If you love black cherries, you absolutely have to try my Mini Black Cherry Cheesecakes. There’s black cherry juice in the cheesecake batter, vanilla whipped cream on top, and cherry sauce from The Rose Table cookbook on top. These were a hit at my Summer Vineyard Picnic!
For years I’ve said that I need to post my Winged Creature Cheesecakes as a “normal looking” dessert because they were so delicious but of course are themed to a Disney Dinner. That day has finally come and they did not disappoint!
This is a cherry twist on my favorite Mini Cheesecake recipe. You of course could just bake the little cheesecakes and stop there. You don’t have to add the whipped cream and cherry sauce – or you could even just add the cherry sauce – but they’re so elegant put together this way.
These would be so gorgeous to serve for Independence Day or even, dare I say, Halloween! The cheesecakes themselves will stay good for a week in the fridge but with the whipped cream and cherry sauce, I’d say they’re good for about four days in the fridge.
Mini Black Cherry Cheesecakes
Makes 24
24 Vanilla Wafers
16 oz cream cheese, softened (full fat! don’t skimp!)
3 eggs, separated
1 14 oz can sweetened condense milk
1/4 cup black cherry juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
Optional: Vanilla whipped cream (recipe follows)
Optional: cherry sauce (recipe follows)
- Put cupcakes liners in two muffin tins. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Place a vanilla wafer in each tin.
- Separate eggs.
- In a large bowl, beat softened cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add eggs yolks and sweetened condensed milk. Beat until smooth. Stir in black cherry juice and vanilla.
- In a medium sized glass bowl, beat egg whites with salt until soft peaks form. Carefully fold egg whites into cheesecake mixture.
- Fill muffin tins 2/3 full with cheesecake mixture. Bake at 275 for 20 minutes. Cool in tins; remove from tins and chill until ready to serve.
- Top each cheesecake with vanilla whipped cream and cherry sauce.
Vanilla Whipped Cream
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
- Beat all ingredients with a metal whisk until you reach a perfect pillowy whipped cream. Do not overbeat.
Cherry Sauce
2 cups frozen black cherries
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water + 2 Tbsp, divided
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp almond extract (or 1/2 tsp vanilla if you prefer)
- Bring cherries, sugar, and water to a boil in a medium saucepan.
- Whisk together 2 Tbsp water and 1 Tbsp cornstarch until smooth; stir into cherry sauce. Return to a boil and cook for one minute or until thickened.
- Remove from heat and stir in almond extract. Let cool for about 15-20 minutes before spooning over cheesecakes.
