Ultra creamy homemade cheesecake swirled with sweet blueberry sauce. All on top of my favorite buttery graham cracker crust.
Hello, gorgeous.
If I had to choose a dessert to enjoy for the rest of my life (and there would be no savory food allowed at all in this dream), I would absolutely choose cheesecake. Or apple pie. With a never-ending supply of peanut butter on the side. But definitely cheesecake, too.
This is why I have a dessert blog.
This show-stopping blueberry swirl cheesecake needs to come with a warning label. Really, it does. Cheesecake so creamy, a graham cracker crust so buttery, and blueberry swirls sooo swirly. You will not be able to stop at one sliver. Dangerous, I tell ya!
The best (most dangerous?) part: you can easily use frozen blueberries in this cheesecake recipe, making this a fruity dessert you can enjoy year round.
Don’t be intimidated by cheesecake. That sounds hilarious when you say it out loud, but seriously! I know making a cheesecake sounds tricky, but it really is not. As long as you read through the directions ahead of time, you can handle it.
I know what you’re thinking—why is my springform pan wrapped in aluminum foil?! Make sure you read my post about how to avoid cheesecake cracks.
This blueberry swirl cheesecake sits on a graham cracker crust. The recipe is basically the same as my traditional graham cracker crust, but with slightly less butter since cheesecake is so heavy and wet. The crust turns out buttery, soft, and crunchy at the same time. Don’t forget to pre-bake the crust as the recipe instructs below, otherwise your crust will be crumbly and not really stick together.
The cheesecake filling is my favorite base for cheesecake—the same recipe I use to make my Cookies ‘n Cream Cheesecake on page 74 in my cookbook. Have you tried it yet? If so, then you know why it’s my go-to. Creamy, thick, and melt-in-your-mouth fantastic.
Make sure you plan ahead because this cheesecake has a few stages. First, it takes awhile to bake through. Second, it must sit in the oven after baking as the oven cools down—this is another trick to avoid cheesecake cracks. Then, once the cheesecake is room temperature, you must chill it. Because of all these steps, this is a great recipe to begin the night before; that’s exactly what I did before I brought it to a family dinner.
I used leftover blueberry sauce from the swirl to spoon on top of the cheesecake. I could drink this sweet blueberry sauce with a straw. Maybe throw some whipped cream on top of the slices too. Why not?!
The blueberry swirl is similar to my blueberry sauce recipe; today’s is a bit thicker for the cheesecake.
More Cheesecake Recipes
- Cheesecake Recipe
- Mini Cheesecakes
- Amaretto Cheesecake
- Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
- No Bake Cheesecake
- Snickers Cheesecake
- Cheesecake Pie
Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
- Yield: serves 12
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Ultra creamy homemade cheesecake swirled with sweet blueberry sauce. All on top of my favorite buttery graham cracker crust. Your guests will beg for seconds!
Ingredients
Blueberry Sauce
- 2 teaspoons (6g) cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) warm water
- 2 cups (380g) fresh or frozen blueberries*
- 2 Tablespoons (25g) granulated sugar
Crust
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) graham cracker crumbs (about 12 full sheet graham crackers)
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, melted
Filling
- 24 ounces (678g) full-fat block-style cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (240g) full-fat sour cream (or yogurt), at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Make the blueberry sauce first: Whisk the cornstarch, lemon juice, and warm water together in a small bowl until the cornstarch has dissolved. Set aside. Warm the blueberries and sugar together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir continuously for 3 minutes until the blueberry juices begin to release. Add the cornstarch mixture and continue to stir for another 2–3 minutes, smashing some blueberries as you go. The mixture will start to thicken. Remove from heat and put the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl (to separate the cooked berries and the juice). Keep separated and set both (the cooked berries and the juice) aside.
- Make the crust: If you’re starting out with full graham crackers, use a food processor or blender to grind them into fine crumbs. Pour into a medium bowl and stir in sugar until combined, and then stir in the melted butter. Mixture will be sandy. Try to smash/break up any large chunks. Pour into prepared pan and with medium pressure using your hand, pat the crumbs down into the bottom and partly up the sides to make a compact crust. Do not pack down with heavy force because that makes the crust too hard. Simply pat down until the mixture is no longer crumby/crumbly. Tips: You can use a small flat-bottomed measuring cup to help press down the bottom crust and smooth out the surface, but do not pack down too hard. For more shaping technique tips, see the graham cracker crust recipe page.
- Wrap aluminum foil on the bottom and tightly around the outside walls of the springform pan. Bake the crust for 10 minutes. Allow to slightly cool as you prepare the filling.
- Make the filling: Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and granulated sugar together on medium speed in a large bowl—about 3 full minutes until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the sour cream and vanilla, beat until combined. On low speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until just blended. Do not over-mix the filling after you have added the eggs.
- Pour the filling into the crust. Drop spoonfuls of the smooth blueberry sauce onto the batter. Using a knife, gently swirl as shown in the photo above. If you have leftover blueberry sauce, mix it with the cooked blueberries you set aside. Save for topping the baked cheesecake.
- Place the aluminum foil-wrapped springform pan into a large roasting pan and place into the oven. Fill with about 1 inch of hot water. The foil wrapped around the pan will prevent water from leaking inside. Read more about preventing cracks in cheesecake with a cheesecake water bath.
- Bake for 50–60 minutes or until the center is almost set.* Turn the oven off and open the door slightly. Let the cheesecake sit in the oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight (preferred). Loosen the cheesecake from the rim of the pan and remove the rim. Cut into slices and serve chilled. Top with remaining chunky blueberry sauce, if desired. Cover leftover cheesecake and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: You can easily freeze this cheesecake for up to 2 months. Cover tightly and freeze. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
- Blueberries: If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw.
- Avoid overbaking the cheesecake. When the cheesecake is done, there will still be a 2- or 3-inch wobbly spot in the center; the texture will smooth out as it cools.
- Non-US Readers: Don’t have graham crackers where you live? Use 200g ground digestive biscuit crumbs (about 2 cups; 13–14 biscuits), 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar, and 6 Tablespoons (85g) melted butter. Pre-bake the crust for a bit longer, about 12–14 minutes. And from what I understand, spreadable cream cheese sold in a tub in countries outside of the US is a little different from the spreadable cream cheese in the US. It’s thicker, sturdier, and more solid and should be OK to make this pie. I have no experience with it, but this is what I’ve heard from other non-US readers. If you try it, let us know how it turns out!
Keywords: blueberry swirl cheesecake, blueberry cheesecake
I made this as a trial run for Mother’s Day and it came out so great! I want to make another cheesecake, but this time as a Biscoff cheesecake. I was thinking of doing a Biscoff cookie crust, and then mixing in a small amount of Biscoff spread into the batter and/or melting Biscoff spread and then swirling it through, like the blueberry sauce above. (And then topping with Biscoff cookies!) Would you suggest I keep the other ingredients the same- sugar, sour cream, etc.? I was thinking 1/4 cup to mix into the batter, and 3/4 cup to swirl on top? Should I keep everything else the same? Thank you!!
Hi Tiffani! I have the solution for you– use this peanut butter cheesecake recipe and swap in biscoff spread for the peanut butter. And leave out the Butterfingers of course 🙂 (or not!!) The two recipes are pretty similar. I think you’ll love it with Biscoff! Also– you can swirl another 1/4 cup on top of the cheesecake batter before baking.
Hi Sally
Just wondering – if i wanted to gift this to someone and didn’t want to give them the base of my springform tin, how would you suggest that I transfer it to a cake board?
I’m skeptical about using parchment as I won’t be able to peel it off the base because I can’t exactly treat it like a cake and just turn it onto a plate. Sliding it off seems a bit daunting – the base of my pan isn’t so flat!!
Any advice appreciated 🙂
thanks for your posts, love and trust your recipes!!
Hi Dan! How about lining the bottom and up the sides of the springform pan with parchment paper? Then after it has chilled, loosen and remove the sides of the springform pan and slowly pick up and transfer the entire cheesecake to a different plate.
This was my first time making cheesecake so naturally I was a tad nervous with the outcome, but following this recipe I can honestly say WOW. Perfection ! My boyfriend is obsessed with cheesecake and he was drooling over his birthday blueberry cheesecake. The filling came out perfectly creamy and sweet and not overly cheesy. The crust was nice and crunchy had no problem sticking together. Honestly by the taste and look you’d think you got this cake from a professional bakery. Thanks Sally!
Hi Sally
I wanted to make this cheesecake and cut it into miniature squares for an afternoon tea party, what size square or rectangular pan should I use? Should I line this pan with foil to make removal easier?
Thanks
P.S. Your red velvet cake recipe is the best I’ve ever tasted
Fay– how about an 11×7 rectangle pan. I’m unsure of the bake time, but I know that size would be best. I fear 9×13 would be too large and a square 9×9 is too short– the cheesecake bars would be VERY tall.
Made this cheesecake over the weekend and not only was it beautiful, it tasted wonderful! Thank you for a very good cheesecake recipe.
Thank you for your detailed instructions and beautiful visuals. I made this cheesecake for a birthday in my home and we LOVED it!
Will this same recipe work for a 10″ springform pan??
Yes– the cheesecake will be a little thinner and take a little less time to bake.
So so so so so so so delicious!!!!!!! Thank you for the recipe, I will be making this again and again 🙂
Hi Sally!
I tried this recipe and everyone loved the cheesecake! It was rich and creamy and delicious! I made a strawberry cheesecake and a blueberry one and they both tasted great. For the strawberry topping I used quartered strawberries and I ended up making two batches of strawberry topping since it didn’t make as much topping sauce as the blueberry one. I had a little trouble with my water bath leaking into my blueberry cheesecake even after I foiled it but I guess next time I just need to foil it better since my strawberry cheesecake turned out fine. To try to fix my soggy blueberry cheesecake base so I just put the entire cheesecake back in the oven and baked it at the same temperature for maybe 10-15 minutes more without the water bath and the cheesecake still turned out fine. The crust was a little moist still but nothing really noticeable. And overall I only had two tiny cracks in the blueberry cheesecake from the first attempt at baking it but they were no big deal. This was my first time making cheesecake and I’m overall really happy with how it all turned out. Thanks for the recipe and I can’t wait to try more of them!
Sincerely,
Kelly
Absolutely delicious and easy to make. I added 3 tbls lime juice and 1 tbls flour to this recipe to make it a Key Lime cheesecake and it was marvelous. I’ll use this recipe as the base for any other versions of cheesecake I choose to make.
Hi Sally,
Just wanted to say thank you! I made your blueberry layer cake last year for my daughters’ birthdays and it was delicious! This year they requested this blueberry cheesecake. I was a little intimidated to make a cheesecake from scratch, but it was pleasantly surprised by how great it came out. It just as yummy as it was pretty! Everyone in the family LOVED it!! It’s probably the best dessert I’ve ever made. Your recipes never fail and your detailed instructions give me the confidence to be a more adventurous baker. 🙂
Thanks again!
Janine
Hi Sally, I’ve baked this cheesecake twice and it’s absolutely yum. I’m not a cheesecake fan and even I loved this! I face one issue however.my baking time comes down to 35 mins otherwise it starts Browning and burning the top. Is such. Large time difference normal? Thanks
Is the cheesecake baked through after only 35 minutes? I suggest (1) picking up an oven thermometer because your oven temperature may be off (2) slightly lowering your oven temperature and (3) loosely covering the top of the baking cheesecake with aluminum foil to avoid browning on top. I hope these help!
Hi Sally! Just wondering, could I fold some blueberries into the batter itself or would they sink to the bottom?
I don’t anticipate them sinking. Feel free to add them.
Hi! I’m making this Blueberry cheesecake for my mom. And I bought plain yogurt instead of sour cream. Is it okay to use it as a substitute? 🙂 And also i’m not using fresh blueberries. Instead, i use blueberry fillings that is in can. Is it okay to use it?
Plain yogurt is OK. I’ve never used pre-made blueberry filling here, but I assume it should be fine.
Hi! I came across your divine looking recipe and gave it a try today! I have only ever cooked one other cheesecake in my life (oreo) which was lovely. Today I baked this blueberry one exactly as you mentioned, leaving nothing out. Mine browned more than yours did, so I’m wondering how to prevent that next time? It’s not burnt or anything, it just doesn’t have that nice crisp white like yours does, which tends to make the blueberry swirls a bit dull.
Thanks for any tips!
Luana
I suggest lowering the rack of your oven (if you did not already do so) and baking the cake on a lower rack. Also, loosely cover the cake with aluminum foil during the last 30 minutes or so of bake time.
Hi Sally I love your recipes so much!:)
Ive never done a cheesecake before so I’m crossing my fingers on this one, but it looks amazing. I wanted to substitute either strawberries or raspberries instead of the blueberries. Should I still be using two cups of those like I would with the blueberries or should it be different? thanks:)
2 cups for either berry works. Enjoy!
hey sally!
Your Recipes are great. Love this cheesecake- it turns out perfectly.
Just the crust gets Kind of wet and is not crispy!
Can you help me?
Greetings from Europe 🙂
Try pre-baking it for a few more minutes Anna. This should help– you can also reduce the butter in the crust by 1 Tablespoon. So, 5 Tablespoons total.
This is my first time making a cheese cake, I was a little nervous to say the least. I have to admit it wasn’t that hard. Followed the instructions. It’s in the refrigerator as we speak. I am a little worried because the top is a little darker than that in the picture. The blue berries are fantastic. Can’t wait to try it.
*update* absolutely the best cheesecake!! Even my daughter liked it. Thank you for the recipe.
This cheesecake is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. Cheesecake had always been my favorite dessert but I was always so intimidated to make my own because recipes make it seem so daunting. Your recipes are always a success for me, so I thought I would make your cheesecake. Best. Decision. Ever. And that’s saying a lot considering I’m always making your chewy chocolate chip cookies and cake batter chocolate chip cookies and everyone knows how wonderful those recipes are. Thank you for making a cheesecake recipe that’s easy to follow AND delicious! Since I love your recipes, I wanted to ask you a question: do you have any advice for Oreo cheesecakes???
Hi Nancy! I’m so glad you love my recipes so much. And this cheesecake especially. I love it too. I do have a recipe for Oreo Cheesecake, it is in my cookbook if you have a copy. It’s pretty similar to this one. It has chopped Oreos inside the batter.
Hi Sally, I have not seen any Graham crackers here in Geneva, is there any alternative that i can use for the cheesecake? Please inform. I would really appreciate hearing from you very soon. Thank you very much. Have a great day!
You can use digestive biscuits (Vollkornkeks).
Hi, I just made this and is in the oven now, but is just realized I used 4-8 oz. packages of cream cheese instead of 3. Will my cheesecake be ruined?
Hi Katie, your bake time may be slightly longer. And the cake may have an extra thick texture because of the extra cream cheese.
Can the sauce be made with different fruit, such as strawberries?
Definitely!
My brother asked for a blueberry cheesecake for his birthday and I came across this recipe. It was so easy to make and was so so good! Everyone loved it. Will definitely be making this one again!
Absolutely beautiful recipe Sally! My family couldn’t get over how light and flavoursome the filling was, with a lovely buttery biscuit base, and that SAUCE! They all wanted more blueberry sauce, so I will double the amount next time (even though honestly the recipe yields more than enough – we must just be sauce fiends).
Such wonderful and clear instructions as well, thank you so much for all your recipes, they never fail to wow.
I blogged your recipe with a link to here, hope that’s ok 🙂 Rosie
This was the best cheesecake I’ve ever made!! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! This will definitely be my go to cheesecake recipe from now on!
I just made this cheesecake today, and it was FANTASTIC!! I read all of your instructions and tips ahead of time, and it really paid off! It came out perfectly! Thanks again for all of your detailed instructions. They are the reason I’m 3 for 3 with your recipes (and counting)! 🙂
Hi Sally,
Thank you so much for your recipe. Me and my little one love it. But I have a questions ;
– how can I keep the crust crispy ? as I think it absorbs the moist from the cheese. Or this is normal.
– I also found melted butter on the edge of the pan. Do I did something wrong ?
Thank you again.
Hi Pat! You can try to reduce the butter in the crust. Maybe go for 4 Tablespoons next time.
Made this cheesecake last night -followed all the directions and it still cracked after I losened the pan tonight but that’s ok -it was stil delicious . I will have to practice making the swirls -yours are perfect ! My daughter was over for dinner and I got your cookbook out -she ohhhed and ahhed so loud! She’s going to mske the cake batter cookies that I am now famous for -but I always give you credit 🙂
I don’t own a spring form pan but I really want to make this recipe. Is there something i can use instead of this?
I don’t have any suggestions unfortunately; cheesecakes don’t come out of regular cake pans very well when cut.
HI Sally: When wrapping the cheesecake pan in foil, do you ever have any problems with water leaking into the pan? I know the foil is to prevent leakage; does it really work? As with the other commenters, I love your blog, and I come back to it for desserts more and more.
Hi Karen, I’ve never had that problem before. You can always use heavy duty aluminum foil if you are worried about leakage through regular. Thanks for following my blog!