Black Forest Cheesecake

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Black Forest cheesecake features a crisp Oreo cookie crust, a rich dark chocolate cheesecake filling, and a homemade fresh cherry compote, topped with whipped cream, fresh cherries, and chocolate curls. All the flavor of the classic German Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte in a creamy, sliceable cheesecake.

Black Forest Cheesecake with Oreo Crust and Homemade Cherry Compote

Cherry season is short, and every year I try to squeeze as much out of it as I possibly can. I have already used this year's haul for French cherry clafoutis, a four-layer cherry layer cake with cherry buttercream, and a batch of cherry pie bars with lemon glaze. Then my husband asked, half-joking, whether I could put cherries and chocolate into a cheesecake. That was all the encouragement I needed.

The original Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte is a chocolate sponge cake soaked in kirsch and layered with cherries and cream. This Black Forest cheesecake takes everything I love about the classic German cake (dark chocolate, tart-sweet cherries, and softly whipped cream) and transforms it into cheesecake form. We're talking about a dark Oreo cookie crust, a rich chocolate cheesecake filling, homemade fresh cherry compote, and clouds of whipped cream topped with chocolate curls. It bakes in a water bath, chills overnight, and slices like a dream.

Why You'll Love It

• Real chocolate, not just cocoa. Twelve ounces of melted semi-sweet chocolate plus 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder give the filling a deep, truffle-like flavor and a beautiful dark color.
• Fresh cherry compote, made from scratch. No canned pie filling. Just fresh sweet cherries, sugar, lemon juice, and a cornstarch slurry, cooked down until thick and shiny.
• Oreo crust. Chocolate on chocolate. It's the similar crust I use for my no-bake mocha cheesecake and my grasshopper cheesecake, and it never disappoints.
• No cracks. The water bath plus a slow cool-down in the turned-off oven does all the work for you.
• Make-ahead friendly. This cheesecake needs to chill anyway, so it's the kind of dessert you make the day before and forget about.

Ingredients You Need

This recipe has 4 components: homemade cherry compote, Oreo crust, chocolate cheesecake filling, and whipped cream topping. Full amounts are in the recipe card below, but here's a helpful explanation of what each ingredient does.

1) Homemade Cherry Compote Ingredients

• Fresh sweet cherries. Bing or Rainier are both excellent. Pitted and halved. Look for deep red, firm cherries. A cherry pitter is worth the ten dollars if you bake with cherries as often as I do.
• Granulated sugar. Just enough to draw out the juices without making the compote candy-sweet.
• Lemon juice. Brightens the cherries and keeps the compote from tasting flat against all that chocolate.
• Cornstarch and water. A slurry that thickens the compote so it sits on top of the cheesecake instead of running down the sides.

2) Oreo Crust Ingredients

• Oreo cookies. Twenty-four cookies, filling and all, pulsed into fine crumbs. Do not scrape out the cream. It helps bind the crust.
• Unsalted butter. Melted, to hold the crumbs together.

3) Chocolate Cheesecake Filling Ingredients

• Semi-sweet chocolate. Twelve ounces, chopped and melted. Use a good baking bar rather than chips. Chips have stabilizers that keep them from melting smoothly.
• Unsweetened cocoa powder. Whisked into the melted chocolate for extra depth.
• Full-fat block cream cheese. Twenty-four ounces, at room temperature. Not the whipped kind and not the tub kind. Blocks have less water and more structure.
• Granulated sugar. One cup, beaten into the cream cheese until smooth.
• Eggs. Three large, at room temperature, added one at a time on low speed.
• Sour cream. Full-fat, room temperature. It keeps the filling silky and adds a little tang.
• Vanilla extract. Pure, not imitation.

4) Whipped Cream Topping Ingredients

• Cold heavy cream, powdered sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Whipped to stiff peaks so the piping holds its shape.
• Fresh whole cherries and chocolate curls. I make my curls by running a vegetable peeler along the edge of a room-temperature chocolate bar, the same trick I use on my chocolate delight.

Crucial success tip: the cream cheese, eggs, and sour cream all need to be at room temperature before you start. Cold ingredients give you a lumpy batter, and a lumpy batter gives you a cracked cheesecake. I pull mine out about 2 hours ahead.

How to Make Black Forest Cheesecake (Step-by-Step Overview)

This is a recipe overview. Scroll down for the complete instructions and ingredient amounts in the recipe card below.

• Plan ahead on this one. There's baking time, an hour in the turned-off oven, cooling to room temperature, and then a long chill. I almost always bake it the day before I want to serve it. 
• Make the cherry compote: Cook the cherries, sugar, and lemon juice for 5 to 6 minutes until softened and juicy. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and simmer 1 to 2 minutes until glossy. Cool completely, then chill.
• Make the Oreo crust: Pulse the cookies into fine crumbs, add melted butter, and press into a greased 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 10 minutes and cool.

• Melt the chocolate: Melt the chopped chocolate, whisk in the cocoa powder, and let it cool to room temperature.
• Make the filling: Beat the cream cheese until smooth, then the sugar. Add the eggs on low speed one at a time. Mix in the sour cream and vanilla, then fold in the chocolate by hand.

• Bake in a water bath: Pour the filling over the crust, set the foil-wrapped pan in a roasting pan, and add hot water halfway up the sides. Bake 55 to 65 minutes, until the edges are set and the center still jiggles slightly.
• Cool slowly, then chill: Turn off the oven, crack the door about 2 inches, and leave the cheesecake inside for 1 hour. Cool completely on a rack, then refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight.
• Whip the cream: Beat the cold cream with powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt to stiff peaks.
• Assemble and serve: Spoon the cherry compote over the center, pipe or swirl the whipped cream around the edge, and finish with fresh cherries and chocolate curls.

Success Tips

• Room-temperature dairy and eggs. Cream cheese, eggs, and sour cream should all sit out for about an hour first. This is the difference between a silky filling and a lumpy one.
• Cool the melted chocolate before folding it in. Warm chocolate will start to cook the eggs. Let it sit until it feels neutral to the touch.
• Mix on low once the eggs go in. Fast mixing whips air into the batter, and that air is what makes cheesecakes puff up and then crack as they cool. Mix on low and stop as soon as each egg disappears.
• Wrap the pan while it is still cold and empty. Two or three layers of heavy-duty foil, pressed tight. It is much easier to get a good seal before the crust goes in.
• Trust the wobble. A 2- to 3-inch jiggly center is done. It firms up as it chills.
• Chill overnight if you can. The chocolate flavor deepens and the texture gets denser and creamier.
• Slice with a hot, clean knife. I run a sharp knife under hot water, wipe it dry, make one cut, then wipe and repeat. This is how you get those clean bakery-style slices.
• Add the toppings right before serving. The compote and whipped cream look their best on the day they go on.

Troubleshooting

• My cheesecake cracked. It's almost always overmixing or cooling too fast. The good news is the cherry compote and whipped cream cover the top completely, so nobody will ever know.
• The crust got soggy. Water leaked in through the foil. Next time use heavy-duty foil, three layers, or set the springform inside a slightly larger cake pan before it goes in the water.
• The filling looks grainy. Cream cheese lumps that never got beaten smooth. Scrape the bowl more often at the start, before you add anything else.
• My compote is runny. Simmer it another minute or two after the cornstarch goes in. It also thickens quite a bit as it chills.

Variations and Substitutions

• Sour cherries instead of sweet. Traditional Black Forest cake uses sour cherries. If you use them, taste the compote and add another tablespoon or two of sugar.
• Frozen cherries. They work well in the compote. Don't thaw them first, and give the mixture an extra minute or two to cook down.
• Add kirsch. The traditional Black Forest torte gets its name from kirschwasser, the clear cherry brandy from the Black Forest region. Stir 1 tablespoon into the cooled cherry compote for the authentic version. Dark rum or amaretto also work.
• Almond extract. Swap ¼ teaspoon of the vanilla in the whipped cream for almond extract. Cherries and almond are a classic pairing.
• Dark chocolate. Swap the semi-sweet for bittersweet if you want a less sweet, more intense filling.
• Swap the crust. Chocolate graham crackers, Biscoff cookies, or crushed chocolate wafers all work in place of Oreos.
• Make it gluten-free. Use gluten-free chocolate sandwich cookies for the crust. Everything else in the recipe is already gluten-free.
• Chocolate ganache instead of whipped cream. Pour a glossy ganache over the chilled cheesecake before adding the cherries, the way I finish my mocha cheesecake.

More Cherry Desserts

• Cherry Layer Cake with Cherry Buttercream
• French Cherry Clafoutis
• Cherry Pie Bars with Lemon Glaze
• Chocolate Cherry Cake
• Cherry Peach Lattice Pie

More Cheesecake Recipes

• Classic New York-Style Cheesecake
• Mocha Cheesecake (No-Bake)
• Blackberry Cheesecake Bars
• Raspberry Cheesecake Bars
• Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
• Salted Caramel Cheesecake
• Peach Cobbler Cheesecake
• Carrot Cake Cheesecake