The best way to serve these classic mini cheesecakes is with chocolate covered strawberries on top! Check out this recipe for light and airy mini cheesecakes with a graham cracker crust – they’re a delightful twist on the typical dense and creamy cheesecake!

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mini cheesecakes on a plate with chocolate covered strawberries on top and chocolate dripping down

What makes this recipe unique

There are so many cheesecake recipes out there. Some are made with buttermilk, some with sour cream, some are no bake, some use a water bath, and some are even made in the Instant Pot. So what makes this recipe different?

The texture! These mini cheesecakes feel light and firm, but still delicate and fluffy. They’re perfect for a person, like me, who doesn’t typically enjoy the super dense, super creamy, fills-your-whole-mouth-with-custard kind of cheesecake.

The secret ingredient to this perfect texture? Whipped egg whites! I first learned this method back in the late 2000s when low-fat was still the biggest diet craze. It was in a Devin Alexander cookbook, and it shattered my world. This was the texture I’ve always been looking to recreate in a cheesecake!

Since then I have learned it is similar to the method used in Japanese cheesecakes (which are awesome, by the way).

Taste

These cheesecakes are more sweet than tangy, as they don’t contain buttermilk or sour cream. I find that the sweet vanilla cream cheese flavor of these cheesecakes compliment the chocolate covered strawberries to make a dessert that not only looks gorgeous, but tastes wonderful and is easy to please even the pickiest of palates.

Troubleshooting and what to expect

So many people have made this recipe and offered feedback now (and if you’re one of those reading this, thank you – it is invaluable). The biggest pitfall in this recipe is cave in. Due to the nature of whipped egg whites and cooking at a higher and sometimes unregulated temperature (calibrate your oven or get a cheap thermometer for accuracy), these cheesecakes are more prone to have cracks and fallen centers.

I reworked this recipe a little when I made these mini pumpkin cheesecakes in late 2019. The easiest way around this is to whip the egg whites just a little less- not to the point of stiff peaks like earlier versions of this recipe said. Whipping until the egg whites are nice and frothy, but don’t produce peaks strikes the perfect balance in texture and helps prevent those fallen centers.

However, cracks and slightly fallen centers are still expected. This gives them the perfect little well to hold your toppings, and with the top of the cheesecakes covered no one will notice imperfections.

whipped egg whites in a bowl — The ideal egg white consistency

Using dipping chocolate vs ganache

Dipping chocolate is what is typically used on a chocolate covered strawberry – it’s what gives them that crunchy chocolate shell and is what I used in the pictures. It’s delicious and awesome and hardens quickly to give that pretty drippy look, but it does make eating these a little messy and considerably less graceful.

If that is not your jam, I added the option for a ganache. It is a softer, yet still firm version of a chocolate topping, just mixed with a little cream to give it the texture of a truffle. This makes them much easier to eat with no hard outer shell to get through to that soft center.

In all, I think you’re really going to love this recipe. I make it for all kinds of occasions, from Christmas to Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, birthdays, bridal showers, and everything in between!

And if you like this recipe, you might also enjoy my other cheesecake recipes:

Until Next Time. X

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Mini Cheesecakes