Black Forest Mini Cheesecakes
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Black Forest Mini Cheesecakes layered with an Oreo cookie crust, a rich, velvety smooth chocolate cheesecake, sweet and fluffy whipped cream, and a slightly tart, vibrantly red luscious cherry topping.
Black Forest Mini Cheesecakes
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I love Thanksgiving—what food lover doesn’t? So basically who in the world doesn’t? I decided to start the pre-holiday right today, we had BLTs for dinner and these. Gotta keep it light and healthy so I can feast tomorrow.
Ha! If only that could be considered light. One of my favorite meals ever, though. Bacon followed by cheesecake. And not just any cheesecake, Black Forest Cheesecakes!
Cheesecake is quickly becoming what I’d like to consider my specialty, especially when it is in cupcake form. It is one of my favorite foods, after all.
I have so many more variations I look forward to posting but for now, be sure to try these out soon. They are basically three incredible desserts in one, chocolate black forest cake, cheesecake, and pie. You don’t have to choose one flavor—you get them all. Doesn’t get much better than that, right? Enjoy!
Black Forest Cheesecake Ingredients
- Oreo cookies (or other chocolate cookie)
- Melted butter
- Chocolate chips
- Sugar
- Cocoa powder
- Salt
- Cream cheese
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Heavy cream
- Sour cream
- Canned or homemade cherry pie filling
Black Forest Cheesecake Recipe Tips
I like to use a food processor to make the cookie crumbs even and tiny, but you can also use a rolling pin to smash cookies in a bag.
Use full fat cream cheese for the best flavor, and beat the cheesecake batter until there are no lumps.
Cover with foil if you’re worried about the top of your rich chocolate cheesecake getting too brown.
Use a bittersweet chocolate for the garnish, because everything else is so sweet!
Follow Cooking Classy
Black Forest Mini Cheesecakes
Ingredients
Crust
- 12 Oreos
- 1 1/2 Tbsp salted butter, melted
Cheesecake
- 4.5 oz (3/4 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 12 oz cream cheese, softened well (1 1/2 8 oz. pkgs)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup sour cream
Topping
- 15 oz. cherry pie filling homemade or store-bought
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 2 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- Finely chopped or shaved chocolate, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- For the crust:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a mixing bowl, using a fork, blend together crushed Oreos and butter. Divide mixture evenly among 12 paper lined muffin cups, adding a heaping 1 Tbsp to each.
- Press crumbs into an even layer. Bake in preheated oven 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool while preparing filling.
- For the cheesecake filling:
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together 2/3 cup granulated sugar, cocoa and salt until no clumps of cocoa remain. Add cream cheese to a mixing bowl and pour sugar mixture over cream cheese, then using an electric hand mixer set on low speed, whip mixture just until smooth.
- Mix in eggs one at a time, blending just until combined after each addition and adding in vanilla with second egg. Pour in melted chocolate and mix just until combined, then add 1/4 cup heavy cream and sour cream and mix just until combined.
- Forcefully tap bowl against countertop, about 30 times, to release some of the air bubbles. Divide mixture among muffin cups (over crust layer), adding about a slightly heaping 1/4 cup to each.
- Bake in 325 degree oven 17 - 20 minutes until centers only jiggle slightly. Remove from oven and allow to cool at room temperature 1 hour, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours.
- For the topping:
- In a mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer, whip 1 1/4 cups heavy cream until soft peaks form then add 2 1/2 Tbsp sugar and whip until stiff peaks form.
- Pipe or spread the heavy cream into an even layer over cupcakes then pipe a rim around edge over that layer (or if spreading whipped topping, just create a small well into the center).
- Spoon a heaping tablespoon (about 2 tbsp) Cherry pie filling into the center of each. Store in refrigerator in an airtight container (I preferred to let them rest about 10 minutes at room temp before serving. Also, preferably add topping within 2 hours of serving).