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Want to make a cheesecake, but need to adjust the ingredients to fit the size pan you want to use? Use this guide to help adjust my cheesecake recipes to the size you need.
I get lots of questions about recipes, but easily one of the most asked is about adjusting a recipe to a particular pan size. Cakes and cheesecakes are most asked about and today I’m talking a little bit about cheesecakes in hopes that it helps with adjusting my cheesecake recipes to various pan sizes. While I didn’t test every possible size out there, I did some testing with 7 inch, 6 inch and 4 inch pans, since those are the most asked about. I used my Classic Cheesecake Recipe and adjusted that for the different sizes.
There will of course be variations throughout my cheesecake recipes, since ingredients and bake times vary. But this should be a bit of a guide that helps give you an idea of how much of the ingredients to use and if the baking time should be roughly more, less or the same as the recipe as written for a 9 inch pan.
Here are the ingredients for my classic 9 inch cheesecake, for reference:
Crust
2 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter
3 tbsp sugar
Filling
24 oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
7 Inch Cheesecakes
When it comes to 7 inch cheesecakes, I found that reducing the recipe by 1/3 worked best. It gave a cheesecake that was very similar in height to the 9 inch, just smaller. I also reduced the crust. Here were the measurements I used:
Crust
1 cup (134g) graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp (26g) sugar
4 tbsp (56g) butter
Filling
16 oz cream cheese
2/3 cup (138g) sugar
2 tbsp (16g) all purpose flour
2/3 cup (153g) sour cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
As you look at other versions of my cheesecakes, this can hopefully be a guide for reducing the recipe by a third. Whatever additional ingredients may be used for other flavors, reducing it by 1/3 should work fine.
As for baking time, I found that it was roughly the same. I baked it for about 5 minutes less, but that was it. The total bake time for the 9 inch was 1 hour and 15 minutes, then 30 minutes of cooling with the oven closed and another 30 minutes of cooling with the oven cracked. I reduce the baking time of this one to 1 hour and 10 minutes, with the same amount of cooling. Pretty similar.
6 Inch Cheesecakes
For the 6 inch cheesecake, I actually used the same ingredient amounts as the 7 inch. It worked very well and just resulted in a little bit thicker cheesecake. So all the ingredients are still reduced by a third for this size. The baking time was just slightly more. Instead of the 1 hour and 15 minutes of baking time of the original 9 inch cheesecake, this one ended up at 1 hour and 20 minutes for me, with the same cooling times.
4 Inch Cheesecakes
The 4 inch cheesecake recipe actually makes two 4 inch cheesecakes, which seems to be how most 4 inch springform pans are sold (as a pair). If you wanted to reduce it to make one, you could simply cut these ingredients measurements in half. The only place that would be difficult would be cutting the egg in half. You could just use one egg white and it should be fine. Here were the measurements I used:
Crust
1/2 cup (67g) graham cracker crumbs
1 tbsp (13g) sugar
2 tbsp (28g) butter
Filling
8 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup (69g) sugar
1 tbsp (8g) all purpose flour
1/3 cup (77g) sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
Of course the crust is divided between the two pans as well. The baking time for these two 4 inch cheesecakes when baked in the oven at the same time and still in a water bath was 45 minutes, then 30 minutes of cooling with the oven door closed and 20 minutes with the oven door cracked.
Mini Cheesecakes
I’m occasionally asked about turning full sized 9 inch cheesecakes into minis (which I would say is a cupcake pan size). That can definitely be done, but it can be hard to say just how with certain cheesecakes that have various elements, such as my Turtle Cheesecake. While the filling itself in that one can easily be adjusted, the caramel and chocolate that are layered in the filling are a little harder to predict. That said, I’d go off of my Mini Cheesecake Recipe. It is my full sized 9 inch cheesecake cut in half, which would make 12 cupcake-sized cheesecakes. I’d cut any full-sized cheesecake in half and and use that mini cheesecake recipe as a guide. Bake times can vary, but should be relatively similar. If the filling of the cheesecake you want to use has a lot of extra “stuff” for flavoring in the filling, you may need to increase the baking time a few minutes. You can refer to that mini cheesecake recipe for the crust.
Other Cheesecake Sizes
If you’re looking for another size, I didn’t test it. You can certainly make larger cheesecakes, I just haven’t made those sizes. But you could still use this as a bit of a guide. Consider this – going from a 9 inch cheesecake to a 7 inch cheesecake I cut the recipe down by a third. That’s a two inch difference in size for a third reduction in the recipe. If you’re making an 11 inch cheesecake (which is 2 inches larger), you might consider increasing the ingredients by a third.
If you’re making a 10 inch, you could leave the recipe as-is and have a thinner cheesecake or try increasing it by a third for a thicker cheesecake. If you look at the difference between the 7 inch and 6 inch cheesecakes, they used the same amount of ingredients, but one was thicker and on was thinner. And yet, the baking time only varied by 10 minutes. So a 9 inch cheesecake baked in a 10 inch pan without changing the ingredients might only be reducing in baking time by about 10 minutes, give or take. You’ll want to keep an eye on it so that you don’t over or under bake it, but otherwise it should be fine.
How to Tell When Cheesecake is Done Baking
This is going to be important to know when adjusting a cheesecake’s size so that you can know when it’s done. You want the outer part of the cheesecake to be set and the inner couple of inches of the cheesecake to still be a little jiggly, but not look too liquidy. The top of the cheesecake should no longer look glossy and wet, but overall have a more matte appearance on top. By the time the first 30 minutes of cooling with the oven door closed is done, the center should have set.
I hope this guide helps! I get lots of these questions and it’d be very difficult for me to test every single cheesecake in every size pan, but I do want you to be successful with your adjustments and help as much as I am able. I can’t guarantee anything and I certainly don’t know what will work for other peoples’ recipes, but this should be a good general guideline for my cheesecakes. Happy baking!
I used the conversion for 6 but the recipe still called for the same size springform pan as the recipe for 12 with the same baking time. Can this be correct?
I’m not really sure what you’re asking or what recipe you’re referring to?
Can you make this printable on your page Please.
Unfortunately, the only way to turn it into a nice happy printable PDF easily is to have all that information in a recipe card. Recipe cards aren’t really set up that way for all of this information. I’m sorry!
I have a 10” pan that someone gave as a gift, it’s great for travel since it has a snap on lid but using a 9” recipe and reducing the cook time is ok, but it’s a flat cheesecake since it’s not as much filling. Any suggestions to increase the recipe for a 10”? I love all your recipes!
The multiple seems to be easiest when divided by 3, so I’d probably try increasing by 1/3. You may not be able to fit it all in the pan, but that’d be ok.
How do I give a cheese cake a bath
I have a water bath tutorial here.
Quick question. I am making a cheesecake that says you need to use a eight inch cheesecake springform pan. I only have a nine inch one. How do I convert it?
It’s going to be tough to increase the recipe amounts by the right amount, so you’d probably just want to make it as is and use your pan. The cheesecake won’t be as tall, but should be fine otherwise.
Stumbled upon your page looking for this exact topic…really appreciate you sharing your expertise here. I’m just getting into baking cheesecakes and started off with a 12-inch springform (which is all I had) and as incredible as it was, it makes a cake that’s way too big. Even a 9-inch is too large IMO unless you’ve got a huge family or are entertaining. Gonna run with the 7-inch for our “must have a cheesecake now” fix, although making personal 4-inch or even smaller ones is something I’ve gotta try. Cheers!!
I’m so glad it was helpful!
One thing I didn’t understand is on the minis (cupcake) was the adjusted time and temp for baking. I was asked to take a reg cheesecake to my brothers house for Thanksgiving but we also have to go to my bfs families house which isn’t as big and I don’t want to make two full size cheese cakes.
I link to my mini vanilla cheesecakes to use as a guide. If you have a specific question, I can try to help, but sometimes converting to minis can take a little more testing.
I have a 9x14x3 springfirm pan. I like a thick cheesecake. How do I convert your recipe
Is that a rectangular springform pan?
Hi I was wondering how long to bake pumpkin cheesecake bars in a 9×13 pan
I’m not sure. What recipe are you using?
This is great information exclamation. I would like to know how tall a 7 inch cheesecake is using your method. TYIA
I believe it was roughly 3 inches or so tall.
I want to bake a 9 in cheesecake (varied flavors) into 4.5 in cheesecakes. How do I adjust the temp and time for these?
You can find all my advice for that within the blog post. The size you are talking about, 4 1/2 inches, maybe slightly different but the adjustments are going to be quite similar.
I love your content, but I wasn’t able to find an oven temp to use as a reference. Did I just miss it? Thank you
I usually bake all of my cheesecakes at 300 degrees F. Glad to hear you enjoy everything!
Hi!! What is the oven temperature and time for the 4inch cheesecakes? Thank you!
300 degrees. The baking time for these two 4 inch cheesecakes when baked in the oven at the same time and still in a water bath was 45 minutes, then 30 minutes of cooling with the oven door closed and 20 minutes with the oven door cracked.
Hello, I was asked to do a 9x13x3 cheesecake and I just can’t find a recipe. Can you please help me
Here is my 9 x 13 cheesecake recipe. It probably isn’t a full 3 inches tall though. You may want to increase the filling.
Hi Lindsay
I have a set of four 4.5in spring pans. Would I keep things pretty much the same as your 4in recipe? Also do have a no bake version that I could use for the 4.5in pans? I have been looking everywhere and cannot find a no bake recipe for that size of spring pan.
Yes, it would work for 4 1/2 inch pans. They would just be slightly less tall. You are welcome to check out my no bake cheesecake recipe. To do a similar conversion as the baked cheesecake, you would just use a third of the recipe for two pans.
Is a water bath necessary and I’ve never done one
You can read all my thoughts on using a water bath for cheesecake in this post. I also include some pictures of with and without a water bath.
I don’t see an oven temperature posted anywhere?
This post was more about adjusting the ingredients. All of my cheesecakes use the same temperature. 325°F when baking the crust and 300°F when baking the cheesecake.
I have an order for two different mini cheesecakes, a dozen of each. This is for a sweet 16, and the colors are blue and silver. I usually use cupcake papers, but didn’t see grease proof ones that I loved. I bought baking cups, but they’re 5/8” or more taller than the cupcake papers I usually use. Doesn’t anyone sell baking cups that are the height of a standard cupcake paper? If I make my standard amount in each cup, it will look like I didn’t give the buyer the entire amount of cheesecake; they will look under-filled. But I don’t want to make the cheesecakes too much bigger than I usually do because they are part of a dessert table and will be too big, plus if I make the cheesecakes to come up to the top of the cup, it would be a thicker crust too…maybe too thick. Any ideas? Cupcake wrappers are beautiful, but they are also about 5/8” taller than the cupcake paper.
Thanks-
Elise
Are you needing an alternative wrapper because of the colors? I’m not really sure. I don’t use cupcake liners other than standard white ones. Maybe consult with the client about their preference?
Hi I would like to make small cheesecakes of different types. I have a pair of 4″ spring form molds. If I make the batter for a 9″ mold will I get 4 4″ molds worth? Thank you, love your site.
The post mentions that the 4-inch recipe makes two 4-inch cheesecakes. The recipe for the 4-inch cheesecakes is 1/3 of the 9 inch recipe. So, if you use the full 9 inch recipe, you’d get six 4-inch cheesecakes. I hope that helps!
Hello Lindsay,
Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. I have a question – I have a 12″ pan, so I’m assuming that I would increase the ingredients in your 9″ recipe by 1/3.
What about the baking time?
Thanks,
I think increasing ingredients by 1/3 would be correct. Not really sure on the bake time, since I haven’t ever made that size. I’d start checking it at the 1 hour and 20 minutes mark and go from there. Here’s a post on how to tell when your cheesecake is done. I hope that helps!
Thanks, Lindsay for the reply and the post regarding when the cheesecake is done.
Hi Lindsay
I would like to make 8 inches cake .i want to make 8 inch a cheesecake how can I just the recipe.i want cheese in the middle of layer.
How tall do you want the cheesecake to be?
Well actually I will be making your red velvet cake 2 8″ pans and you have 9 ,7,6 cheesecake recipe.I just want a layer cheesecake. I have a spring for 8 “. But I don’t want cheesecake to tall.what do you recomend?can i use the recipe 7 inches and my 8 inches pan🤔
Yes, you could use the 7 inch recipe in your 8 inch pan. That would probably be a good size.
Hi Lindsay
I did the 7 inches recipe cheesecake in a pan 8 inches .it was perfect i just reduce like 5 to 10 minutes less to cook.
Awesome! Glad it worked well!
I prefer to do cheesecake in my instant pot. The pan I have that fits is 7″ but I’ve noticed that most recipes call for a 9″ pan. I think this is just the starting point I needed to start expanding my cheesecake options.
I’m glad it’s helpful!
Love this recipe so much. Can I just add key lime juice to make it key lime or should I adjust other items?
For a key lime cheesecake, I’d check out my margarita cheesecake. Swap out the lime juice for key lime juice and replace the tequila with additional key lime juice.
Do you know what temperature the cheesecake should be before turning off the oven?
The safe internal temperature for cheesecake is 150 degrees F, although I’ve never tested my cheesecakes that way. Here’s a post to learn more about how to tell if your cheesecake is done baking.
Thank you so much for this. I have a 10″ pan and you addressed my question precisely.
Hello. If i wanted to increase (1.5) the ingredients in a recipe calling for a 7″ pan, can I do that? I need to serve a larger number of guests and the recipe I’m using says it only serves 8. Can I still use the same plan and just get a thicker cheesecake?? Any insight would be much appreciated.
It’s hard for me to say for sure when I don’t know the recipe, but you’d want to be sure it won’t overflow your pan. It would also take considerably longer to bake. Making it a larger size might be best.
What is the oven temp you bake at?
300 degrees F
This information on how to make smaller cheesecakes is very helpful. Making small cheesecakes for my senior neighbors. I would like to know if you bake your cheesecakes in a water bath? Also, any advice on how to move the cheesecake to a plate after removing sides of pan? How do you get the bottom off?
I’m glad you found it helpful. I do bake my cheesecakes in a water bath. To remove the cheesecake from the bottom of the pan, I run my offset spatula under the cheesecake to loosen it from the pan and then just slide it off. You’ll find that my recipes mention to line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, which makes sliding it off much easier. My cheesecakes should all be firm enough that you should be able to rest it on your hand while you peel the parchment paper off.
Thanks for so much! Question could you bake two 7in together in a water bath? Or do you think they will cook unevenly?
I haven’t actually tried it, but I’m thinking it should be fine as long as there’s enough water. I know by the end of baking my cheesecakes, the water has mostly evaporated. Just keep an eye on it and add more if you need to.
So making the Ultimate Tiramisu cheesecake for 6”. See you’re using 16oz cream cheese but that recipe only calls for 8oz for a 9”. Do I use full 8oz and 1/3 rest of ingredients?
I would cut everything by third for it to be accurate and get the same results as the 9 inch cheesecake.
What about height? All my cakes are 9 inch but i have 3 inch deep pans. Most recipies are for shallow 2 to 2.5 inch cakes. I like ’em tall. How do you adjust for height?
My springform pans are all about 3 inches as well. I’m not really sure how to answer your question beyond that. You can always adjust recipes and pan sizes for height if you’d like.
Hello Lindsay,
This information helped me a lot, now I love making 6-inch cakes. But I would like to know the weight of the filling by grams. I started making vegan cheesecake and I find that vegan cheesecakes tend to be smaller so I have to use a recipe meant for an 8-or 9-inch pan to get the high I want.
I was unsure of the giggle so I use a digital thermometer and bake the cakes until they reach about 145-150 degrees. But sometimes I feel like they’re still not baked all the way when they’re been in the oven for an hour to an hour and 10 minutes with a read of 150, especially my banana cream cheesecakes made with instant pudding, which I think needs a read of 170-175 degrees. I feel like this could be happening due to over mixing the filling. However, I feel like when I leave the plain cakes in the oven for longer than an hour and 15 minutes , they get dense and firm like a New York Style around the edge. I prefer soft and creamy or light and fluffy.
I hope what I am trying to explain makes sense.
So are you just asking for the weight of the filling for my regular cheesecake in a 6 inch size? I’m not sure what it is, because I have never weighed it. Sorry!
Lol, yes. I would also like to know the internal temp if you’ve ever checked.
I haven’t checked that either. I always base it on the look of the cheesecake.
Could I substitute swerve sweetener for the sugar in the cheesecake recipe
I suppose you could, but you’d need to reduce the amount.
Hi There
Great article, very very helpful!
My question is this, if I only have 1, 8oz brick of cream cheese, can I still make the 6” cake? I know it will be thinner, since it’s only using 8oz of cheese not 16oz. But will it be too thin? And what would the bake time be, roughly the same as the 4” cakes?
Thanks for any advice!
I would reduce all the other ingredients as well. Whether or not it’s too thin depends on what you’re using it for and what you need. If you cut everything by half, I’m guessing the cheesecake will be about an inch and a half tall. My guess on the baking time is somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour plus the cooling times.
How many servings per each cheesecake size? Thank you.
I’m not sure, but I’m guessing there’s a chart online somewhere.
Ty Lindsay this whole article was fabulous i never knew how to make smaller cheesecakes time ingredients etc
Ty very much
So glad it was helpful!!
Hi Lindsay.
Do I have to omit the crust if I just one the layer cheesecake for a cake?
If you are using the cheesecake to layer with a cake, I usually leave off the crust.
Thanks so much
Lindsay, I need to make a cheesecake in a 15″ x 11″ pan for a wedding. How would you adjust a 9″ recipe for this and are there any other adjustments I would need to make? I am concerned about the center cooking completely.
I honestly haven’t made a cheesecake that size. I have a 9×13 cheesecake you could reference. The vanilla base is my vanilla cheesecake with a couple slight changes for that size. You may want to increase the recipe a bit for the larger pan size.
I wonder if you can help me. If I am using a recipe for a 9 inch cheesecake, can you tell me how many 4 inch cheesecakes this will make. Thank you.
Well it might depend on the specific recipe, but I used a third of a 9 inch recipe to make one 4 inch cheesecake, so I’m guessing you could get three 4 inch cheesecakes out of a 9 inch recipe.
I love that you have shared the adjustments for different sized cheesecakes. Should the different sizes be baked at different temperatures? I’ve made 4”, 8”, 9” and 10” ones so far. With some of my recipes, after the time frame of baking them, I’ve shut the oven off, but left the cheesecake in the oven to cool and they never seem to crack with this method. I have a small baking business from my home and so far everyone loves what I’ve made for them. I love following your ideas and recipes and you inspire me. 😊
I tested them all at the same temperature.
Hi. Thank you for the information. It will surely help me to bake cheesecake better.
This is FANTASTIC!!!!!! Thank you SO much for posting this! ♥️
So glad it’s helpful!
Thank you for addressing this. The bake time question was stumping me.
Hi!! I love your cheesecake recipes, and I’m reading the article of adjusting cake sizes but the recipe is for the original cheesecake, I’d like to know how to adjust the size on tor her cheesecakes recipes (for example the Nutella cheesecake, Oreo, snickerdoodle, etc) thank you!!
So this is meant to serve as a starting point for the other recipes. I can’t test all sizes for all recipes, so I did the original cheese, which is what my others are based on. If you take a look at the ingredients of the one you want to make, I’d look and see if they are relatively similar. If so, baking time should be similar for the various times. If it’s a recipe that has more liquid or something added, it may take a little longer. But this is a starting point. I hope that helps!
What is the standard size springform pan for this recipe?
There are several recipes listed in this post and each one tells you the size pan to use.
I have made many of your cheesecake recipes and they always turn out perfect. You are my go-to when needing a recipe and I just want to say thank you. It’s hard to come across a blog with all recipes that turn out great vs just a couple.
My question about sizing: can you make a round cheesecake using a cheesecake bar recipe? Of course, you might need to adjust ingredients and bake it normally? (I’m mainly interested in turning your apple streusel cheesecake bars into a 9in cheesecake)
I’m so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed them! It’s a little harder to say with bars. The ingredients can be a little bit different. For the apple one you mention, the ingredients are a little different than my regular cheesecake. I would suggest using my classic vanilla cheesecake and swapping out the regular sugar for brown sugar and using the same spices. That’ll give you the same basic base. Then you should be able to use the streusel and apples, you just may not need quite as much since it would be a 9 inch round cheesecake instead of a 9 x 13. You would also need to decide whether or not to use the shortbread crust or the graham cracker crust. I hope that helps!
Thank you
Can I bake two cheesecakes at the same time if they are the same flavors and sizes?
I have honestly never tested that. In theory I would think that you could. But it may take considerably longer for them to both bake fully.
Would i need a water bath for the 4 inch? How many minutes would it need to bake if i did the white chocolate raspberry in a 4 inch?
Thank you so much for this! I make a LOT of your recipes and I always scroll through the comments to see your replies in case someone has asked the same question I’ve been thinking. I’ve been trying to experiment myself with different recipe combinations and pan sizes but I’m not nearly to your level yet! Your blog is definitely my #1 though!
This is a great help! Thank you for taking the time to show adjustments.
Always exciting to see what you have in store for us!
Thank you! So glad it’s helpful!
Great recipe’s but I’m in the UK where we don’t use cups so could you please put alternative measurements (grams & tablespoons), so that we can enjoy them too. Thanks!
Does the size of the pan for the water bath need to change as well?
I don’t know why I haven’t seen this before, it is so helpful. I think I can figure things out from this.
Hi Lindsay
I have tried several of your recipes and love all of them!
On cooking the mini’s would you still cook in a water bath?
So glad to hear you’ve enjoyed the recipes! And no, I don’t use a water bath for minis.
Thanks for this. It’s just what I needed to make 6 and 4 inch cheesecakes
I’m glad it’s helpful!