October 9, 2017
Apple Crumble Cheesecake!
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Buttery biscuit base, vanilla cinnamon apple crumble cheesecake filling, and even more crumble apple goodness on top.
Apple Crumble
Soooo sorry if you don’t like crumble, because as you can tell, I have gone a little crumble crazy recently. I have posted my apple crumble cupcakes and my apple blackberry crumble pie only recently, and I was just craving more! However, this time I thought I would merge the delicious idea of an apple crumble… into CHEESECAKE form! Honestly, so good.
So obviously this is the theme of the bake, so its very very important. And as much as its important, it’s also super simple. Apples, sugar and a smidge of water make the easiest and most delicious apple crumble for this apple crumble cheesecake.
Apples
I used Bramley apples as they’re the iconic classic for all apple crumble bakes, and they hold a certain firmness in the cheesecake mix compared to other apples which soften far too much when cooked.
I add the sugar for a bit of sweetness and a natural caramel flavour – you can add vanilla and cinnamon to this part of the recipe as well if you want, but I do that in the cheesecake mix personally.
Biscuit base & crumbles
I know we have a crumble topping later on in the recipe, but a biscuit base is still incredibly important in my eyes for a cheesecake. I use a classic digestive base mixed with a melted butter to create a delicious biscuit base.
If you didn’t want to make your own crumble mix, you can actually used crushed digestives instead to save yourself some effort – but I just love a classic crumble.
No bake recipe
I can’t technically call this a no-bake cheesecake, as you have to cook the apple, and the crumble part of the cheesecake… but the rest is a no-bake style. I have seen many recipes for a baked apple crumble cheesecake, kind of like my apple crumble cake where the apple is just baked with the rest of it.
The problem for me with this was that I felt like it could very easily go wrong. Also, I loved the idea of a lighter, creamier, sweeter cheesecake in comparison to a baked cheesecake filling. Baked cheesecakes can often be light and creamy as well, but with the apple, I thought the no-bake style was the best way to go.
Cheesecake
I decided to use mascarpone for the main part of my cheesecake filling, as its naturally sweeter and delicious. Often when I make a no-bake vanilla cheesecake, I will use mascarpone as its less tart in comparison to philadelphia and other cream cheeses.
As the apple can often be quite tart in my mind, I thought it should be married with the mascarpone cheesecake filling and ohmydays it worked so utterly perfectly! To make it slightly more apple crumble style however, I did add in a little cinnamon. Yum.
Decoration
A crumble is so easy to make with sugar, butter and flour, rubbed together. You can use a ready made crumble mix and still bake and that’s totally okay. You can add another level to your cheesecake by drizzling over a caramel sauce aswell; caramel and apple go together just as well as cinnamon and apple do in my mind.
Honestly, I just can’t get over this cheesecake because it surprised me so much. I didn’t think it would work, but I’ve tried this recipe several times now and its dreamy.You need to stick with it when the mixture is being folded all together, and its very very important that you drain out the excess liquid from the apples, and fold through the apple chunks rather than mush to help keep it perfect. Enjoy! X
Apple Crumble Cheesecake!
Ingredients
Biscuit Base
- 300 g digestives
- 150 g unsalted butter
Apple
- 500 g cooking apples (chopped/peeled weight)
- 100 g light brown soft sugar
Cheesecake Filling
- 500 g full-fat cream cheese
- 125 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 150 ml double cream
Crumble Topping
- 120 g plain flour
- 60 g caster sugar
- 60 g unsalted butter
Instructions
Apple
- Chop your cooking apples into one inch size pieces and add to a heavy based saucepan.
- Add the light brown soft sugar, and add 2 tbsps of water.
- On a low-medium heat, cook the mixture for 5 minutes whilst stirring. After the five minutes of stirring, let the mixture come to a simmer and cover with the lid of the pan.
- Continue to cook for 4-5 minutes until the apple starts to soften down but still stays in pieces rather than becoming a mush.
- Strain the mixture of any excess liquid, and leave the mixture to cool fully.
Crumble
- Make your crumble mixture by rubbing together the sugar, flour and butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
- Spread the mixture onto a tray and bake in the oven at 180C Fan, for 15-20 minutes until its starting to brown.
- Once baked, let the mixture cool in a bowl.
Base
- Blitz the biscuits in a food processor (or smash up) to a fine crumb.
- Melt the butter, and add it to the biscuits.
- Pulse them again until combined well. Press down into the bottom of a 8″/20cm deep springform tin and refrigerate for now.
Cheesecake
- Add the cream cheese, icing sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Whisk together until smooth and combined.
- Pour in the double cream, and whisk again until thick.
- Add in 2/3 of the apple mixture and fold together carefully. It may look a little funny in places, so be careful but thorough. Spread the mixture onto the biscuit base.
- Add 3/4 of the crumble mixture on top, and leave the cheesecake to set in the fridge for 5-6 hours, or preferably overnight.
- Once set, remove from the tin carefully. Add on any spare apple on top, and sprinkle on a little more crumble (for decoration and texture) and even drizzle with some Caramel or Toffee sauce! Enjoy!
Notes
- I recommend using a 8″/20cm Deep Springform Tin.
- I used Cooking/Baking apples in this recipe – this is quite important as regular eating apples are a lot softer and will just turn to mush. You don’t have to use sugar to cook the apples either, but I think it makes a delicious flavour!
- You can use Philadelphia, or other cream cheeses in this recipe, but they must be full fat. As the cheesecake mixture itself is a simple Vanilla and Cinnamon recipe, I must prefer using mascarpone as its naturally a bit sweeter, which competes well with the tartness of the apple.
- You can easily use a packet mixture of the crumble mix, but you still need to bake it in the oven first before adding to the cheesecake.
- This cheesecake will last for three days in the fridge.
ENJOY!
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J x
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Absolutely delicious!!
Easy to follow recipe. It didn’t last long in my house!
I am looking forward to make this in a couple of weeks, little question, why doesn’t it need gelatine to set like alot of no bake cheesecakes ( I am in Australia)
Could I add blackberries, and if so would you cook them with the apples, or just add them whole? Thank you
Can I freeze with the crumble and apples on top? Will the apple turn to mush? I have leftover crumble mix and apples and wanted to freeze some of the cheesecake with the toppings on already.
Love this apple crumble cheesecake, bu t now that rhubarb is in season I decided to make the swap. Cooked the rhubarb (diced )in a tablespoon of orange juice and a couple of tablespoons of sugar until cooked but still firm, only took about 7-8 mins, then just cooled, drained and added to the cheesecake mix. Tastes divine!!!
Made this with a biscoff base! Absolutely amazing- thankyou again
This was amazing! I used biscoff biscuit for the base & it turned out so good – probably the nicest cheesecake I’ve ever had. Thanks again Jane!
Hi, I’m looking to make this for Christmas day but was hoping to do it as mini cheesecakes. How would I go about making this into mini’s please?
Also could I make them and freeze them ready for the big day?
Thank you in advance xx
Hiya! The recipe should make 12-14 mini cheesecakes, take a look at my chocolate orange cheesecake recipe for tips! Also, yes these will freeze for up to 3 months! Hope this helps! x
Hi – has anyone tried this with gluten free biscuits in base and gluten free flour for crumble topping ?
Hi – Can this recipe be frozen?
Hiya! Yes – for up to 3 months! Hope this helps! x
This turned out SO good, such a creamy yet light cheesecake. I served with leftover crumble mix, caramel and vanilla and caramel ice cream. It lasts in the fridge and looks great too!
I made this a few weeks ago and it was DELICIOUS! Our two favourite desserts in one!
Mine was pretty runny though (never happened before), do you think I over mixed the cream cheese? I used full fat (UK) Philadelphia but was my first time using a stand mixer rather than a hand mixer.
Thanks
Yes that is often the case – its worth trying it by hand next time instead!
Absolutely amazing, looked good and tasted even better. Easy to make. Received loads of compliments. One of the nicest cheesecakes I’ve ever tasted
Aww what a lovely compliment, thank you so much xx
Hi Jane,
This looks delicious, I just wondered if it would work using half mascarpone and half full fat cream cheese ?
Thanks
Yes! Half mascarpone and half soft cream cheese works!
My husband’s favourite deserts are apple crumble and cheesecake, so I just had to try this. It was so so tasty! I didn’t quite get the crumble right though, would using baking spread instead of unsalted butter affect it? I ended up adding more flour than you said and it ended up quite hard! Still giving 5 stars as I didn’t follow the recipe and it was so tasty even if the topping was more like biscuit than crumble, we didn’t mind!
It can change it – yes! Crumble is always best with actual butter! xx
Do you think tinned apples will work instead of baked. Love your recipes by the way and use a lot of them
I’m afraid I have never tried, but as long as they’re drained so there isn’t any excess liquid I’m sure it would be fine?!
Hi Jane. I’m attempting your Apple crumble cheesecake Easter Sunday. I would like to use a 23cm tin. How much filling would you suggest I use?
Technically I think you have to increase the recipe by a third (of all ingredients) for it to fit that size, but you can just make it as is and it will just be thinner xx
Oh my word this looks incredible! I was looking for an alternative desert to have on christmas day and think this is going to have to be it!! Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Jayne. When doing the breadcrunbs, when getting them off the tray they turned into one sheet of breadcrumbs. I did them twice as I thought the first time maybe I flattened them on the tray too much but the second time was the same. Any thoughts?
Maybe try a large tray so it spreads more, and it should break away easily. I literally just pour it onto a tray and bake the crumble and then pour it into a bowl. It might also be that your oven was too hot.
Thanks. I did put it on a normal baking tray and spread it out. I put it on 170 and put it on 20 mins first time then 15 mins second time.
I’ve used the second batch and it’s setting in the fridge so we’ll see how it turns out 🙂
Next time try a larger tray if you have one, or do it on two trays so it spreads more if that makes sense? Either way I’m sure it’ll be crumbly and delicious! Enjoy! x
Thanks 🙂 I’ll try that and maybe for less time.
I managed to break it up as I was getting it off the tray so will just be extra crunchy 🙂
Oh gosh Jane, what are you doing to me!? I just baked your Apple Crumble Cupcakes yesterday, and then I see this beauty pop up! This looks absolutely delicious, two of my favourite desserts in one. Great job~
Aww I hope you loved the cupcakes!! And thank you so much!
Can I put the cheesecake in the freezer for a couple of hours instead of the fridge for 5-6? Want to make tomorrow but I don’t have all the ingredients and the shops aren’t open till quite late so am in a bit of a kerfuffle! Love ur website btw xx
Hiya – in all honesty I very much doubt it. The reason all of my cheesecakes say a minimum of 5-6 hours, is because they really do take that long to set, usually longer. Especially as this one has fresh fruit in, it can often take a good while, and I wouldn’t suggest freezing this one.
Looks delicious! I bet it tastes dreamy with the mascarpone cheese. Great photos.
Oooh it definitely does! Thank you!