Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake

Luscious Vanilla Cheesecake is swirled with an ooey gooey cinnamon swirl topped with fresh whipped cream! This Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake recipe is perfect for your next party or special occasion! Step-by-step photos teach you how to bake this cheesecake recipe!

Damn Daniel this cheesecake was good!! My sister tried some and told me I should start a cheesecake business, I'd really succeed she said. I cannot lie I think I would cuz damn Cheesecake is so good and I like to think I make a mean one! I have over 20+ cheesecake recipes here on my website check them out altogether on my Cheesecake Recipe Section.

This one comes as to no surprise of my late obsession, Cinnamon Roll. I was dreaming of a cinnamon roll esque cheesecake when I was roaming the aisles of the market as I usually do.

Check out all my cheesecake baking tips here.

Let's get to the recipe.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Tips for making the best Cheesecake
• More cheesecake recipes
• Recipe Card
• Recipe Ratings & Comments

Ingredients

With any cheesecake recipe there are a few components so be patient with the ingredient list, but I promise it's not a hard recipe!

For the crust you will need:

• Vanilla Sandwich Cookies. I usually use Golden Oreos but any sandwich-style cookie will work. You will use the cookie and the filling. Just don't use double stuff!
• Ground Cinnamon. The key ingredient to this cheesecake!
• Butter. Use salted or unsalted butter it doesn't really matter.

For the cheesecake batter the required ingredients are:

• Cream Cheese. Arguably the most important step in baking any cheesecake is ensuring your cream cheese is completely softened to room temperature. If the cream cheese is too cold it will not beat into a cream silky smooth batter. To warm your cold cream cheese up you can place the foil-lined packets in a bowl of warm water for ten minutes or so, you don't want it super soft/melted though so be careful!
• Light Brown Sugar. Make sure it's fresh and not lumpy! The brown sugar helps give the whole cheesecake that base flavor profile of a cinnamon roll.
• Sour Cream. To ensure it evenly incorporates with the rest of the ingredients this needs to be at room temperature too. You could use full-fat Greek yogurt as a swap if you want!
• Pure Vanilla Extract. This helps contribute to the cinnamon roll flavor! No imitation extract please!
• Ground Cinnamon. This is a cinnamon roll cheesecake so this is a critical component!!
• Eggs. You'll use some whole eggs and some additional egg yolks, they help provide more fat and richness to the batter. Again these need to be at room temperature. You can easily do this by placing the eggs in a bowl of warm water before cracking.

Now for the cinnamon roll filling:

• Brown Sugar. I use dark or light brown.
• Ground Cinnamon. Make sure its not lumpy.
• Flour. Just all-purpose flour also is known as plain flour this helps thicken the filling.
• Butter. You'll need melted butter, use salted or unsalted.

Then we will top the cheesecake with whipped cream, I always prefer homemade whipped cream but you can use store-bought if you want. This post shows how I make my stabilized whipped cream.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C and lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan set aside.

In a food processor blend cookies and cinnamon until a fine crumb is formed then add melted butter and process to evenly combine.

Press into bottom and slightly up upsides of prepared pan.

Bake for 8 minutes, then set aside and prepare the cheesecake filling.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a large bowl with a handheld electric mixer beat cream cheese for 2 minutes on low-medium speed. The cream cheese should be smooth and creamy with no lumps, if you have lumps your cream cheese was too cold.

Scrape the bowl then add brown sugar and beat for another 2 minutes until fully combined.

Add sour cream, vanilla, and ground cinnamon and mix until just fully combined.

Add in eggs one at a time then the last two yolks.

You should have a creamy batter with no lumps. Set aside while you prepare the cinnamon filling. 

In a small-medium bowl whisk together the brown sugar, flour, and ground cinnamon.

Once fully combined add the melted butter and mix to combine. 

Pour half of the cheesecake batter into the prepared pan then dollop half of the cinnamon roll mixture on top and use a butter knife to ever so slightly swirl it a bit more, you want to leave it a bit chunky to get bites of cinnamon roll filling.

Repeat the process one more time, but on top if you leave two many big chunks you may end up with too many cracks on top of the cheesecake, a crack or two is fine since we are covering with whipped cream anyways.

 

Place the 9-inch springform pan in a 10-inch cake pan- place cake pan in roasting pan and fill roasting pan with hot water halfway up the sides of the cake pan. This prevents ANY water from getting in the cheesecake and you don't have to wrap everything with foil.

Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, the middle of the cheesecake should jiggle just a little bit. You can use an instant-read thermometer to check the internal temperature has reached 150F-155F or  65C-68C. Turn the oven off and let cool in the oven for 1 hour then take out of roasting pan and let finish cooling on the counter for an hour. Finally, wrap with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge overnight or at least 6 hours.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment beat the whipped cream dry milk powder, and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.

Using a large round tip pipe swirls all over the top of the cheesecake then use a sieve to sprinkle ground cinnamon on top. Store cheesecake in the fridge for up to 5 days in an air-tight container. Let the cheesecake sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving for best results. 

Next time try baking my cinnamon roll pound cake.

Tips for making the best Cheesecake

Popped the Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake in the oven and let it bake to perfection. When making Cheesecake I ALWAYS follow these steps:

• Bake my Cheesecake in a Springform Pan
• Place the Springform Pan in a Large Round Cake Tin
• Place the Cake Tin in a Roasting Pan and fill it with hot water, stopping halfway up the side of the cake tin
• When about the inner 2-inch diameter of the cheesecake is jiggly and the rest is set I turn the oven off and let the Cheesecake rest in the oven for 1 hour
• Take Cake Pan out of the Roasting pan and let Cheesecake cool further on a wire rack for one hour
• Wrap in plastic wrap and let the cheesecake chill overnight or a minimum of 8 hours
• When cutting the cheesecake to serve always have a hot cloth nearby to wipe the knife clean after each cut

More cheesecake recipes

Some of my other favorite cheesecake recipes are my Chocolate Chip Cheesecake recipe, honestly, I didn't know I'd fall in love with this simple cheesecake.

If you're looking for an easy one check out this no-bake cheesecake recipe.

My sisters all time favorite cheesecake recipe is this coffee cheesecake recipe.

This cinnamon roll cheesecake cake my friend Hayley makes is absolutely scrumptious!!

★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!

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Recipe Card

This post was originally carted July 13, 2016 as of October 15, 2020 the recipe and photos have been updated. The original cinnamon swirl filling was this:

Cinnamon Roll Filling

• 113 Grams or 4oz Unsalted Butter Melted
• 1 Teaspoon Cornstarch, mixed with a splash of cold water to make a slurry
• 225 Grams or 1 ¼ Cup Light Brown Sugar
• 4 Teaspoons of Ground Cinnamon

1. In a small cup add cornstarch and a splash of cold water, mixing with a fork quickly to create a "slurry".
2. In a small bowl combine the melted butter, brown sugar and ground cinnamon then whisk in the slurry.
3. Spoon dollops all over the cheesecake and using a knife swirl all over.