Salted Honey Cheesecake
Ultra creamy and decadent, this Salted Honey Cheesecake isn’t our average cheesecake! The cheesecake is velvety and smooth in texture and features a delicate undertone of salted honey. It is surrounded by a graham cracker crust and topped with sour cream and a generous drizzling of salted honey!
Softened Cream Cheese
For this Salted Honey Cheesecake recipe, it is crucial that the cream cheese is well softened. What does that mean? Well it means that the cream cheese needs to be extremely soft! Do not use cream cheese straight out of the fridge! I personally like to pull my cream cheese out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for several hours until it is very soft in texture and at room temperature throughout.
If you’ve forgotten to pull the cream cheese out on time, cut the blocks up into cubes then place them into the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval, until the cream cheese is very soft and creamy (but not hot).
So why do you need softened cream cheese for a cheesecake? Softened cream cheese is easier to mix, making for a more uniform cheesecake! Cold cream cheese tends to be lumpier, meaning that you will most likely be left with chunks of unmixed cream cheese in your Salted Honey Cheesecake!
Making the Salted Honey Cheesecake
1. Make the crust: Add the graham cracker crumbs and sugar to a bowl, then whisk to combine. Pour in the melted butter and toss with your hands until everything is well coated and resembles wet sand.
2. Bake and cool the crust: Grease a spring form pan with baking spray, then press the crust into the bottom and up the sides of a spring form pan. I like to use a flat bottomed glass or measuring cup to really compact the crust down. Place the crust into the oven to bake for 10 minutes, then allow the crust to cool to room temperature before adding the filling.
3. Beat cream cheese: Add the softened cream cheese to the stand mixer or large bowl and beat on low until the cream cheese looks creamy and smooth – about 3 or so minutes
4. Add sugar, salt, and vanilla: Add the sugar, honey, salt, and vanilla to the cream cheese, and beat on low until everything is well-combined, smooth, and creamy looking.
5. Add eggs: Add the eggs and egg yolks in, one at a time, incorporating each one fully before adding the next one! This just ensures even mixing and no streaks of egg throughout!
6. Add cream, sour cream, and cornstarch: After all the eggs have been incorporated, add in the heavy cream and sour cream, and beat again on low until everything looks smooth, well-combined, and uniform. Add cornstarch, then beat on low until cornstarch is combined completely.
7. Bake: Take 2 pieces of tin foil and wrap them around the base of the spring form pan. Pour the filling over the cooled crust. Place the cheesecake into a large roasting pan, then pour boiling water into the roasting pan, ensuring that the water comes about halfway up the cheesecake pan. Place into the oven to bake!
8. Cool cheesecake: After the cheesecake has baked, allow the Salted Honey Cheesecake to cool in a cracked oven for about an hour. This reduces the amount of cracking. After an hour, let the cheesecake come down to room temperature on the counter, then cover with plastic wrap and place into the fridge to cool and set overnight.
8. At serving time, top with sour cream and salted honey: After the cheesecake has fully cooled and set in the fridge, remove it from the spring form pan, and spread the sour cream on top, then drizzle with salted honey. Serve immediately!
What is Salted Honey?
I read a description the other day that called Salted Honey ‘Salted Caramel’s cool hipster cousin’ – what a great description! Salted Honey is exactly as it sounds: Honey with salt in it! Similar to salted caramel, the salt in the honey helps elevate the flavor of the honey making it even more sweet and flavorful! Making it is super simple – basically just throw the honey and salt into a saucepan and heat until the honey completely dissolves into the honey. Now simply allow the salted honey to return to room temperature before using it to top the Salted Honey Cheesecake!
Get the Recipe: Salted Honey Cheesecake
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 2 ¼ cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
- 5 tbsp White Sugar
- 10 tbsp Unsalted Butter,, melted
Salted Honey Cheesecake
- 32 oz (1000g) Cream Cheese,, well softened
- 3/4 cup White Sugar
- 1/2 cup Liquid Honey
- 1 tbsp Vanilla
- 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 3 Large Eggs,, at room temperature
- 2 Large Egg Yolks,, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup Heavy Cream
- 3/4 cup Sour Cream
- 1 tbsp Cornstarch
Topping
- 1/2 cup Full-Fat Sour Cream
- 1/2 cup Liquid Honey
- 1/4 – 1/2 tsp Table Salt,, to desired saltiness
Instructions
Graham Cracker Crust
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Add graham cracker crumbs and sugar to a bowl and whisk until well combined. Pour melted butter into the bowl, then mix with a fork or your hands until the butter is well dispersed and the mixture resembles wet sand.
- Grease a 9” or 10” springform pan, then add crust into pan and press it down evenly into the bottom and halfway up the side of the pan. Use a flat bottom measuring cup to really compact the crust down.
- Place the crust into the oven to bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.
Salted Honey Cheesecake
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Prepare the cooled springform pan (with crust) by wrapping the bottom of the pan with 2 sheets of tinfoil, then set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, or stand mixer, add cream cheese and beat on low until it looks soft and creamy – about 3 minutes. Add sugar, honey, vanilla, and salt, and beat on low until very creamy – 3-4 minutes.
- Add eggs and yolks, one at a time, ensuring that each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next, ensuring that you are also scraping at the bowl as necessary.
- Add heavy cream and sour cream, then beat on low until the cheesecake filling looks creamy, smooth, and uniform. Finally, add in cornstarch then beat one last time on low until the corn starch is well-combined.
- Pour the filling over top of the cooled crust in the springform pan and lightly smooth it out, then place the cheesecake into a large roasting pan. Pour enough boiling water into the roasting pan so that it reaches about halfway up the outside of the springform pan. Place into the oven to bake for 1 ½ hours (1 hour 30 minutes). When the Salted Honey Cheesecake is done it should still be a little jiggly in the centre.
- When done, lightly crack the oven open to allow the cheesecake to slowly cool for about an hour. After an hour, remove the cheesecake from the oven and water-bath and place onto the counter to cool to room temperature. Once at room temperature, wrap with plastic wrap and place into the fridge for at least 6 hours or preferably overnight.
Topping
- Place honey and salt into a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat and stir until the salt has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and allow the salted honey to come down to room temperature.
- At serving time, remove the cheesecake from the springform pan, spread the sour cream on top, then drizzle the salted honey over top.
This was the most delicious cheese cake I ever tasted !!!!! 5 stares
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed!