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Trust me when I say you should make this S’mores Cheesecake. The combination of thick and creamy chocolate cheesecake, melty toasted marshmallows and a crunchy graham cracker crust is totally to die for!
Want another irresistable s’mores dessert recipe? Check out my tasty S’mores Chocolate Pie!
S’mores Cheesecake Recipe
Get pumped because this week is S’mores Week!! A bunch of wonderful bloggers will be bringing you s’mores inspired desserts all week long!
So it rained here a good bit of the weekend. It finally stopped Sunday, but it stayed wet and dark and cloudy even when the rain stopped. Fortunately it wasn’t also cold.
But all that rain meant indoor activities which meant a lot of chillaxin’ on the couch and checking out stuff on Netflix.
Saturday morning, the hubs slept in. I didn’t. I don’t seem to be able to do that anymore and it makes me sad. Between my inability to be able to sleep late and my back still bothering me, I was up early.
So I baked and watched Dirty Dancing. 🙂 A serious classic. I’ve been watching it since I can’t even remember when. I was 3 when it came out and I may have been watching it since then.
Since I was so young when I started watching it, I had no idea of all the stuff that was going on. I just loved the dancing. But it still amazes me that I feel like very time I watch it, I realize another little thing that happened that I didn’t pick up on before. It just makes me love the movie more and more.
I’ve been listening to the soundtrack all week too. I go through phases with this stuff. 🙂
Another phase I’m going through? S’mores. My kitchen has been full of marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers galore! This cheesecake was first up!
Tips for Making a S’mores Cheesecake
I put marshmallows and chocolate sauce in the bottom of the cheesecake to give it extra gooey and melty-ness. It’s hard to tell because they kind of blend into the cheesecake, but if you look at the bottom, you can see how extra awesome it looks.
Because of the marshmallows baking into the cheesecake, they bubble up a little while it bakes which will leave small cracks on the top of the finished cheesecake, but those get covered up with melted marshmallows, so it’s all good. You could leave them out if you want (if won’t change the cooking time), but I do recommend you keep them. Serious yum.
Once the cheesecake has cooled, the marshmallows get melted in the oven on convection bake. The cheesecake will warm up a bit, but honestly that’s one of the things I love about this cheesecake. It warms up just enough to be s’mores-like, but still has a little chill in the center. Perfection.
Even after I chilled it again and the marshmallows got cold, I’d microwave my pieces for about 10-15 seconds. Can’t beat melty marshmallows. You just can’t.
A bite of this cheesecake is just heavenly. The chocolate cheesecake is rich, super chocolatey, smooth and creamy. And when paired with melty marshmallows and a sweet graham cracker crust, it’s completely irresistible.
S’mores Cheesecake Recipe
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 Slices 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Trust me when I say you should make this S’mores Cheesecake. The combination of thick and creamy chocolate cheesecake, melty toasted marshmallows and a crunchy graham cracker crust is totally to die for!
Ingredients
CRUST
- 1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 5 tbsp butter, melted
CHEESECAKE FILLING AND TOPPING
- 24 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp flour
- 3/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa powder
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
- 1/2 cup hot fudge topping, warm, plus more for topping (I used Hershey’s Hot Fudge Topping )
- 45–50 large marshmallows, for topping
Instructions
1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, combine crust ingredients and mix well.
3. Press mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper in the bottom.
4. Bake crust for 10 minutes then remove.
5. Cover the outsides of the pan with aluminum foil so that water from the water bath cannot get in, and set aside.
CHEESECAKE FILLING
1. Reduce oven to 300 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, blend the cream cheese, sugar, flour and cocoa with an electric mixer until combined (Use low speed to keep less air from getting into the batter, which can cause cracks). Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating slowly and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.
4. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed until well combined.
5. Add the mini marshmallows in an even layer in the bottom of the pan, on top of the crust.
6. Pour the hot fudge topping over marshmallows, then pour the cheesecake filling into the pan.
7. Place springform pan inside another pan. Fill outside pan with enough warm water to go about halfway up the sides of the springform pan. The water should not go above the top edge of the aluminum foil on the springform pan.
8. Bake for 1 hour and 35 minutes. Marshmallows may boil up through the top.
9. Turn off heat and leave cheesecake in oven with door closed for 20 minutes.
10. Crack oven door and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another 20 minutes or until set.
11. Remove from oven and refrigerate until firm, 4-5 hours.
12. Once the cheesecake is completely chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees on convection bake.
13. Remove the springform pan sides from cheesecake and place the cheesecake on a cookie sheet.
14. Top the cheesecake with a layer of large marshmallows.
15. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until marshmallows begin to brown.
16. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and drizzle with more hot fudge and sprinkle on some graham cracker crumbs.
17. Cheesecake can be served warm out of the oven (which I recommend), or refrigerated and served cold.
Keywords: s'mores cake, s'mores recipe, oven s'mores, best cheesecake recipe, chocolate cheesecake recipe, graham cracker crust, homemade cheesecake recipe
Enjoy!
I made this for my birthday last week and it was amazing! The deep, dark chocolate cheesecake was perfect with the sweet marshmallows. Smooth and creamy, delicious!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Hi Lindsay – did you try freezing this cheesecake at all? I have been looking for an excuse to make it, but never seem to have enough people to eat it all up! Most cheesecakes freeze pretty well, but I was not sure how it would work with the marshmallows….
Yea my thoughts match yours. I’d think so. The marshmallows could end up a little soft after defrosting, but it’d probably be ok.
it is lovely but in our contrase there is anything like that
Making this work of chocolate art for Easter! Soooo happy I read the comments, I pulled my pan out to measure…10 inches….. I made note of your suggestions. I considered just making something else..
But my husband might revolt. I got this.
I hope you enjoy it! With a 10 inch pan, you may want to add a little more crust. And just keep in mind the cheesecake will be a little thinner, so it may not need to bake as long.
I found this on pintrest and I loved it but I don’t know what happened in took it out of the oven and out of the bath but even though the foil was up very high and there was no chocolate in the water bath I had water in the bottom of my foil. What did I do wrong? Will it still be good? BTW this was my first cheesecake lol I’m just trying to figure out how to make them perfect any advice?
Water baths can be tricky and often the water leaks through the aluminum foil through super small tears you may not even notice. It shouldn’t hurt the cheesecake, but I recently posted about how I do my water baths to help with this if you want to check it out.
Hello Lindsay,
I have a practical question for you. It’s been my experience that cutting anything with marshmallows on top is not as easy as it seems. How did you get your slices so clean?
That’s a great question. It’s been so long since I made this cheesecake, it’s hard to remember if I did anything special. I do remember though that the marshmallows were still warm on top and I think that helped. I know some people find it helpful to put a little butter or shortening on their knife to help it not stick too.
My husband found this recipe and I can’t wait to try it! Realistically, how long do I need to let it cool?
You want to be completely cool and firm. Depending on how cold your fridge is, I’d say 3-4 hours at least.
do you have to use sour cream?
It’s possible that it would bake fine without it, but having not tried it I can’t really say what kind of change it’d produce.
This is seriously the BEST cheesecake EVER!!!! Didn’t even stand a chance in my house. I’m about to make it for the second time this week!
Awesome! I’m so glad it’s a hit!
I am giving this recipe a try for a Chocolate Fantasy Auction tomorrow. I am excited to see how it turns out!
I hope you enjoyed it!
I made this last night to eat tonight and I think the water bath leaked into my crust. I will know once I get home from work…is there anyway to save this?
If it did leak, it should still be fine. The crust just might not be as firm. I know you said you want to eat it tonight, but if you take it out of the pan and let it sit in the fridge for several hours or overnight, it usually dries out the crust a bit. I’ve had it happen. 🙂
Thank you!
Any suggestion on how to make this egg free? My best friend and fiancé are allergic to them and something like that is meant to be shared.
Hmm, I’ve never tried it without eggs so I’m not sure. It would take some testing.
How do you manage this recipe if you don’t have a convection oven?
You could just melt the marshmallows in the oven without the convention. They won’t brown, but they’ll still be good. Also if you have a small torch, that’d work as well.
Have you (or anyone) tried subbing the sour cream for Greek Yogurt? I just never keep sour cream on hand, since I don’t like the taste. ButI guess you can’t taste it in all this chocolatey goodness, so I could just add it to my list as I don’t keep 3 packages of cream cheese on hand either.
I haven’t tried it, but it seems like it should work. If you try it, I’d love to know how it turns out! Thanks Virginia!
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I made this cheese twice…the 1st time I made it according to recipie (water bath) and failed miserably!! I had never used a water bath…so it was my fault, not the recipie. 2nd try I just baked it and followed the instructions given in aayer comment to cut the cooling time in 1/2….wow!!! It turned out wonderfully!!! If you have never made a cheesecake and at intimidated by a water bath, don’t be!!! Since you cover the top with Marshamallows no one will ever see it it cracks, which by the way mine didn’t have a since crack in it!!! It also tasted wonderful and cooked perfectly, evenly and was moist and rich!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Lindsay! 🙂
This looks amazing! I’ve never made a baked cheesecake before. When you say to let the cake chill, do you mean to take it out of the oven and put it in the fridge to chill, or do you mean to let it cool off completely on the counter?
It should go in the refrigerator to cool.
I stumbled across this recipe a while ago on Pinterest and immediately started to drool. Because I’m diabetic, I knew that this would have to be a special occasion treat, so I am baking it right now for my husband’s birthday. We can’t get Hershey cocoa powder here, so I splurged and went to the Bernard Callebaut store and got some of their knock-out stuff. My 3-year-old loved helping with the marshmallows and chocolate on the bottom. I can’t wait to try it later tonight. (I just get a sliver, but I think it’s going to be worth it!)
I’m so glad you found an occasion to make it! I hope you love it!
I have had bad luck with cheesecakes and water baths in the past. If You don’t bake it in a water bath because it just crack more?? Also can you use regular cocoa powder instead of the special dark? I have both on hand but I’m not sure I want it to be such a deep chocolate.
Yes, you could use regular cocoa, instead of dark. The water bath helps prevent cracks in the center, but it always prevents the cheesecake from falling in the center once it cools. You could not use the water bath, but just be aware of those things. With this cheesecake it doesn’t matter as much, since you’ll cover it will marshmallows.
If I’m nor able to make a water bath, should I adjust the temperature or time? And if so, what to?
You don’t need to adjust the temperature. The cooling process won’t be as important if you aren’t using a water bath, so you could cut the cooling time in half.
These look amazing!! I plan on making them for a party, but will have some gluten free guests. Do you think the flour could be omitted or substituted somehow?
I haven’t tried it, but it might be ok without the flour. You could also try subbing a tbsp of cornstarch.
Probably the best looking cheesecake I’ve ever seen!
Thank you so much Monique! 🙂
I really want to make this. I don’t have the convection option on my oven. is there another option for that last step?
You can just bake the marshmallows, but they won’t get as toasted and brown on top. The convection bake helps with the browning.
Thanks – now I need to go clean the drool off of my computer – this is so decadent and awesome!!! I LOVE that you warm it back up too 🙂
Thank you! It’s definitely better warm! 🙂
This looks amazing!! Anything “smores” and I will come running!
Thank you!
Ho-le-smokes!!! Yummmm…..yummmmm….did I mention YUMMM??? 🙂
Thanks Amy-Lyn! 🙂
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This S’mores Cheesecake looks awesome! But I’m thinking of making a couple of changes and wanted to see what you think. Instead of the marshmallows on the crust, I was thinking of heating up some Raspberry Jam to spread on the crust, the filling stays as is, don’t want to change too much and then on top of the marshmallow top heat up some caramel topping and drizzle that on top. I know it won’t be a total S’mores, but there’s still chocolate, graham cracker and marshmallows.
What an interesting flavor combination! I think it sounds great! It won’t change the baking time or anything either.
My cheesecake is cooling on the counter as we speak! It is so divine already that I think it’s going to take some serious willpower not to taste it before I serve it tomorrow… Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe!!
Awesome! Thank you Sue! I’m so glad you like it! 🙂
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[…] S’mores Cheesecake […]
Oh be still my sugar lovin heart!! This looks so decadent, and crazy good! Pinned! 🙂
Thanks Jocelyn! Thanks for the pin!
Classic movie, yummy cheesecake- sounds like a perfect night!
Definitely! Thanks Wendy!
[…] Smores Cheesecake by Lindsay at Life, Love and Sugar […]
[…] pool full of this S’mores Lasagna. 5. Banana Bread Tiramisu. In a CHOCOLATE CUP. 6. This S’mores Cheesecake and I are going to get married. 7. Cinnamon. Roll. FROSTING. 8. Let’s have S’mores […]
This looks delicious and I can’t wait to make it! I was wondering what adjustments I had to make if I wanted to make the cheesecake in a 10in pan instead of 9in? Thank you!
I’ve never made it in a 10 inch pan, but I’d think you’d need a little more for the crust – maybe 1 1/2 worth of the ingredients. If you leave all the filling ingredients the same, it’ll be a thinner cheesecake. You’ll need more marshmallows for the top. And it might need to bake less time. Watch for the edges to look cooked and the middle to still be a little uncooked, then turn the oven off and continue with the slow cooling process. Let me know if you have any more questions!
Ohmigerd! That is the most sinfully delicious creation I’ve ever seen! I shared it as my Pin of the Day on my Facebook page. Fantabulous!
Thank you so much for sharing Becca!
You are the queen of decadence my friend! I’ve seen a ton of s’mores ideas and this is by far the best! I can’t wait to see what else you have up your sleeve.
Thanks Julia! 🙂
Rainey weekends can be the best! This looks super decadent! Yum!
Holy crap! That is the chocolatiest cheesecake in history! Oh, I wish it was in my mouth right now. FANTASTIC post.
WOW.. this is heaven and hell in a cake. i am totally craving a slice right now.. love it!
This cheesecake looks absolutely decadent!!! Who knew s’more could look so classy??
Thanks Alyssa!
Oh. My. Goodness! I need this in my life
Thanks Heather! 🙂
I almost passed out from desire when I saw this cross my FB feed! Serious gorgeous! You have out done yourself again!
Thanks Lindsey!
this.is.perfect. I’m speechless!!
Oh my gosh Lindsay! You sure know how to decorate a cheesecake! Totally drooling over this one and your photos! 🙂
Thanks Chelsea! 🙂
I saw this on Pinterest, and then I died. Totally had to pick my jaw up off the floor. I cannot get over that chocolate cheesecake! And the toasted marshmallows and chocolate drizzle! This cheesecake is just perfect. 🙂
Thanks Beth!!
Seriously in awe!! How amazing!
Lindsay. This cheesecake!! I was totally impressed when you emailed me the picture of the slice . . . but now . . . . seeing the whole cake . . . OMG. I’m for sure making this. It looks amazing!! Pinned!
Thank you so much Lisa! Thanks for organizing everything! 🙂
Such deep dark chocolaty deliciousness! Looks incredible!
Girl that cheesecake is magical! I am in love!!
You don’t have to tell me… I already know I have to make this s’mores cheesecake! Looks incredible.
Thanks Sally! 🙂
Please tell me you ate a slice of this while watching Dirty Dancing. That’s the ultimate happiness on this earth, I think! This cheesecake is beyond. I want to go on a date with it!
I totally agree, but as much as i love Dirty Dancing I have to say for me it would be a slice of this and watching Sixteen Candles. This looks so freakin rich and amazing.
I haven’t every seen Sixteen Candles. I’ll have to check it out! Thanks Keisha!