Easter Egg Cheesecake

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For the perfect spring holiday treat that the whole family will love, it doesn’t get better than this Easter egg cheesecake! Crushed mini eggs are studded throughout the most luscious, decadent cheesecake filling on a crisp graham cracker crust with edible Easter grass made from coconut adorning the top. Your Easter isn’t complete without this show-stopping cheesecake.

A slice of Easter egg cheesecake on a wooden plate with spring flowers around it and a gold spoon in front.

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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Ingredients
Step-by-Step-Instructions
Recipe FAQs
Expert Tips
Perfect Pairing
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Why You'll Love This Recipe

Makes for one festive dessert: To give this Easter cheesecake the perfect holiday touch, we dye coconut green and perch chocolate eggs on top. The green is beautifully vibrant, and it makes one impressive presentation for your Easter celebration.

No cracks with the most decadent texture: Most cheesecakes bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, but I prefer to bake my cheesecake at a lower temperature for longer. With this method, I’ve never had a cheesecake crack, and it results in an almost mousse-like texture. It’s absolutely divine.

Perfect for making ahead: Yes, cheesecake takes work. This is not a quick recipe. That said, everything is made well ahead of serving, making entertaining a breeze. We put in a little work upfront, so we can sit back and enjoy the holiday.

For instance, make the graham cracker crust on Friday, let it cool, cover and set aside. On Saturday, make the cheesecake filling and prepare the dyed coconut grass while it bakes. When Easter Sunday comes around, take five to 10 minutes to decorate the cheesecake before the family gathering begins.

Bonus: For another spring cheesecake idea, you’ll love my strawberry-ginger cheesecake!

Ingredients

Cream cheese: We want to make sure we use full-fat cream cheese in the bar form at room temperature. I also highly recommend using the Philadelphia brand. Cream cheese can have varying moisture levels by brand, and since Philadelphia is truly the standard cream cheese, you’ll get the most consistent results for most recipes.

Crushed mini Easter candy eggs: You can find these mini eggs in solid chocolate or malted chocolate balls. Either works here.

Eggs: The eggs should be room temperature before mixing. Cold eggs don’t combine nearly as well.

Sour cream: Like the cream cheese, we want to use the full-fat variety at room temperature.

Step-by-Step-Instructions

How to Make Graham Cracker Crust

Step 1: To make our crust, we first crush our graham crackers, which we can do by using the food processor or crushing them with a rolling pin in a plastic bag (photo 1). I prefer the rolling pin method because I don’t like dealing with washing out all those crumbs, but you do you.

Step 2: Now we combine the crushed graham crackers with a touch of white sugar and melted butter (photo 2). We want the mixture to be moist, but it won’t be overly wet.

Step 3: From here, we pour the graham cracker mixture into a parchment paper-lined 9-inch springform pan and press down the crumbs. To create a tight crust that stays together, I like to press down the crumbs with the bottom of a sturdy glass like so (photo 3). And now we bake.

Step 4 (optional): If you like an extra crisp crust, I like to brush the baked graham cracker crust with an egg white (photo 4) and then return to the oven for a few minutes. This helps create a barrier between the crust and cheesecake filling.

A collage showing the process of making the graham cracker crust.

How to Make Cheesecake Filling

Step 5: For the delicious filling, we beat together our softened cream cheese and sugar in a large mixing bowl until they’re nice and fluffy (photo 5).

The cream cheese after it's been beaten in a large mixing bowl.

Step 6: Now we beat in our sour cream, vanilla extract and a smidge of salt (photo 6). We just want to beat the ingredients until they become a cohesive mixture.

The cheesecake filling after adding the sour cream and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.

Step 7: From here, we beat in the eggs one at a time (photo 7). Like above, we don’t want to overbeat the eggs. When the eggs are fully incorporated, we stop beating. Then, we stir in our crushed candy Easter eggs (photo 8).

A collage showing the process of adding the eggs and crushed mini Easter eggs.

Step 8: Now we pour our cheesecake batter into our prepared crust (photo 9), place in a water bath and bake. Initially, we place the cheesecake in a 350-degree oven and then immediately turn the heat down to 250 degrees.

The cheesecake filling in the springform pan before baking in the oven.

The cheesecake continues to bake for an hour and a half, and then we turn off the heat completely and let it sit in the oven for three hours without opening the oven door. This is important — the cheesecake needs that residual heat to finish setting, and you lose a ton of heat from opening the door.

And look how perfectly it came out (photo 10) – no cracks!

The Easter cheesecake after baking on a wooden board.

After it sits, we let our Easter egg cheesecake set in the fridge for at least eight hours. An overnight set is perfect.

How to Make Dyed Coconut

Step 9: For that festive grass topping, we add shredded coconut to a mason jar (photo 11) with a little water and green food coloring, and then we give it a good shake (photo 12). Now we spread out the coconut on parchment paper to dry for a few minutes (photo 13), and we have our dyed coconut grass.

A collage showing the process of making the dyed coconut grass in a mason jar.

Step 10: And now to decorate – the extra fun part! We spoon the dyed coconut grass around the edge of the cheesecake like so (photo 14), and then we place our Easter chocolate eggs throughout the grass (photo 15).

Spooning the coconut grass and adding the mini candy eggs to the top of the cheesecake.

And that’s it! We’re now ready to serve this stunning Easter cheesecake to the whole family. I promise – everyone will love this decadent Easter dessert.

Related: For more festive desserts, you'll also love this carrot pound cake, easy Easter sugar cookies and bunny cut up cake. And, of course, no Easter is complete without colorful eggs. Check out this tutorial on making DIY Easter egg dye.

Recipe FAQs

How do you keep a springform pan from seeping?

Even after investing in a fancy, overpriced springform pan that promised no leaks, my cheesecakes still had seeping issues when only using multiple layers on aluminum foil. And then I discovered this tip – first wrap the springform in an oven bag, and then tightly wrap the covered springform pan with three tight layers of aluminum foil.

And just like that, my days of seeping springform pans disappeared. I found this tip from Lindsay with Life, Love and Sugar, and she has a more detailed tutorial on how to prevent a leaking water bath. She uses one layer of aluminum foil instead of three, but the type A in me likes to play it extra safe, so I go for a little more seeping protection.

What is a water bath, and why do we need it?

To prepare a water bath, we pour boiling water into a roasting pan and place the unbaked cheesecake directly in the water and bake. The water should come up about halfway up the side of the springform pan. This creates a humid environment for a better finished texture and allows the cheesecake to gently bake without forming cracks on top.

Pouring a big pot of boiling water can be a little messy, and you don’t want your skin to come in contact with that hot, hot water. I find boiling water in a tea kettle makes for a much easier, cleaner and safer way to transfer the water to the roasting pan.

How long can you store cheesecake?

With properage storage, cheesecake will keep for about five days, and it must be stored in the refrigerator. Before serving, I leave the springform pan intact and cover with plastic wrap. After serving, I like to cover the leftovers with a cake dome.

Expert Tips

Make mixing easier: The cream cheese comes together more easily if you cut it into 1-inch cubes before beating.

For efficient candy egg crushing: I like to use the bottom of a sturdy glass to crush the milk chocolate eggs. Simply place the candy on a cutting board, put the glass on top and apply pressure.

Don’t ignore the room-temperature designation on ingredients: The cheesecake filling will not properly mix if you use cold ingredients, especially the cream cheese.

Use the right pan size: This recipe is for a 9-inch springform pan. Using a smaller pan will create a denser filling and may mess with the tested cooking time.

The best serving temperature: I like to remove the cheesecake from the refrigerator about 15 minutes before serving. This way, it’s still cool and refreshing, but taking off a bit of the chill allows the flavors to better shine. Some people prefer letting it sit even longer – about 30 minutes to reach room temperature. This comes down to personal preference.

Perfect Pairing

If you’re in the mood for a beer, a nice sour or wild ale makes a great pairing with this Easter egg cheesecake. The sour and wild yeast notes beautifully meld with the tang of cheesecake, and you’ll appreciate a little acidity to counter the ultra creamy, rich texture.

Wine more your style? A sweet riesling is a classic cheesecake pairing. Like the above beer pairing, riesling has a nice acidic kick to keep the two from tasting overly cloying. A sparkling wine is another popular option for pairing cheesecake.

And, of course, Easter often means brunch. A good spring brunch cocktail is perfect here. Try my honeyed strawberry-rhubarb mimosa for a delightful seasonal touch. You can also check out my collection of Easter cocktails for more ideas.

For a couple nonalcoholic options, I love a citrus lemonade with the tangy cheesecake. My cucumber-mint lemonade and strawberry-mint lemonade both make wonderful options.

Your holiday will be a whole lot more delicious and festive with this Easter egg cheesecake at your dessert table. I hope you enjoy every decadent, luscious bite.

Cheers!

The Easter egg cheesecake with a gold spoon on a wooden plate with flowers to the side.

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Easter Egg Cheesecake

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Ingredients