This post may contain affiliate sales links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This Bananas Foster Cheesecake recipe is made with a thick and creamy banana brown sugar filling, cinnamon cookie crumb crust and bananas foster topping! It’s a wonderful combination of bananas, cinnamon, brown sugar and rum that makes the most AMAZING cheesecake!
So I’m a little delayed in sharing this Bananas Foster Cheesecake with you. I actually wanted to share it back in October, but had so many fun pumpkin things I wanted to share before it was too late that it ended up being pushed back until now. After all, banana is great any time of year!
The reason for wanting to have shared it earlier though is that I made it to celebrate the 2 year anniversary of the release of my cookbook, Simply Beautiful Homemade Cakes! It’s hard to believe it’s been just two years since it’s release, as life has been one crazy thing after another since then. In fact, when I made the decision to write my cookbook, the hubs and I did it knowing that it would push back when we decided to try IVF and move forward with starting our family. We decided cookbook first, IVF second. It’s crazy to look back and realize that now here we are – the cookbook and twins! Like I said, a lot has happened! 🙂
But before my twin babies, this cookbook was definitely a baby of mine. It kept me up nights, had me up early and was a labor of love. And the first time I saw it in person was a great day and feeling. Even two years later, the recipes in it are some of my favorites. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you really should. And with the holidays coming up, it’d make a great gift for the bakers in your life!
How to Make Bananas Foster Cheesecake
So to make this Bananas Foster Cheesecake, you’ll actually start with the crust. I made a slight change in the crust this time around and added some cinnamon. It’s now made with a combination of both brown sugar and cinnamon and I love the little addition. It just take the crust up a notch!
The filling is made next and is full of brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, a bit of rum and plenty of mashed bananas! So many amazing flavors, yet none of them overpower any of the others too much. You taste them all and they are decadent.
The cheesecake is baked in a water bath, as I do with all of my cheesecakes. It’s the best way to ensure a creamy cheesecake that doesn’t crack, fall in the center, brown too much on the edges or dry out. Definitely the way to go, even though it adds a few more steps and a little baking time.
After the cheesecake bakes, it should be refrigerated until cold and firm, then you’ll want to add the topping.
How to Make Bananas Foster
The topping of this Bananas Foster Cheesecake is exactly what you want it to be – bananas foster. One of my very favorite things and it’s so easy to make.
You’ll combine butter, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and some heavy cream in a pan over the stove until the sugar has melted. Then you’ll add the rum and that’s when the magic happens. I definitely recommend a dark rum. You want to be careful for this next step when you light the rum. It makes a nice flame, so you’ll swirl the rum around the pan a bit and let it burn off.
Next, add the bananas and let things cook for another minute or two to thicken up and you’re done! Easy, delicious bananas foster and it goes right on top of your cheesecake!
The Best Bananas Foster Cheesecake
This cheesecake is seriously amazing. Thick, creamy and FULL of flavor! One of my favorites from the cookbook and a recipe my dad goes a little nutty over every time I make it. If you’ve never tried a little rum in your baking before, this is definitely the time and the recipe. The dark rum has a little spice of it’s own that only adds to the flavor of the cinnamon and bananas and will have you taking just one more bite until you realize that you’ve taken all the bites and there are none left. All the flavors together just melt in your mouth and you can’t get enough.
I hope you give the cheesecake a try and love it as much as we do! And if you do, be sure to check out my cookbook – Simply Beautiful Homemade Cakes as well because there are more cheesecakes, cakes, cupcakes, ice cream cakes and more just waiting for you! 🙂
See a few other recipes from my cookbook – Simply Beautiful Homemade Cakes.
More Great Banana Recipes:
Bananas Foster Layer Cake
Banana Cream Cheesecake
Mini Banana Pudding Cheesecakes
Banana Cream Layer Cake
Bananas Foster Pancakes
Bananas Foster Ice Cream
Bananas Foster Cheesecake
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 2 hours, plus cooling
- Total Time: 4 hours, plus cooling
- Yield: 12-16 servings
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Bananas Foster Cheesecake is made with a thick and creamy banana brown sugar filling, cinnamon cookie crumb crust and bananas foster topping!
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 1/4 cups (302g) vanilla wafer crumbs
- 1/2 cup (112g) salted butter, melted
- 5 tbsp (45g) light brown sugar, loosely packed
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Cheesecake filling
- 24 ounces (678g) cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup (144g) brown sugar, loosely packed
- 3 tbsp (24g) all purpose flour
- 1 cup (240ml) mashed ripe bananas (2–3 bananas)
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tbsp (30ml) dark rum
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
Bananas Foster
- 1/4 cup (56g) salted butter
- 1/2 cup (113g) light brown sugar, packed
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy whipping cream
- 2 tbsp (30ml) dark rum
- 2 medium bananas, sliced into coins
Whipped Cream
- 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy whipping cream, cold
- ¼ cup (29g) powdered sugar
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper in the bottom and grease the sides.
2. Combine the crust ingredients in a small bowl. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the springform pan.
3. Bake the crust for 10 minutes then remove from oven to cool.
4. Cover the outsides of the pan with aluminum foil so that water from the water bath cannot get in. See my tutorial for preventing a water bath from leaking. Set prepared pan aside.
5. Reduce oven temperature to 300°F (148°C).
6. In a large mixer bowl, blend the cream cheese, brown sugar and flour on low speed until completely combined and smooth. Be sure to use low speed to reduce the amount of air added to the batter, which can cause cracks. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
7. Add the mashed bananas, cinnamon, nutmeg and dark rum. Beat on low speed until well combined.
8. Add eggs one at a time, beating slowly and scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
9. Pour the cheesecake batter into the crust.
10. Place the springform pan inside another larger pan. Fill the 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. Bake for 1 hour.
11. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in oven with the door closed for 30 minutes. Do not open the door or you’ll release the heat.
12. Crack oven door and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another 30 minutes. This cooling process helps the cheesecake cool slowly to prevent cracks.
13. Remove the cheesecake from the oven from oven and let sit on the counter for 15 minutes.
14. Remove the pan from water bath and remove aluminum foil. Refrigerate cheesecake until completely cooled and firm, 6-7 hours.
15. When cheesecake has cooled, make the bananas foster. Melt the butter in a large pan over medium-high heat.
16. Add the brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and heavy cream and stir until sugar is dissolved.
17. Pour the rum into the pan, then use a lighter to light the rum. Be careful, the flame can get somewhat high. Once lit, allow it to cook, swirling the pan a few times to disperse the rum and flames. It should burn out within a minute or two, but if not, swirl a little more to help it burn out.
18. Add the bananas to the sauce and continue cooking another 1-2 minutes to thicken the sauce. Remove from heat and set aside to cool and thicken before adding to the cheesecake.
19. While bananas foster cools, remove the cheesecake from the springform pan and set on a serving plate.
20. To make the whipped cream, add heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and cinnamon to mixing bowl and whip until stiff peaks form.
21. Pipe a swirl border with the whipped cream around the outside edge of the cheesecake.
22. To finish off cheesecake, add the bananas foster on top, in the middle of the whipped cream. Drizzle the sauce over the bananas and down the sides of the cheesecake.
23. Refrigerate cheesecake until ready to serve. Cheesecake is best for 2-3 days because the bananas on top can spoil.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 370
- Sugar: 29.6 g
- Sodium: 277.5 mg
- Fat: 20.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 40 g
- Protein: 5.9 g
- Cholesterol: 92.1 mg
Categories
Enjoy!
The best cheesecake I’ve ever had. My family is kinda obsessed with bananas fosters and I made this for my moms birthday and the recipe is perfect and sooo delicious I literally can’t stop thinking about it!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it!
My oven has steam bake, do you think I can use that instead of the water bath?
I haven’t ever used it, so I’m not sure.
Can you use dark brown sugar instead of light?
Sure!
Just finished making this recipe! Some water was in the aluminum and came out of the pan. I’m worried I will have a soggy crust. Is there anything I can do to save it? I just put it in the fridge
The crust should be fine. Possibly a little wet, but if you remove the sides of the pan and let it sit in the fridge, it should dry out a bit.
A little tip for cooking cheesecake in a water bath is to use oven bags. Put the cheesecake in an oven bag of course leave the top open just surround the bag around the cheesecake water never gets in!
This was REALLY good!!!!!!!!!!!! It also smelled AMAZING when it was baking. The crust is so delicious. The topping was phenomenal. Put it all together and it was a real treat! Thank-you for this recipe! Your website is SO much fun; I just love cheesecake and most of my cookbooks don’t have many variations on the classic, but here you have been so creative! And I appreciate all of the recipes!
Awesome! Thank you! So glad you’re enjoying everything!
Can you substitute rum flavoring for the rum?
You can try it, but you wouldn’t need much. Maybe a fourth or half a teaspoon. I would probably just leave it out unless you really want the rum flavor.
Wow!!! We made this for a LSU football party, we only cooked Louisiana foods and wow it was a hit! The middle was not cooked all the way sadly, but we just cut the outside into squares and ate them as bites. But for whipped cream, we added 2 tablespoons of dark rum and it was amazing! This will definitely be made more often in my household.
Awesome! So glad it was a hit!
Quick tip if you don’t mind: instead of foil put your spring form pan in a slightly larger pan then put in a lager pan and fill with water also use an instant thermometer and cook to 150 degrees f. I take out once reach temp and put it on cooling rack. I never have cracks or uncooked/over cooked cheesecake.
Can this be made ahead and frozen
The cheesecake itself would be fine, but not the topping.
Really look forward to making this. Is there something else that could be substituted for the dark rum ? We don’t drink alcohol in our household. Thanks for your time
You can simply leave it out of the cheesecake. For the topping, you can replace it with water or additional cream.
Bananas Foster is my favorite dessert, and I am a bit of a purist, so I had high expectations and assumed this cheesecake would disappoint. Boy, was I wrong! This cheesecake is fabulous! I appreciate the instructions for baking and the process of letting the cheesecake sit in the oven. The texture was perfect and the appearance looked like a professional made it. This is our new favorite cheesecake.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Hi I am traveling with this cheesecake. Could I make the sauce 4 hrs ahead of time and then put it on when I get there? Would it need to be warmed up? Thank you
That should be fine. If you want the sauce a little warm, then you could warm it up.
Hi I just finished cooling mine. It’s very jiggly almost doesn’t look cooked. Will it firm up in the fridge?
How long can the banana foster topping be kept in the fridge?
It kind of depends on the bananas. They are going to be the best within the first day or two, but might be ok for another day or two after that.
This is a great recipe. I made one last week for a co-workers birthday and made another one this week for home. Delicious, I wouldn’t change anything.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hello Lindsay, I’ve many of your recipes and love them all. I made this one on Saturday and I actually doubled the recipe because I have a larger springform pan. I cooked it an additional 15 min and it had what I thought was a mild jiggle so I turned off the oven and started the cooling process. I cut myself a piece last night and found out it was under done. It had a sort of mousse texture to it and wasn’t that nice creamy texture. Since I only cut one piece can I place it back in the oven and see if it cooks fully?
Loved this recipe. I changed it up a bit. For the crust, I used Biscoff cookies with unsalted butter (due to their saltiness) and it was a hit. Absolutely delicious; especially if you are a fan of banana.
Our daughter requested something with a Bananas Foster flare for her birthday. I saw this recipe and knew she would love it. I made it in stages, the cheesecake and whipped topping one day before we planned to serve it and the bananas foster about an hour before serving. The recipe was easy to follow and the cheesecake did not crack. Even though I think I cooked the sugar/cream mixture a bit too long it was delicious, and everyone raved!!! One person even had a second full sized slice. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Thank you for developing this recipe.