cleanly. This is genuinely a better cake on day two.
  • Freeze the un-topped cake whole for up to 1 month: wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then foil. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then whip the cream and decorate the day you serve it.
  • Make sugared cranberries by simmering fresh cranberries in simple syrup for 1 minute, draining, and rolling them in granulated sugar — they dry into sparkling, jewel-like garnishes in about an hour.