This Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake bakes the strawberry sauce right into the cheesecake, so you get both tastes in one beautiful package. To make it, I whipped up an easy strawberry sauce using real strawberries, then we swirled the sauce into our favorite vanilla cheesecake recipe with a classic graham cracker crust. The result is both beautiful and decadent, providing the perfect cool spring or summertime treat.
I made this on request from my youngest who has a birthday in April. It’s an adaptation from the Cinnamon Crunch cheesecake we made for her years ago.
The recipe is for a small 7-inch cheesecake. We like to keep our desserts small so we don’t overindulge. And there’s just three of us in the house, so we don’t need much. So if you want a full-size (9 or 10-inch) cheesecake, you’ll need to double the recipe. There’s a handy 2x button on the recipe to help you with the math.
I feel like it needs mentioning as well: this recipe was made by a REAL person with REAL ingredients. The strawberries were from my parents’ garden! The photos are real photos taken by me personally. There is nothing AI here. This is real food for real people.
Now, we all know that cheesecake probably isn’t the healthiest thing for you to eat, but we all need a little indulgence now and then! I did lighten up this cheesecake by using light cream cheese mixed with blended cottage cheese and lowered the sugar content, so even though it tastes just as rich and decadent as any cheesecake you’d get at a restaurant, it actually is a little bit healthier.
Because life is crazy, we made this strawberry swirl cheesecake in pieces. One night I made the sauce. The next day we made the crust. We took the crust (in the pan) up to my parents’ place when we went to visit them last weekend. Their cat tried to eat it, but luckily we caught her before she got any!
And finally we made the cheesecake there. We didn’t have time there to finish the cooling so we took it home in our cooler and then cut and enjoyed it the next day. It’s a well-traveled cheesecake! My kids both loved it. And yes, me too. I allowed myself a little indulgence with a small slice of cheesecake. Oh man, I love me some good cheesecake. I’m a little sad my parents didn’t get a chance to try it.
My dad doesn’t like the taste of strawberries, though, ever since his chemotherapy last summer. I might have to make this for him with some different berries.
Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake
- Yield: 6 – 8 servings 1x
Description
This Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake bakes the strawberry sauce right into the cheesecake, so you get both tastes in one beautiful package. The result is both beautiful and decadent, providing the perfect cool spring or summer treat.
Ingredients
For the graham cracker crust:
- 4 oz. crushed graham crackers (about 125 g, or 8 graham crackers)
- 4 Tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
For the strawberry sauce:
- 2 1/2 cups strawberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1/3 – 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- A pinch of salt
- 2 Tablespoons water mixed with 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
For the cheesecake:
- 12 oz. Neufchatel (light cream cheese) – that’s 1 1/2 8-oz. packages
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup cottage cheese (can substitute plain or vanilla Greek yogurt)
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons white whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- To make the sauce: if using frozen strawberries, thaw them slightly, preserving the juices. Put strawberries in a handi chopper or mini food processor and pulse a few times. Pour into a saucepan, add the sugar, vanilla and salt and cook over medium heat until hot and bubbly. In a small bowl, whisk together the water and cornstarch, then slowly add to the sauce until thickened. Remove from heat.
- To make the crust: Preheat the oven to 325 F. Crush the graham crackers and mix them with the melted butter, sugar and salt. Press into the bottom of a 7-inch springform pan. Bake for about 10 minutes to set the crust.
- Next, make the filling. Use your handi chopper/food processor to blend the cottage cheese until it is smooth. then put in a bowl and whip with the cream cheese with the sugar until it’s creamy and smooth, then add the remaining filling ingredients and beat until nice and smooth. Make sure you wipe down the sides of the bowl and mix that in as well.
- Set the springform pan inside a round cake pan, then set that inside a 13x9x2 inch pan or a large roasting pan. Pour boiling water about halfway up the side of the largest pan, making a water bath for the cheesecake that’s not actually touching the springform pan. Bake at 325 for 10 – 15 minutes, then remove from oven, spoon strawberry sauce on top and use a knife to swirl. Put back into the oven and cook for 45 – 55 minutes or until the cheesecake is slightly jiggly just in the middle part of the pan.
Notes
To get a nice even crust layer, use the bottom of a clean glass to tamp down the crust in the pan before baking.
RECIPE SOURCE: Sumptuous Spoonfuls – https://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/ … © Copyright 2025, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. This recipe was made by a REAL person with REAL ingredients. The photos are real photos taken by me personally. There is nothing AI here. This is real food made by real people for real people. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8 of the cheesecake
- Calories: 340
- Carbohydrates: 35g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 8g
