Funfetti Cheesecake

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This deliciously creamy funfetti cheesecake has plenty of sprinkles inside and out! Perfect for birthdays, parties, or any celebration. This post has plenty of tips, tricks, and photos to insure you have a perfect and beautiful rainbow-filled cheesecake every time.

It’s kind of my M.O. to “funfetti-fy” my first of a kind of recipe I’ve never made before, and this funfetti cheesecake is no different.

Back track to my first biscotti (funfetti biscotti), first baked donuts (funfetti donuts), and first cinnamon rolls (funfetti cinnamon rolls), it just seems that if you’re going to try something for the first time and it doesn’t work out, the sprinkles make it all better.

This is a good theory, right?

So here we are, at my first ever cheesecake recipe, which I am so thrilled about and have one special blogging friend to thank for her pep talks and advice when tackling my first ever cheesecake recipe.

A giant “thank you” goes to my friend Elizabeth over at Confessions of a Baking Queen, who I tease should change that name of her blog to Confessions of a Cheesecake Queen, because WHOOOOOOOWEEEE she is a pro and just check out her collection of gorgeous cheesecakes.

Seriously, she is cheesecake goals, and I am so grateful that the blogging world has connected me with many folks who have taught me a thing or two about a thing or two.

That said, I am totally going to be breaking out many more cheesecake recipes in the future now that I know I can do it and the intimidation factor is totally gone.

Let me talk you out of your own head re: cheesecake, too, if that’s the kind of baker you are. If you’re a pro, you’re welcome to read along here, too, but this is, for lack of a better term, Lynn’s Cheesecake 101 (thankstoElizabeth).

Classic cheesecake is typically topped with a basic fruit sauce or curd (like lemon curd) or eaten plain, but of course, it’s always fun to jazz up the inside of classic desserts, especially when that jazziness is brought to you by sprinkles.

In reality, if you wanted to, you could leave out the sprinkles in this funfetti cheesecake recipe and be left with a gorgeous classic cheesecake.

It’s kind of like my white layer cake that gets turned into all sorts of delicious remixes like berry cake, champagne layer cake, red, white, and blue swirl bundt cake, and funfetti bundt cake.

Simple cheesecake batter, prettied up with sprinkles. That’s all that’s different about this funfetti cheesecake and a regular cheesecake.

For this funfetti cheesecake, I sliced all 4 of my blocks of cream cheese into 16 squares, put them in a large bowl, and let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours.

If you’re pressed for time, you can let the cubed cream cheese sit in a warm oven or microwave, just be sure not to melt the cream cheese, because that’s too soft.

Other ingredients will be at room temperature in more like 45 to 60 minutes. But definitely don’t skip this step, or you’ll wind up with a lumpy cheesecake.

So let’s talk about how all of those ingredients get to their final presentation.

Instead, use regular sprinkles (also known as jimmies or rods) and/or confetti quins, as these tend to bleed a whole lot less than nonpareils. I used my Fresh April Sprinkles Birthday Party blend, which is a mix of jimmies and quins.

There will be a little bit of bleeding as the sprinkles sit in the batter, so make sure your whole cheesecake batter is ready before you add the sprinkles. You should only need to stir it a few times to disperse the sprinkles evenly.

Pour the batter into the springform pan, and then quickly but gently smooth out the top.

The springform pan makes for easier removal of delicate cakes and tortes and other cakes with loose toppings. Though you can bake a cheesecake without a springform pan, know that you’ll be digging into your cake pan to remove slices and they will absolutely lose their shape (but of course, still taste perfect!).

MAKE AN EASY GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST

This is nothing fancy. Just crushed graham crackers, a little sugar, and some melted butter.

Press this mixture into the springform pan and a little bit up the sides. This does not have to be perfect. Just make sure the whole bottom of the springform pan is covered in graham cracker crust before moving up the sides. The bottom is the most important part!

And I promise a proper water bath is nothing complicated.

What you’ll do is place the springform pan (this recipe calls for a 9″ springform pan) inside a slightly larger round pan (I used a 10″ cake pan), and then put both of those into a larger cake pan (I used a 12″ cake pan) or roasting pan that you’ll fill with water (here is a bundle that includes all the pans!).

Sound confusing? It’s not. Here’s a visual.

If you don’t use that second slightly larger pan, you’ll need to wrap the entire springform pan in foil really well to insure no water gets into the cheesecake. The foil wrapped springform pan would then go directly into that pan of water.

Don’t skip that water bath!!

You’ll bake this funfetti cheesecake for quite awhile– about an hour and a half. Though I did start checking mine around 1 hour and 10 minutes.

First: visual– gently wiggle the outer/roasting pan. A finished cheesecake will jiggle just a little bit (you’re looking for a couple inch radius in just the center of the cheesecake to jiggle, not the entire top).

Second: internal temperature– you’ll want an internal temperature of 145ºF (63ºC), which you can test with a digital instant read thermometer. Just know that if you’re inserting it in the center, there will be a hole. You can, of course, cover this with something if you prefer.

Once the cheesecake has cooled for 1 hour, remove the springform pan from the inner pan and allow the cheesecake to continue cooling on a cooling rack on the counter for about 2 hours. Then, chill it in the refrigerator at minimum 6 hours, or at best, overnight.

I hope that I’ve helped take out some of the intimidation of making a cheesecake for you. I know I had a lot of reservations before I made my first one, but once you realize it’s all about patience and not really all that difficult, I’m sure you’ll have great success, too!

I can’t wait to see your beautiful funfetti cheesecake slices!