Indulge in a hauntingly delicious Halloween Cheesecake! This creamy, festive dessert is a wickedly sweet treat for any Halloween party!
Classic creamy dessert with a Halloween twist. Chocolate Oreo crust, rich vanilla-flavored cheesecake tinted orange, and torched meringue mountains that look like cute ghosts as a topping.
People all over the world love cheesecake for how creamy and delicate this sweet treat is. And if your kids’ and family’s favorite holiday is Halloween, you have to create a fun Halloween dessert!
And I think cheesecake is super versatile – you can have a classic New York cheesecake or customize it with any topping or added flavors to your liking.
So why not bake Halloween cheesecake with fluffy meringue ghosts on top? Sounds like a spooky treat kids and adults will love!
So let me share my favorite Halloween dessert that I urge you to try this fall and some tips and tricks that will help you.
Why You Should Make This Recipe
- Creamiest Halloween dessert you’ve ever had
Homemade cheesecake just hits different. Oreo cookie crust with creamy cheesecake layer, light vanilla flavor, and cute ghosts on top – this particular dessert is on my to-do list this year.
- Customize and have fun
Stick to my recipe or scroll down to get more ideas for filling and toppings.
That’s what I like about cheesecake. It is such a wonderful blank canvas that pairs well with colors, flavors, and textures – pure fun.
And this time of the year even adults are allowed to get all the candies they want so just let yourself have fun with good stuff!
- Something you can make ahead
Days get busy, and we don’t always have two full days to prep desserts and food for Halloween. Make the cheesecake base ahead, when you have more time, and freeze it until the time comes.
Key Ingredients For Halloween Oreo Cheesecake
This cheesecake is made with simple ingredients like eggs, sugar, and salt, and you will only need to have a couple of special things.
- Oreos – blended Oreos will make the perfect chocolatey crust for our cheesecake.
- Cheesecake filling – our Halloween-inspired homemade cheesecake filling will be an “American” style cheesecake with cream cheese.
- Orange food coloring. I colored my cheesecake with a food-grade dye (orange gel food coloring will also work). You can absolutely pick a different Halloween color like green, purple, or even black.
- Meringue Topping – we will make our own meringues for this cheesecake with basic ingredients like eggs and sugar.
- Cream of tartar, it is a powdery acid that is largely used in cooking or baking and helps tremendously with whipping eggs to get nice fluffy meringues. Don’t worry it is easy to find.
For the full list of ingredients with exact measurements, please refer to my recipe card below.
Kitchen Equipment You Will Need
- 9-inch Springform Pan for freezing our crust and holding the whole cheesecake
- Parchment Paper to line the baking pan. It keeps the crust from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Food Processor or ziplock bag and a rolling pin to crush our cookies for the crust.
- Electric Mixer: Hand Mixer or Stand Mixer with Whisk Attachment to properly mix the filling and the meringue. It is easier to mix the meringue with a stand mixer as it usually takes 5-6 minutes and our hands get tired quickly.
- Double Boiler or saucepan and a heat-resistant medium mixing bowl to combine the meringue mix and allow the cream of tartar to dissolve the egg whites.
- Piping bag with a large round metal piping tip will come in handy to create a spooky meringue ghost on top of the cheesecake.
- Butane torch will add finishing touches to the meringue and practically “cook” it.
How To Make Halloween Cheesecake With Meringue Topping
The whole process takes 2 days, as we need our cheesecake to sit in the fridge overnight.
Steps 1 and 2 can be done ahead on Day 1 and they take about 2.5-4 hours.
Steps 3 and 4 can only be done after the cheesecake has been set (best overnight) but they take very little time, a maximum of 30 minutes before you can finally serve the dessert!
Another fair warning, this recipe requires baking. I know not everyone has time for this so I will share a no-bake idea below.
Step 1 Making The Cookie Crust
- Coat the bottom and the sides of the springform pan with cooking oil or nonstick spray.
- Blend the Oreos in a food processor or blender until they become fine crumbs.
If don’t have these appliances, place the Oreo cookies in the ziplock bag and roll them with a good old rolling pin (or a bottle).
- Transfer the cookie crumbs to a mixing bowl and add the melted butter.
- Stir with the fork until combined.
- Transfer this mixture to the prepared springform pan. Press into the bottom of the pan evenly. The flat bottom of a small glass or the back of a spoon works perfectly for this.
- Place the crust in the freezer while you make the filling.
Step 2: Baking Cheesecake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Blend the cream cheese with a stand or hand mixer until smooth in a large bowl on medium high speed.
- Add the sugar, flour, and salt. Blend again until combined.
- Add each egg to the cream cheese mixture one at a time, mixing in between each addition. Make sure to get everything from the sides of the bowl to mix well.
- On the last egg, also add the sour cream, vanilla extract, and orange food dye. Mix the colored batter on low speed one more time until smooth.
Be sure to add just a few drops of the food coloring at a time and mix in between each addition until the desired Halloween orange color is achieved.
Keep in mind that the color may intensify during the baking process. With food coloring, I use 10 drops maximum.
- Remove the chilled crust from the freezer and pour the orange cheesecake filling on top of the crust.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes or until the edges of the cheesecake are set and the center is still a bit jiggly. Then turn off the oven and open the oven door. Let it sit in the warm oven to finish baking for another hour.
- Once the cheesecake is done, remove it from the oven and let it cool to room temperature. Fair warning, sometimes it can take up to 2 hours.
- Then cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator overnight before decorating.
Step 3: Meringue Topping
Make this just before decorating and serving.
Only proceed after the cheesecake is chilled overnight in the refrigerator.
- Combine the egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in a safe bowl.
- Place the bowl on top of a double boiler with 2 inches of water in it – over medium-high heat.
- Whisk until the sugar and cream of tartar dissolve into the egg whites. The mixture will become thin and frothy when ready.
- Transfer the mixture to a stand mixer with a whisk attachment.
- Carefully beat on high until it becomes thick, and glossy and forms stiff peaks. (About 6 minutes)
- The meringue is done when you pull the whisk out, flip it over and the peak stays up.
- Transfer the meringue to a piping bag with a large round metal piping tip.
Step 4: Serving
- When ready to serve, pipe the meringue topping in large round ghost-like mounds on top of the cheesecake, covering the whole cake.
- Toast with a butane torch on medium by gently moving the torch across the meringue topping until golden brown.
If you have any leftover Oreos, use them as decoration for the cake too!
I hope your family will love this delicious cheesecake and you’ve just added a new recipe to your cookbook 🙂
Halloween Cheesecake Ideas & Variations
- No-bake recipes and alternatives.
The obvious difference will be the baking time of course. For no-bake recipes, we put cheesecake batter in the refrigerator to let it set.
You can also use water bath or even a slow cooker, though I am yet to try how this technology handles cheesecakes.
In my opinion, all baking methods produce a smoother, more velvety texture, but any method if done right makes a yummy sweet dessert.
- Cheesecake flavor and filling ideas.
I keep it classy and go with New York-style cheesecake.
But you can also add strawberries, crushed Oreo cookies, a couple of teaspoons of vanilla extract, lemon zest, sprinkles, and leftover cookies.
- Halloween cheesecake can come in many shapes and forms!
You can do the whole cake as I did, mini Halloween cheesecakes, Halloween cheesecake brownies or cheesecake bars, or simply make a different shape, say rectangular.
Serving cheesecake in individual cups is definitely less messy to eat, but I feel like it adds more time to prep and decor as you will have to decorate each one of them.
For baking mini cheesecakes, you can use a muffin tin lined with cupcake liners (to prevent sticking and also make it easier for us to remove cheesecakes from the baking tray).
- Decorating ideas for your Halloween cheesecake
More Fun Ideas
If ghosts are not your thing or you are not a big fan of meringue, you can add eyeball truffles, pumpkin candies, candy corn (or any kind of Halloween candy), gummy worms, whipped cream stars, cookie tombstones, Halloween sprinkles, marshmallow ghosts, spiders with cobweb design, and any Halloween-themed edible little things.
The ghosts don’t have to always be meringue or whipping cream too. You can use white chocolate. Just prepare the melted chocolate and make ghosts!
The options at the grocery store during the spooky season are quite literally endless.
I understand the excitement of buying all the different candies but try to keep in mind how different colors play together, the taste (overpowering sweetness or simply not matching flavors), and just the overall look.
Halloween Cheesecake Recipe
Sometimes less is more, you know.
- Add googly eyes to the ghosts’ faces. Before Halloween, you can easily buy edible candy eyes of any size.
- Meringue alternatives. If you would like to skip meringue, no problem – use heavy cream instead to make whipped topping.
The ingredients are simple (heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract) and the only thing you need to do is to mix them in one large bowl and beat the mixture until soft peaks form.
A completely different route is also possible, you can replace whipped cream or meringue with a rich chocolate ganache or even a curd glaze, or even melted marshmallows!
- Go big, use layers. Cheesecake can also serve as just one of the layers in your cake or simply a very rich top even layer on a soft cake base.
You can add chocolate chips, fruits, funfetti, berries, citrus flavors, or anything else to the cake base, or keep it simple.
This cake sounds like an amazing idea too, but it can also mean…more baking time.
How To Store Meringue Cheesecake Before And After Halloween Party
After the Halloween party, you can store the cheesecake in the refrigerator in an airtight container or tightly wrapped to keep it fresh and moist.
Cheesecake will last in the refrigerator for 2 to 7 days.
This also makes it a good make-ahead dessert recipe. You can prepare the cheesecake base and refrigerate it for a few days and only decorate before serving.
As for freezing, cheesecake itself is perfectly fine for freezing. A cheesecake can be frozen for up to two months and then it starts losing flavor and texture.
Even the meringue topping can be stored in the refrigerator for a day or two or in the freezer for months.
Tips To Make This Halloween Cheesecake Recipe
- Always use room-temperature ingredients for baking. They blend and mix more easily, saving you time and nerves.
- Full-fat cream cheese is always the best choice for making cheesecake at home. Doesn’t matter if you using a baking or no-bake method.
- Do not use Double-Stuf Oreos. They have a lot of sweet cream that can make the cake too sweet and also increase how much butter the recipe has.
- Halloween parties call for family-friendly recipes. And while it is absolutely one of those, make sure to keep the butane torch out of reach of little hands for their own safety.
- Mixing speed is important. The cream cheese needs medium speed or medium-high speed, but when we add other ingredients, like sour cream, sugar, and food coloring, we need to use low speed, otherwise we will overbeat the mixture which creates too much air inside the cheesecake and leads to cracks and sinking.
- Sugar trick. If you feel like the granulated sugar you are using is too gritty, swap it with powdered sugar. It is a preference thing, I’m always using regular granulated sugar and it is thin enough for me.
- Cheesecake add-ons for texture. This is totally optional, but if you’ve already tried this recipe and you want that extra silky texture for the cheesecake filling, gently fold some homemade whipped cream (or Cool Whip) or double cream into the cheesecake mixture in step 2.
- To remove the cheesecake from the springform pan without damaging it or leaving delicious parts on the sides of the pan, use the regular silicone spatula and go over the edges to make sure the cheesecake doesn’t stick to the sides of the pan. Only then unlock and remove the outer ring of the pan.
- Serving tip. Sometimes cheesecakes are not easy to cut nicely. The key here is to first let the cheesecake warm up to room temperature when you take it out of the fridge, and second – use a warm knife to cut it! Works like magic every time I use this trick!
Popular Questions
How Long Does Cheesecake Take To Set?
The cheesecake needs a minimum of 4 hours of chilling before it can be served.
If you don’t have enough time to let the cheesecake set overnight, do at least 4 hours.
But I have to say, I prefer the taste and texture better when the cheesecake had more time to set, at least 8-10 hours.
Can I Use a Water Bath To Cook Cheesecake?
To make this easy Halloween dessert you can absolutely use a DIY water bath.
It is called water bath because we practically use a pan of water and place cheesecake in it like in a bath to cook.
Water bath cooking method is a great way to control the even and slow baking of the whole cheesecake without cracks or sinking parts.
But it does require a little bit more effort, a bit more time, and at least 3 baking pans or foil.
You stack the baking pans like in a Russian doll, making sure our springform pan is on top, fitted in a larger pan, and again in one last larger round pan.
To put it into perspective, the recipe calls for a 9 inch springform pan. To set up a waterbath, we will put the 9” pan into a 10” pan and then into a 11-12” pan.
A rule of thumb is to use around 1 inch bigger cake pan each time, but not significantly larger or of a different shape as it will cause uneven cooking.
If you are not such a baking fan and don’t have all 3 sizes, you can skip the middle one (10”) and instead tightly wrap the springform with the cheesecake with foil.
This is a very important step, as the foil will protect the cheesecake from water. And we don’t want any water getting into the cake.
Once the setup is complete, fill half of the largest pan with hot water and place in the oven.
The water bath method takes around 90 to 110 (almost two hours) minutes to bake cheesecake.
There is no one better way to make cheesecakes, everyone picks one for themselves. I occasionally do no-bake or traditional baking recipes, but I rarely use water bath simply because of the complex setup.
How To Tell When The Cheesecake Is Done?
Well-baked cheesecake will have a small circle of 1-2 inch right in the center that still jiggles when you shake the pan.
This is totally normal since once the baking time is over, we still leave the cheesecake in the warm oven to slowly finish the cooking process.
It gives us a moist, uniform in texture, cheesecake.
If you slightly shake the springform pan and the whole cheesecake top moves, it is not done yet.
Now, if nothing jiggles at all, our cheesecake may be a bit too dry.
If you like precision, you can also use a baking thermometer. You are aiming at 145ºF (63ºC) internal temperature. Once you hit it, turn off the oven.
If you love this holiday dessert recipe, you’re going to love these other treats too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!
More Great Cheesecake Recipes
Easy No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
DON’T MISS THESE HOLIDAY E-BOOKS!
CONNECT WITH YUMMI HAUS!
Be sure to follow me on my social media, so you never miss a post!
Halloween Cheesecake
Ingredients
Oreo Crust
- 1 cup Oreos blended to crumbs
- ½ cup butter – melted
Cheesecake Filling
- 24 ounces cream cheese
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Orange Food Dye
Meringue Topping
- 4 egg whites
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Crust
- Prepare the springform pan by coating the bottom and up the sides of it with cooking oil.
- Blend the Oreos in a food processor or blender until they become crumbs.
- Transfer the crumbs to a mixing bowl and add the melted butter.
- Stir with the fork until combined.
- Transfer this to the prepared springform pan. Press into the bottom of the pan evenly. The flat bottom of a small glass works perfectly for this. Place it in the freezer while you make the filling.
Filling
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Blend the cream cheese with a stand or hand mixer until smooth.
- Add the sugar, flour, and salt. Blend again until combined.
- Add each egg to the mixture one at a time, mixing in between each addition.
- On the last egg, also add the sour cream, vanilla extract, and orange food dye. Mix one more time until smooth. Be sure to add just a few drops of the food coloring at a time and mix inbetween each addition until the desired Halloween orange color is achieved. Keep in mind that the color may intensify during the baking process.
- Remove the chilled crust from the freezer and pour the orange cheesecake filling on top of the crust.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes or until the edges of the cheesecake are set and the center is still a bit jiggly. Then turn off the oven and open the oven door. Let it sit in the warm oven to finish baking for another hour.
Meringue Topping – make this just prior to decorating and serving
- Combine the egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in a heat-proof mixing bowl.
- Place the bowl on top of a double boiler with 2 inches of water in it – over medium-high heat.
- Whisk until the sugar and cream of tartar dissolve into the egg whites. The mixture will become thin and frothy when ready.
- Transfer the mixture to a stand mixer with a whisk attachment.
- Carefully beat on high until it becomes thick, and glossy and forms stiff peaks. (About 6 minutes)
- The meringue will be done when you pull the whisk out, flip it over and the peak stays up.
- Transfer the meringue to a piping bag with a large round metal piping tip.
Decorate
- Once the cheesecake is done, remove it from the oven and let it cool to room temperature. Then cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator overnight before decorating.
- When ready to serve, pipe the meringue topping in large round ghost-like mounds on top of the cheesecake, covering the whole cake.
- Toast with a butane torch on medium by gently moving the torch across the meringue topping until golden brown.
Equipment
- 9-Inch Springform Pan
- Parchment Paper
- Food Processor/Blender
- Hand mixer
- Stand Mixer w/ Whisk Attachment
- double boiler
- piping bag
- Large Round Metal Piping Tip
Nutrition
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate. Please double-check with your own dietary calculator for the best accuracy. We at Yummi Haus cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
Reader Interactions
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Share Your Thoughts