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Transform your cupcakes into mummies with this simple Halloween cupcake recipe! Learn how to create those iconic bandages and make these adorable, spooky-sweet treats.

💀 Easy Mummy Halloween Cupcakes

Wrap up your Halloween baking with these adorable Mummy Cupcakes! This cute and easy recipe is perfect for beginner bakers, or small helpers in the kitchen.

🧾 What You’ll Need

For the Cupcakes and Frosting

You’ll likely have everything you need on hand, but check out these ingredient tips to make sure. (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)

• Cupcakes: You’ll need 24 baked and cooled cupcakes (either from scratch or from a mix). I used chocolate cupcakes for my little mummies, but any flavor will do.
• Unsalted butter and salt: I like to control the amount of salt in my buttercream frosting, so I prefer to use unsalted butter and then add the needed amount of salt. If you don’t have unsalted butter, you can use salted butter and omit the salt. Make sure your butter is at cool room temperature.
• Milk: Use milk to adjust the consistency of the frosting.
• Vanilla extract: If you use a high-quality vanilla extract (like this Nielsen-Massey Madagascar vanilla extract), your frosting will be anything but boring!
• Powdered sugar: This frosting recipe is an American Buttercream, which is powdered sugar-based. You’ll want to measure the sugar with a scale if possible and then sift it into the mixture.
• Cocoa powder: adding unsweetened cocoa powder to the buttercream gives it a delicious chocolate flavor, and creates a dark base for the white bandages. If you don’t want chocolate frosting, you can instead use brown or black gel food coloring so that the base of the cupcake contrasts with the white mummy bandages.
• Candy eyes: I used small candy eyeballs to decorate my cupcakes. Feel free to color them with some food-safe markers for a touch of fun.

Equipment

You don’t need much to make these Mummy Cupcakes, just some basic piping tools. (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)

• Piping bag and coupler: I like these piping bags (I wash them and re-use them to reduce waste!) and these couplers. You can also make your own piping bags from plastic zipper bags. If you go this route you won’t need couplers or tips, either. Keep in mind that the mummy bandages won’t look as flat if you use a plastic bag.
• Piping tip: You’ll need a small basketweave tip, like Ateco 46 or 47, to pipe on white frosting mummy wrappings.
• Cupcake liners:I used plain black cupcake liners when I baked my cupcakes. However, you can have fun when it’s time to serve them by dressing them in solid colored rainbow liners or Halloween cupcake liners.

📸 Photo Tutorial: How to Make Mummy Cupcakes

Use this easy photo tutorial to make your Mummy Cupcakes one step at a time. You can also find comprehensive instructions in the recipe card above.

1. Prepare piping bags. Put the chocolate buttercream in a piping bag with a plain coupler. Put the white buttercream in a piping bag with a small basketweave tip (I used Ateco #46).
2. Frost cupcakes. Pipe a mound of chocolate frosting on top of a cupcake.
3. Smooth cupcake tops. Smooth the top with a small offset spatula – no need to make it perfect, since most of it will be covered anyhow.

4. Add eyes. Press two candy eyes on top. Repeat until you’ve added chocolate frosting and eyes to all of the cupcakes.
5. Start piping bandages. Take the piping bag filled with white buttercream and pipe flat stripes of frosting over the top of a cupcake.

6. Overlap multiple times. Overlap the stripes of frosting at different angles to make them look like mummy bandages. Add white frosting stripes to all the cupcakes.
7. Enjoy!

💡 Tips and FAQs

Salted Caramel Bars have a buttery shortbread base and a topping of rich, chewy caramel. A crunchy dusting of flaked sea salt on top is the perfect finishing touch!

🤎 Caramel Cookie Bars

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but today I’m sharing a recipe where I intentionally resisted adding extra chocolate. I KNOW. I’m shocked too!

Although these Salted Caramel Bars would be delicious with chocolate, they are totally dreamy without it, and that’s not something I say lightly!

These bars have three basic components:

• Shortbread crust: The crust is crisp, buttery, and SUPER easy to make.
• Caramel topping: This rich caramel has the perfect texture: it’s chewy without being sticky, and sweet without being cloying, thanks to the generous spoonful of kosher salt in the recipe.
• Sea salt flakes: The best part of each bar is the scattering of large sea salt flakes. They add crunch and a savory bite that perfectly contrasts with the caramel.

These caramel shortbread bars also have the perfect crust to caramel ratio–both layers are about equal, which is just the way I like it! Too much crust and you’ll have a dry bar cookie, but too much caramel can make it too chewy. The solution of equal parts shortbread and caramel balances everything out. Total perfection!

🧾What You’ll Need

Ingredients

Get ready for an amazing treat! Check out these ingredient tips as you gather everything you’ll need. You can get full ingredient amounts in the printable recipe card below. (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)

Shortbread Crust

• Granulated sugar
• Unsalted butter and salt: The butter gives richness to the crust and helps to bind it together. I always recommend using unsalted butter and adding a precise amount of salt. If you only have salted butter, omit the additional salt.
• Large egg yolk: Make sure to use the yolk from a large egg. If you need more guidance, check out this tutorial about How to Separate Eggs (Four Different Ways!).
• All-purpose flour

Caramel

• Unsalted butter: This recipe is made with lots of butter because that’s what makes the bars so rich and luxurious. It’s best to use unsalted butter.
• Light brown sugar: For deep rich caramel flavor. Either use a kitchen scale, or lightly pack the sugar into the measuring cup to get the correct amount.
• Light corn syrup: Adds sweetness and body. Light corn syrup also helps to prevent crystalization, which sometimes occurs due to the grittiness of brown sugar.
• Kosher salt: Regular table salt is very dense and tends to have a harsher, ‘saltier’ flavor than kosher salt. If you only have table salt, it will still work fine, but you’ll need to reduce the amount to a 1/2 teaspoon.
• Granulated sugar
• Heavy cream: A bit of heavy whipping cream makes the caramel extra-luscious.
• Vanilla extract: Use your favorite brand or this Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla (my fave!) for flavor.
• Large-flaked sea salt: Sprinkling large-flaked sea salt on top of the bars adds visual interest, a touch of crunch, and glorious contrasting flavor. If you don’t have it, you can skip it and the bars will still be tasty. I don’t recommend using fine table or kosher salt sprinkled on top – it can make the bars too salty.

Equipment

Having the right equipment can make your baking experience more successful. Here’s what I recommend for this recipe: (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)

• 9×9 baking pan: I like to use a metal 9×9-inch baking pan with straight sides and square corners–it’s one of the secrets to cutting nice even bars without rounded edges.
• Parchment paper: Use a strip long enough that excess hangs over the sides. You can use the excess parchment paper like handles to lift the bars out of the pan.
• Medium saucepan: The caramel mixture will triple in size as it heats up. It’s important to use a large enough saucepan to accomodate the change in size, a 3-quart saucepan or 4-quart saucepan will both work well. Use a heavy-bottomed pan to prevent scorching and uneven heating.
• Candy thermometer: Truly, a must for making perfect caramel. I can’t overemphasize the importance of using a candy thermometer for this recipe. Check out the Tips section below for more information.
• Pastry brush: To prevent crystallization (and thus grainy caramel) use a wet pastry brush to wipe around the inside walls of the saucepan during cooking. The brush will remove excess sugar crystals and prevent larger ones from forming.

💡 Important Tips For Caramel Success

If you’re going to make these amazing caramel bars, but haven’t worked much with cooking sugar, please take a moment to read through these tips so you can troubleshoot some potential problems.

Move over, lemon bars! These Passion Fruit Bars are going to be your new sweet/tart obsession. They have a buttery shortbread crust and a deliciously creamy, tangy and tropical passion fruit filling.

🧡 My Favorite Passion Fruit Dessert

I’m a little obsessed with passion fruit. The flavor, the concept—even the name. (Adding “passion” basically means you’re required to love it, right?)

What is passion fruit?

Passion fruit is a tropical fruit that’s filled with a mixture of delicious, edible pulp and seeds. You strain the seeds from the pulp, and blam – you have passion fruit puree, which tastes like if mango and guava and lemon had a baby together. It’s tart, with a bit of sweetness, and a flavor that makes me want to book a beach vacation, immediately.

If you’re new to the passion fruit, don’t miss my full guide to passion fruit, including tips for picking the best, most ripe fruit, how to store them, and more. I also have a tutorial showing how to make your own passion fruit puree, with photos and videos to walk you through it.

Why You’ll Love These Bars

These bars are a twist on classic lemon bars. Since passion fruit is quite tart, it’s a good substitute for lemon in a lot of baking recipes. I swapped passion fruit puree for lemon juice in my favorite Lemon Bars recipe, and magic was made. ✨

The base is a super-crispy buttery crust that comes together in a minute and doesn’t require any chilling. The filling is tart and tropical, with a soft and creamy texture that melts in your mouth, but sets enough so you can easily and neatly cut and serve the bars.

What if I don’t have fresh passion fruit?

Never fear — you don’t have to have your own passion fruit vine to make these bars. (Yes, they grow on vines – told you they were cool!)

I typically use frozen passion fruit puree in this recipe. It’s easier for me to find, much cheaper than using fresh passion fruit, and I love that I can keep a supply in my freezer for whenever a craving strikes!

I usually buy Goya brand passion fruit puree from my local Mexican market. (I live in CA, availability and brands will vary based on location.) One 14-oz package of puree is the perfect amount for this recipe. All you have to do is defrost and you’re ready to go!

🧾 What You’ll Need

Ingredients

Now here’s the rest of what you’ll need to make these bars! Full ingredient amounts can be found in the recipe card below. (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)

For the Crust

• Unsalted butter and salt: I like to use unsalted butter in baked goods so that I can adjust the salt to my exact tastes. However, if you only have salted butter, you can still use it, but make sure to omit the additional salt in the crust.
• Sugar: You’ll need regular granulated sugar to sweeten the crust.  
• Vanilla extract: To give the shortbread crust a little flavor.
• Flour: Use all-purpose flour for the base of the crust. If possible, use a scale to measure the flour so that you add the correct amount.

For the Filling

• Eggs: You’ll need 8 large eggs to make the filling. (Avoid other sizes, like medium or jumbo – using too much or too little egg might result in a gooey or gummy filling.) For the best results, have the eggs at room temperature.
• Sugar: Granulated sugar for the filling, and a bit of powdered sugar on top before serving!
• Passion fruit puree: This is the star of the show! I typically use Goya passion fruit puree, and you can read more about that above.
• Flour: A little all-purpose flour in the filling helps it to firm up and will make the bars easier to cut.

Equipment

• 9×13 baking pan: I like to use a metal 9×13 pan to bake these bars.
• Foil or parchment paper: To make clean up a breeze and easily remove the bars from the pan, I highly recommend lining the pan with foil or parchment paper and giving it a quick coating of non-stick cooking spray.
• Utensils: You’ll need a whisk and spatula to blend the crust and filling.
• Sift: Although optional, sifting the flour into the filling really helps to prevent lumps. Using a sift is a tiny extra step that will make a big difference in the texture of your bars.
• Chef’s knife: If you want bars with crisp cut lines, make sure to use a large sharp chef’s knife when cutting them.

📸 Photo Tutorial: How to Make Passion Fruit Bars

Here’s a step-by-step guide for how to make Passion Fruit Bars! Printable instructions are included in the recipe card above.

Make the Crust

1. Prepare to bake. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper so that it extends up the sides, and spray the paper with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Mix crust ingredients. In a bowl, whisk together 8 oz (1 cup) melted butter, 3.5 oz (1/2 cup) granulated sugar, 2 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 tsp salt. Once mixed, add 8.5 oz (2 cups) purpose flour and stir with a spatula until no streaks of flour remain.

3. Press crust into pan. Scrape the dough into the pan and press it into an even layer. It might seem a little greasy—this is normal.
4. Bake crust. Bake the crust for about 25 minutes at 350° F, until it’s light golden on top. While the crust is baking, prepare the filling so it’s ready to go as soon as the crust is done.

Make the Filling

1. Mix eggs, sugar and puree. In a large bowl, whisk together 8 large eggs, 16.3 oz (2 1/3 cups) granulated sugar, and 14 oz (1 1/2 cups) passion fruit puree.

2. Sift flour in. Sift 2.12 oz (1/2 cup) flour on top of the egg mixture, and whisk it in well.

3. Pour filling over hot crust. When the crust is done baking, slide the rack part-way out of the oven. Pour the filling over the hot crust and slide it back into the oven.
4. Reduce temperature and bake till done. Reduce the temperature to 325°F and bake for 25-30 minutes. It’s done when the center barely jiggles when you tap the pan.
5. Cool. Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool until it reaches room temperature. Then refrigerate until completely chilled.
6. Cut into squares. Cut bars into squares with a large sharp knife. Before serving, sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

💡Tips and FAQs

Here are my top tips for making these bars!

Passion fruit is a DELICIOUS tropical fruit, with a sweet-and-sour flavor that shines in both savory and sweet recipes. Learn how to make the most of this unusual fruit with this guide to choosing, storing, and eating passion fruit.

How to pick ripe passion fruit

Let’s say you’ve tracked down a source for fresh passion fruit. You may find yourself standing over a pile of wrinkled, brownish purple fruit, wondering which ones to pick. How can you tell if passion fruit is ripe and ready to eat?

Heavy fruits contain the most juice, while light fruits are more likely to be underripe or dried out inside. You can also look for:

• Feeling: shake the fruit — if you can feel or hear liquid moving around inside, that’s a good indication there’s a lot of juice and pulp inside.
• Color: look for fruit with the deepest colors — passion fruit can be purple, red, or yellow, and the darker the color, the riper the fruit.
• Wrinkles: This may seem counterintuitive, but look for wrinkled fruit as a sign of ripeness. This is the rare time you’ll want to find wrinkles!
• Avoid: fruit that is noticeably lighter in weight, very hard, or very shriveled.

What does passion fruit taste like?

Passion fruit has a tangy, sweet-and-sour taste, with hints of floral, tropical flavors like mango and guava. Because it is both sweet and sour, it can be used in savory recipes, like sauces, and paired with fish, chicken, and pork.

It is also incredible in dessert recipes. I love to swap it in for recipes where lemon or lime is the predominant flavor (think key lime pie or lemon bars) — because it provides the same bracing acidity, but the tropical sweetness mellows the edges and makes the flavor more complex.

Similarly, it’s a great addition to mixed drinks or nonalcoholic juices, either in place of or in addition to other citrus fruit.

Are passion fruit seeds edible?

YES! Everything inside the passion fruit is edible, even the crunchy black seeds. They don’t have a significant flavor of their own, so they add texture but not much taste. They can also be removed by straining the pulp through a wire mesh strainer, if you prefer.

If you love ripe, juicy peaches, then this Fresh Peach Tart is for you! The peaches aren’t cooked in the oven, so they keep their wonderful, just-picked taste and texture. Juicy peaches + buttery pecan tart dough = peach perfection!

🍑 No-Bake Peach Tart

Every year during peach season, I swear I’m going to buy a totally reasonable amount of fruit. And every year, I walk up to the farm stand, look them square in the eye, and ask for every peach they’ve got.

🥧 Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Why will this be your new summer dessert obsession? Let me count the ways:

• Starts with a buttery shortbread crust
• Toasted pecans give the crust a nutty flavor and delicious crunchy texture
• Overflowing with both peach puree AND fresh peaches
• Amazing with whipped cream, ice cream, or just eaten right out of the pan

Equipment

• Food processor: Use a food processor to grind the toasted pecans and combine the tart dough easily.
• Deep-dish tart pan: I made my tart in a 10×2-inch deep dish fluted tart pan. You could also make this recipe in a 9-inch deep dish pie pan or 9-inch springform pan.
• Tin foil and pie weights: When baking the crust, line it with non-stick aluminium foil and then fill the cavity with pie weights, dry rice, or dry beans. This helps the crust to bake evenly and prevents it from bubbling up.
• Whisk: You’ll need a whisk to stir the filling as it cooks and thickens.

💡Tips for Success

Avoid common mistakes so that your Fresh Peach Tart turns out perfectly!

• Whisk often: While making the gelled peach sauce, it’s important to whisk often so the bottom doesn’t scorch. Make sure to continue cooking and whisking it long enough for the starch to thicken the sauce, otherwise the filling will not set.
• Use an egg white wash: To prevent the crust from getting too soggy once it is filled with peaches, beat the egg white and brush it on the bottom and sides of the crust just before you begin baking the crust uncovered.
• Watch the shell carefully: The shell could get over-browned during the second half of the baking process while it’s uncovered. Watch it carefully and cover the sides with foil to prevent them from getting too dark if needed.

How to Toast Pecans in the Oven

Toasting makes nuts crunchier, more flavorful, and (in my opinion) 67.4% more delicious! Here’s a super-simple way to toast pecans, or any nuts. I usually toast a large quantity, then save what I’m not using right away in the freezer, so they’re good to go for the next recipe.

1. Turn your oven to 350ºF. Spread the pecans (or other nuts) in a single layer across the top of a light-colored baking sheet and place them in the oven.
2. Use a spatula to flip and gently stir the nuts every 2-3 minutes. The total toasting time will probably be around 6-10 minutes, but it depends on your oven and the thickness of your baking sheet, so keep a close eye on them.
3. The nuts are done when they have a strong toasty fragrance and have darkened in color.
4. Cool the nuts completely before using.

💭 FAQs

Make the popular Trader Joe’s Root Beer Float Pieces at home! This copycat candy recipe combines vanilla sandwich cookies, popping candy, and root beer coating to produce a homemade candy that tastes just as delicious as the original.

🧾What You’ll Need

Ingredients

As you might imagine, a unique recipe like this requires a few unique ingredients. I’m linking the exact products I used and recommend. You’re welcome to make substitutions if you’d like, but I can’t guarantee you’ll get similar results. (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)

• Vanilla Sandwich Cookies: I used Double Stuf Golden Oreos because I love maximum cream fillling, but the cookies don’t matter too much – any tasty vanilla sandwich cookie should work.
• Unflavored Popping Candy:These are sweet little candy pieces that look like crushed rice crispies, and produce a popping sensation when they come into contact with moisture (like in your mouth!) While flavored popping candy is fairly common (“Pop Rocks” is one well-known brand), for this recipe we don’t want fruity flavors, so we need the much less common unflavored variety. I used this Unflavored Popping Candy and had great results – the popping effect was strong and long-lasting in the candy.
• White Candy Coating:Also known as “candy melts” or “confectionary coating,” these vanilla-flavored wafers melt smoothly and are great for making dipped candies. Caution: water will cause melted candy coating (and chocolate) to thicken, seize, and become unworkable, so you should only use oil-based coloring or flavoring.
• Brown Candy Coloring: This is optional, but if you want your candy to look like the original TJ’s product, you will need to color the white coating with brown oil-based candy coloring, NOT regular food coloring. (Why not just use brown candy melts? Because they’re always chocolate flavored, boo!) You can certainly leave your candy coating white if you’d like – the coloring is only for aesthetics.
• Root Beer Flavoring: I used Lor-Ann Super Strength Root Beer Flavor, which has a nicely realistic root beer taste. Unfortunately this product does contain some water (I couldn’t find a completely oil-based root beer flavor) but the good news is that it’s formulated so that it can still be used in candy coating! It won’t cause your coating to seize, but it will make it thicker and harder to work with. That’s why our last ingredient is…
• Paramount Crystals (or vegetable oil): I highly recommend paramount crystals any time you want to thin our your candy coating. These little flakes of magic are added to melted candy coating to make it thinner. They’re made from the same fat that’s in candy coating, so they blend beautifully, make the coating nice and fluid, and help it set shiny and hard. Substitution: you can use vegetable oil or canola oil to thin out your coating instead, but you might find your coating sets softer than normal. Instructions for oil are in the Notes section of the recipe card.

Equipment

• Dipping tools: Dipping tools aren’t a necessity, but they make dipping candy much easier, and I’d recommend picking some up if you regularly make candy. If you don’t have dipping tools, a regular fork is fine to use.

📸Photo Tutorial: How to Make Root Beer Float Pieces

Grab the printable recipe from the recipe card above, then follow along as I show you just how easy it is to make these Root Beer Float Pieces!

1. Chop the cookies. Chop 16 vanilla sandwich cookies roughly into quarters.
2. Microwave the coating. Place 16 oz white candy coating in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at 50% power in one-minute intervals, stirring after every minute. If you can’t change the power of your microwave, stir after every 30 seconds instead – you don’t want to accidentally overheat it.

Color and Flavor the Coating

3. Melt the coating. You can stop heating when there are just a few small pieces of unmelted coating remaining – the residual heat will melt them as it sits.
4. Add coloring. Add oil-based candy coloring and stir it in. (See the recipe card notes for alternatives.) I used Colour Mill chocolate brown, along with a touch of black. As you can see, it was still more of a reddish-brown, but our next step will help with that…

5. Add root beer flavor. Add 1 TBSP of root beer flavor and stir well. The good news is that it adds a lot of color too, making our coating a richer dark brown. The bad news is that it causes the coating to thicken up a lot, but don’t freak out – it will be okay!
6. Thin the coating with paramount crystals. Add a spoonful of paramount crystals to the coating and stir gently while they melt. Continue to add the crystals, a bit a time, stirring often, until the coating is once again fluid enough to dip candies in. I found ¼ cup (1 oz) was a good amount for me, but yours might vary depending on the candy coating used. If you’d like to use vegetable oil instead, check the recipe card notes for instructions. Use only as much as you need and no more – less is better!

Mix Everything Together

7. Combine popping candy and coating. Place 1 oz (1/4 cup) popping candy in a large bowl and add about ½  cup melted coating on top. You can eyeball that measurement – it doesn’t need to be precise.
8. Stir together. Stir the popping candy and coating together until well-mixed. You’ll hear the popping candy start to pop a bit during this step.

9. Add the cookies. Add the chopped cookies to the large bowl, and stir so that they’re lightly coated with the root beer coating/popping candy mixture.
10. Mix well. Make sure everything is well-mixed and there aren’t big pockets of naked cookies or unmixed chunks of popping candy. Add a bit more coating if you need to, just enough to help the popping candy stick to the cookie pieces. At this point, it’s looking like dog food (or worse). Trust the process!
11. Chill. Scrape the cookie pieces out onto a baking sheet covered with parchment. Separate the pieces into smaller clumps, then chill the tray for 10-15 minutes to set the coating. If you leave it in the fridge for a long time and it gets very cold, let the candy come close to room temperature before moving on to dipping.

Dip the Candy

11. Dip the cookie chunks. Make sure your melted coating is warm and fluid. Using a dipping tool or fork to dip a chunk of cookie into the melted coating. Tap the fork on the edge of the  bowl a few times to get excess coating to drip back into the bowl.
12. Chill again. Set the dipped candy on a parchment-covered baking sheet, and continue to dip the remaining pieces.

📷 Photo Tutorial: How to Make New York Style Cheesecake

Here’s a step-by-step photo guide to making perfect New York cheesecake. Full, printable instructions are included in the recipe card above.

Make the Graham Cracker Crust

1. Prepare to bake. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (176ºC) and spray an 8″ springform pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Prepare graham cracker crumbs. Place graham crackers in a food processor and pulse into a fine crumb. Alternately, place the crackers in a plastic bag and crush them into a fine crumb with a rolling pin.
3. Mix crumbs and butter. Combine graham cracker crumbs and melted butter, and stir until the crumbs are evenly moistened. The crumb mixture should have the appearance of wet sand.
4. Press crust into pan. Pour the crumb mixture into the bottom of the greased springform pan. Use the back of a spoon or measuring cup to press the mixture firmly into the bottom and slightly up the sides of the pan.
5. Bake and cool. Bake for 10 minutes at 350ºF (176ºC), then remove from the oven, and let cool completely.

Make the Cream Cheese Filling

1. Add cream cheese to mixer bowl. Add the room temperature cream cheese to the bowl of a large stand mixer. And yes, this is a lot of cream cheese!
2. Beat cream cheese. Beat the cream cheese on medium speed using a paddle attachment for 2-3 minutes, until smooth and creamy. This is your chance to avoid any lumps in your cream cheese, so don’t skip this step.

3. Mix in sugar, flour, salt and vanilla. Add the sugar, flour, salt and vanilla to the bowl of cream cheese, and mix just until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters.
4. Slowly pour in heavy cream. With the mixer running on low, slowly stream in the heavy whipping cream and mix until combined, then raise the speed and mix on medium speed for 30-60 seconds, until everything is well-incorporated.

5. Whisk eggs. Mix the eggs together in a small bowl using a whisk or fork. Mixing the eggs together first helps reduce overmixing the cheesecake batter and possible cracks while baking.
6. Slowly add the eggs. Add the eggs slowly with the mixer running on low. Mix just until combined–some streaks of eggs remaining are okay! Finish mixing by hand, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl. Be careful not to overmix, and stir just until everything is incorporated.

Bake the Cheesecake

1. Pour batter in pan. Pour the batter into your springform pan with the baked and cooled graham cracker crust and smooth the top.
2. Bake for 15 minutes at 350ºF. Place the cheesecake in the oven on the middle rack and bake at 350ºF for 15 minutes.
3. Reduce oven temp and continue baking. Reduce the heat (without opening the door) to 200ºF (93ºC) and cook for an additional 50 minutes.
4. Turn off heat and crack oven door to begin cooling. Once the 50 minutes is up, turn off the oven, slightly crack the oven door open, and allow the cheesecake to cool slowly in the oven for 20-30 minutes. See tips below for more information about the cooling process.
5. Continue cooling on the counter. After 20-30 minutes, you can remove the cheesecake from the oven and allow it to cool completely on the counter to room temperature.
6. Chill cheesecake. Once cooled, transfer the cheesecake to the refrigerator and chill for at least 6 hours–overnight is even better.

Slice and Serve the Cheesecake

1. Release cheesecake from pan. Remove the cheesecake from the springform pan by taking a long spatula or butter knife dipped in warm water and slide it around the sides of the pan to release the cake.
2. Slice with warm knife. Cut the cheesecake into slices with a warm, sharp chef’s knife.
3. Enjoy! Serve plain or topped with strawberry sauce or other toppings.

💡 Top Tips for Perfect Cheesecake

Here are our top baking tips for making the perfect cheesecake:

• Make your own graham cracker crumbs. Although you can purchase boxes of graham cracker crumbs, I prefer to make my own by using a food processor or crushing them with a rolling pin. Purchased graham crumbs tend to be more expensive, and the crumbs are coarser and sometimes taste stale. For more tips on making the perfect graham cracker crust check out my Homemade Graham Cracker Crust Tutorial.
• Use cream cheese bricks. You want full-fat cream cheese bricks for the best texture. “Whipped” or “light” cream cheese won’t have the same effect.
• Use room temperature ingredients. Make sure to bring the cream cheese and eggs to room temperature before using them in the cheesecake. This ensures that everything incorporates together easily without lumps.
• Add the eggs last, and don’t overmix. When you add the eggs, you want to mix only just until the yolk disappears. Be sure to mix as little as possible after adding the eggs, because overmixing can result in a cracked cheesecake.
• Look for a jiggly center. You’ll know the cheescake is done when it is firm (set) around the edges and slightly jiggly in the center when you gently wiggle the pan.
• Cool slowly. To achieve a soft, creamy texture the cheesecake needs to finish cooking while it simultaneously cools. The cooling process is purposely very slow and extremely important. Ultimately, if it cools down too quickly, cracks will form on the surface. It will still taste good, but it just doesn’t look as pretty.
• Crack the oven door. As part of the gradual cooling process you will turn off the oven after the initial 50 minutes of bake time. You might be tempted to take the cheesecake out but instead all you need to do is crack the oven door open and let it sit for another 20-30 minutes in the slowly cooling oven.
• Chill overnight. For the best results, let the cheesecake chill in the refrigerator overnight or for at least 6 hours before serving so that it can fully set.
• Cut with a warm knife. To get the perfect slice of cheesecake, run a large chef’s knife under hot water on both sides until warm. Wipe off with a clean paper towel, then make your first slice. Repeat the process for the other slices until the cheesecake is fully cut.

💡 FAQs

💭 Variations

This New York cheesecake is delicious as-is, but if you’re looking to switch things up a bit, here are some other ideas:

• Make it chocolate-y. Add chocolate chips or swirl in a couple spoonfuls of chocolate espresso sauce.
• Use another crust. Swap the graham crackers out for pretzels, gingersnaps, Nilla wafers, or use Oreos to make an Oreo crust.
• Top it with whipped cream. Cool Whip is always an option, or you can give it a flavor twist with homemade mocha whipped cream or lemon whipped cream.
• Make a fruity filling. Swirl your favorite fruity jam into the batter before you bake it.

🍓 Fresh Strawberry Topping for Cheesecake & More

Bold claim time: you can improve almost any dessert with three ingredients and 20 minutes. For instance:

• Ice cream? Check.
• Cheesecake? Got ya covered.
• Tarts? You better believe it.

All of these things can be improved at least 37.45%* by adding an easy homemade strawberry sauce on top.

*Figures have not and will not be scientifically checked

Ingredients

Any recipe that just has three ingredients is a recipe I can get on board with! Here’s what you’ll need for this homemade Strawberry Sauce. Check the recipe card for full ingredient amouts.

• Strawberries: You’ll need one pound of strawberries to make 2 cups chopped berries. The recipe makes 1 1/2 cups of sauce, but if you need more sauce than that, you can easily double or even triple this recipe in a larger pot. The flavor is better when using fresh berries, but you can also use frozen berries–check the FAQ section below for information on how to use frozen berries in this recipe!
• Sugar: The recipe calls for 1/3 cup granulated sugar, but you can add more or less depending on how sweet your berries are, and your personal preference.
• Lemon Juice:Just a little lemon juice brightens the sauce and deepens the sweet berry flavor. Use freshly squeezed lemon juice if you have it, but bottled juice will work as well.

Equipment

All you need are a few basic kitchen tools to make this sauce!

• Saucepan: I use a 4-quart saucepan which is the perfect size for this amount of sauce. If you’re doubling or tripling the recipe, I recommend using a larger size.
• Juicer: You can squeeze the lemon juice by hand, but I recommend using a juicer. This makes it easier to get more juice out of the lemon!
• Spatula: You’ll want to use a spatula to regularly stir the strawberry sauce as it cooks so it doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pan.
• Jars: You can store any leftover sauce in mason jars in the fridge.

📸 Photo Tutorial: How to Make Strawberry Sauce

This homemade Strawberry Sauce comes together in less than 30 minutes! Here’s a quick overview of how to make it, and for full printable instructions, visit the recipe card above.

💡 Tips and FAQs  

Make the most out of your homemade Strawberry Sauce with these helpful tips!

💭 Variations

This Strawberry Sauce is very customizable and forgiving. Here are a couple of things you can do to switch things up!

• Make another berry sauce. This recipe can be easily adapted to accommodate different berries. Try it with raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries. You can also use cherries, pitted and halved, to make a homemade cherry sauce!
• Adjust the sugar. You can adjust the amount of sugar you use depending on the ripeness of the berries. Very ripe berries will need less sugar. Under-ripe berries will need more.
• Add another flavor. Some of my favorite additions are 1 tsp vanilla extract, a shake of ground cinnamon, or adding lemon zest in addition to the lemon juice. Almond extract is another fun flavor you can try if you think it will work with the other components of your dessert.