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This delicious Salted Caramel Cheesecake is the best you’ll ever have! Caramel sauce is drizzled on top and layered inside the smooth and creamy cheesecake! It’s caramel cheesecake heaven!
Why You’ll Love this Salted Caramel Cheesecake
This cheesecake is truly a combination of two of my very favorite things – caramel and cheesecake. When it came time to create a caramel cheesecake recipe, a simple cheesecake with some caramel drizzled on top just wasn’t enough. I developed this cheesecake recipe to have ALL the caramel sauce. Here’s why you’ll love it.
- So much caramel flavor. Sweet, salty, buttery caramel is not simply a topping; it’s the main flavor of the entire cheesecake from the crust to the toffee bits on top. To make this wonderful caramel cheesecake come true, I started with my Homemade Caramel Sauce and thickened it up a bit. It’s layered in the filling, it’s on top, it’s in the flavor of the brown sugar in the crust and filling. It’s all over!
- Melts in your mouth. The final cheesecake is AMAZING! It’s so incredibly smooth and creamy! It’s buttery with hints of vanilla and a deep, rich caramel flavor. It just melts in your mouth.
- Show-stopper. Get ready for the oohs and aahs when you place this fancy, decadent dessert on the table! Whether you are throwing a shower, celebrating a birthday or getting into the holiday spirit, this cheesecake will make it a memorable and delicious occasion.
- Make ahead. Cheesecakes are one of the best desserts for making ahead. They hold up beautifully in the fridge for several days, and reduce prep time on the actual day you plan to serve them.
Looking for more cheesecakes to try? This classic cheesecake recipe is easy to make and turns out perfect every time. It’s a great base to dress however you like.
What You’ll Need to Make Salted Caramel Cheesecake
You’ll want to select quality ingredients to ensure the best cheesecake results. Here are a few tips to keep in mind before making your shopping list. Check out the recipe card toward the bottom of this post for full ingredient amounts.
Caramel Sauce
- Sugar – The first ingredient for the caramel is granulated sugar, which gets melted down. The melting process brings out the rich, caramel flavors of the sugar.
- Salted butter – Just a little butter makes the most amazing caramel sauce with a smooth and buttery flavor. This MUST be at least room temperature, if not warmer. Note that the salted butter adds salt to the sauce, but if you want a really salty caramel, feel free to add up to another teaspoon of salt at the end.
- Heavy whipping cream – This also MUST be at least room temperature, if not warmer. I don’t recommend substituting this with something else. The high fat content helps to give a rich, smooth sauce. Using another type of milk can thin out your sauce.
- All-purpose flour – It’s not a typical ingredient for caramel sauce, but it is added to a portion of the sauce for when it’s baked within the cheesecake. Without the flour, the caramel sauce would just dissolve into the cheesecake as it bakes. With the flour, the sauce remains a delicious, thick layer of caramel within the cheesecake. Be sure to sift it, so that you don’t end up with lumps.
Crust
- Graham cracker crumbs – I used a classic graham cracker crust with a little bit of brown sugar for the crust. If you don’t like graham crackers, you could substitute other cookies like Nilla Wafers or your favorite shortbread cookies, you just may need to adjust the amount of butter depending on what you use.
- Salted butter – Don’t forget to melt the butter before mixing it into the graham crumbs to hold everything together.
- Light brown sugar – Brown sugar contains molasses, which provides a little extra sweet caramel flavor and moisture.
Filling & Topping
- Cream cheese – You’ll want to use full-fat brick-style cream cheese. Bring it to room temperature before mixing it to prevent lumps. I don’t recommend light or whipped cream cheese.
- Light brown sugar – When it comes to the cheesecake filling, we’re going to use brown sugar again to increase the caramel flavor.
- Flour – A little starch prevents the egg proteins from over-coagulating, giving you a creamier texture and helping you prevent any cracks.
- Sour cream – I love the rich, creamy flavor sour cream adds to cheesecake. I recommend full-fat sour cream for the best results. If you really want to substitute it, plain greek yogurt would work.
- Vanilla extract – Vanilla compliments caramel perfectly and adds depth of flavor to the filling.
- Eggs – I always recommend using large eggs when baking. Bring them to room temperature before adding them to the mixture.
- Toffee bits – Totally optional topping but I can’t get enough of the sweet crunchy texture they add.
How to Make Salted Caramel Cheesecake
Making the perfect cheesecake takes time and patience, but it’s worth every second! These step-by-step directions will give you a quick overview of what to do. More comprehensive directions can be found in the recipe card below.
To Make the Salted Caramel Sauce
- Add sugar to saucepan. Pour the sugar into an even layer in a large saucepan.
- Melt the sugar. Heat on medium heat, stirring the sugar until melted.
- Cook. Once the sugar has melted, stop stirring and allow it to cook until the sugar has turned to a little darker amber color, if needed. Don’t let it get too dark, or it’ll burn. Remove the caramel from the heat.
- Mix in the butter. Add the salted butter and whisk until fully melted and combined.
- Slowly add the cream. Slowly pour the heavy whipping cream into the caramel and whisk until well incorporated and smooth.
- Reserve some sauce. Set about 1 1/2 cups of caramel sauce aside for topping.
- Whisk in the flour. While stirring with a whisk, slowly add sifted flour to the remaining caramel sauce. Whisk until fully incorporated.
To Make the Cheesecake Crust
- Prepare to bake. Once the caramel sauce is made and cooling, it’s time to make the crust. Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C). Line a 9-inch (23cm) springform pan with parchment paper in the bottom and grease the sides.
- Combine crust ingredients. In a small bowl, combine the crust ingredients until well combined and all the crumbs are moistened.
- Press into the pan. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the springform pan.
- Bake and cool. Bake the crust for 8-10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
- Prepare for the water bath. Cover the outsides of the pan with aluminum foil so that water from the water bath cannot get in (see how I prepare my pan for a water bath). Set prepared pan aside.
- Adjust oven temperature. Reduce oven temperature to 300°F (148°C).
- Add caramel sauce layer. Pour the thickened caramel sauce made with flour into the bottom of the crust, and spread into an even layer.
To Make the Cheesecake Filing
- Combine the cream cheese, brown sugar and flour. Beat the cream cheese, brown sugar and flour in a large mixer bowl on low speed until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add sour cream and vanilla. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract, and mix on low speed until well combined.
- Add eggs. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly to combine after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to make sure everything is well combined.
- Fill the pan. Pour the cheesecake batter into the crust, over the caramel.
- Create water bath. 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. Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes. The center should be set, but still jiggly.
- Cool in oven. Turn off the oven and leave the door closed for 30 minutes. The cheesecake will continue to cook, but slowly begin to cool as well.
- Cool with oven door cracked. Then, crack the door of the oven for 30 minutes to allow the cheesecake to continue to cool slowly. This process helps prevent cracking.
- Remove from oven and water bath. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and remove the water bath and wrapping.
- Cool in refrigerator. Refrigerate the cheesecake until completely cool and firm, 5-6 hours.
Assemble the Cheesecake
- Place on serving dish. When the cheesecake is completely cool and firm, remove it from the springform pan and place on a serving dish.
- Cover with caramel sauce. Us the remaining caramel sauce to add a layer of caramel sauce on top of the cheesecake and sprinkle with toffee bits, if desired.
- Drizzle and serve. Serve cheesecake slices with an extra drizzle of caramel sauce.
- Storage. Cheesecake tastes best when eaten within 3-4 days. Store leftover cheesecake in the fridge.
Tips for Success
Baking a cheesecake requires a lot of patience and attention to details. Reading through these tips will help you navigate common mistakes without a hitch so that your Salted Caramel Cheesecake turns out perfectly.
- Take your time. When melting the sugar for the caramel sauce, be patient. You don’t want to burn it, so keep the heat around medium and let it melt slowly.
- Use room temperature ingredients. When all of the cheesecake ingredients are room temperature, it’s much easier to blend them together and prevent lumps from forming in the batter. You also need room temperature (or warmer) ingredients for the caramel sauce. Be sure to see my notes on that throughout the post.
- Mix the filling slowly. Don’t be tempted to speed up the process of making the filling by increasing the speed on your mixer. Tap into your patience and make sure to use low speed to reduce the amount of air added to the batter, which can cause cracks.
- Bake the cheesecake in a water bath. You may be wondering how to bake a cheesecake in a water bath. They can definitely be a pain, but with all the work that goes into a cheesecake, it’d be a shame not to use one. Without it your cheesecake is likely to brown too much on the edges, fall in the middle and crack. Why do so much work and not have a beautiful result? If you need a little help with how to set up your water bath, check out my tutorial for a leak-proof water bath. Here are two of my most important water bath tips:
- Cool slowly. To prevent cracking, the cheesecake needs to cool slowly. Turn off the oven and leave the door closed for another 30 minutes. The cheesecake will continue to cook, as it slowly begins to cool. Then, crack the door of the oven, and set a timer for another 30 minutes. Your patience with the cooling process will result in a very creamy finished product.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use store-bought caramel sauce in the cheesecake?
You could use it on top of the cheesecake, although the homemade sauce really is better. But for inside the cheesecake, you really do need the homemade version. I made this caramel sauce a little thicker so that it doesn’t just dissolve inside the cheesecake while it bakes. Store-bought sauces are often quite thin and won’t hold up as well inside the cheesecake
Do I need to use the flour in the caramel sauce?
Yes! Without it, the caramel sauce will just dissolve into the cheesecake. The thicker caramel sauce and the flour work together to keep the caramel sauce where you put it inside the cheesecake.
Why did my caramel sauce get rock hard?
It’s super important that your butter and cream are at least room temperature, if not warmer, when you add them to the melted sugar. Room temperature generally means 70°F, but not everyone keeps their home that warm, which would mean your butter and cream may be too cool. If they are too cool, the dramatic temperature difference will cause the melted caramelized sugar to seize and end up rock hard. If that happens, if theory, you can save it and try to melt it. In practice, that’s hard to do and can be frustrating, so you may just want to start over. To be sure this doesn’t happen and that your butter and cream are not too cool, feel free to warm up your cream in the microwave and even melt your butter a bit.
Why does my caramel sauce taste burnt?
This happens when the sugar cooks for too long before you add the butter and cream. Watch it closely and be sure to keep stirring it while all the sugar chunks melt to help make sure all the sugar melts before it burns. It also helps to not crank up the heat on your stove to try to melt it faster. That doesn’t help and can actually cause the parts of the sugar that are already fully melted to burn before the rest of the sugar is fully melted. Be careful and take your time for best results.
Do I have to use a water bath?
I highly recommend it. Have you ever seen a cheesecake with a massive crack down the middle? That’s likely because a water bath wasn’t used. Water baths help the cheesecake bake more evenly so that you don’t end up with cracks in y our cheesecake. It also helps prevent the cheesecake from over-browning and falling in the center while it cools. You’re putting a lot of work into this cheesecake. Don’t skip this step and end up disappointed. Not sure how to set up a water bath? I’ve got you covered with my tutorial for how to set up a water bath. There are 3 different methods you could use.
More Amazing Cheesecakes
- Turtle Cheesecake
- Caramel Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
- Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake
- Caramel Apple Blondie Cheesecake
- Pecan Praline Cheesecake
- Creme Brûlée Cheesecake
- Caramel Apple Cheesecake
- Bananas Foster Cheesecake
Watch How to Make Salted Caramel Cheesecake
PrintEasy Salted Caramel Cheesecake
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Chill Time: 5 hours
- Cook Time: 2 hours 55 minutes
- Total Time: 8 hours 55 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This delicious Salted Caramel Cheesecake is the best you’ll ever have! Caramel sauce is drizzled on top and layered inside the smooth and creamy cheesecake! It’s caramel cheesecake heaven!
Ingredients
Caramel Sauce
- 2 1/2 cups (518g) sugar
- 10 tbsp (140g) salted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) heavy whipping cream, room temperature
- 6 tbsp (49g) all purpose flour, sifted
Crust
- 2 cups (268g) graham cracker crumbs
- 1/2 cup (112g) salted butter, melted
- 3 tbsp (42g) packed light brown sugar
Filling
- 24 oz (678g) cream cheese, room temperature
- 3/4 cup (168g) packed light brown sugar
- 3 tbsp (24g) all purpose flour
- 1 cup (230g) sour cream
- 1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- Toffee bits
Instructions
Make the caramel sauce:
- Pour the sugar into an even layer in a large saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring the sugar most of the time, until melted. The sugar will clump up at first, but will eventually completely melt. This should take about 10 minutes.
- Once the sugar has melted, stop stirring and allow to cook until the sugar has turned to a little darker amber color, if needed. You may notice a nutty aroma. The change in color will happen quickly, so don’t let it go too long or get too dark, or it’ll burn. Remove the caramel from the heat.
- Add the butter and whisk vigorously until combined. The mixture will bubble up quite a bit, but keep whisking until all the butter has melted and is combined.
- Slowly pour the heavy cream into the caramel and whisk until incorporated. It helps to add just a bit at a time until the caramel starts to thin out, then you can add the rest. Whisk until well incorporated and smooth.
- Set about 1 1/2 cups of caramel sauce aside for topping. While stirring with a whisk, slowly add sifted flour to the remaining caramel sauce to prevent lumps. Whisk until fully incorporated.
Make the crust:
- Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line a 9-inch (23cm) springform pan with parchment paper in the bottom and grease the sides.
- Combine the crust ingredients in a small bowl. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the springform pan.
- Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
- Cover the outsides of the pan with aluminum foil so that water from the water bath cannot get in (see how I prepare my pan for a water bath). Set prepared pan aside.
- Reduce oven temperature to 300°F (148°C).
- Pour the caramel sauce with the flour into the bottom of the crust and spread into an even layer.
Make the cheesecake filling:
- Beat the cream cheese, brown sugar and flour in a large mixer bowl on low speed until well 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.
- Add the sour cream and vanilla extract and mix on low speed until well combined.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly to combine after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to make sure everything is well combined.
- Pour the cheesecake batter into the crust, over the caramel.
- 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 45 minutes. The center should be set, but still jiggly.
- Turn off the oven and leave the door closed for 30 minutes. The cheesecake will continue to cook, but slowly begin to cool as well.
- Crack the door of the oven for 30 minutes to allow the cheesecake to continue to cool slowly. This process helps prevent cracking.
- Remove the cheesecake from the oven and remove the water bath and wrapping.
- Refrigerate cheesecake until completely cool and firm, 5-6 hours.
Finish the cheesecake:
- When the cheesecake is cool and firm, remove it from the springform pan and place on a serving dish.
- Prior to serving, pour 1/2 a cup of the remaining caramel sauce over the cheesecake and sprinkle with some toffee bits. Serve cheesecake slices with the remaining caramel sauce, for drizzling.
- Store cheesecake in the fridge in an air-tight container or covered with wrap. Cheesecake is best if eaten within 4-5 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 632
- Sugar: 55.7 g
- Sodium: 453.8 mg
- Fat: 34.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 72.5 g
- Protein: 9.1 g
- Cholesterol: 148.4 mg
Enjoy!
Can you store the leftover cheesecake in the freezer?
If you want to freeze leftovers, I would recommend cutting it into slices and freezing them individually. Just be sure to wrap them well.
I did NOT LIKE this recipe at all! One, it’s anything but easy! I’m a pro home baker and have been baking for over 50 yrs!! Two: way too much butter in crust recipe. My instincts told me that, but i proceeded. Between the caramel layer on top of the crust and the amount of butter in the crust, the crust was soggy and mushy. Not good. Three: the caramel, although a good consistency, was not good. It tasted unsweet, which was surprising! U might want to use brown sugar and half and half instead—much easier and sweeter. Four: although the brown sugar in the filling was good, it wasn’t sweet enough. I had to add another 1/2 c to it. (And i don’t care for anything too sweet). Just my take. I would give this recipe 1 star!!!
Great recipe and directions. My first Cheesecake from scratch. For my son’s birthday.
Thank you!
Awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
If you were making this the evening before serving the following evening, would you advise pouring the caramel on in the morning or just before serving that evening? Does it sit with the sauce on it ok?
Thanks!
I would probably pour it on just before serving so that it looks more fresh.
I know that most ingredients in a cheesecake are supposed to be room temperature. However, the sour cream isn’t listed as room temperature or cold. Which is it supposed to be?
Thank you!
In many places you will see that cold ingredients are listed as room temperature. I find that most helpful with the eggs and cream cheese, but doesn’t make a huge difference with things like the sour cream. Feel free to use it room temperature if you like, but I usually just pull it straight out of the fridge.
This was amazing cheesecake, to quote my husband “this is the best cheesecake I’ve ever had” and my son “ I don’t really even like cheesecake but this is amazing”. Made it for my best friends birthday and she loved it too. I will make it again.
That’s wonderful to hear! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it!
I can’t wait to make the banana cream cheesecake!!!
What are toffee bits please. Also here in Australia i havnt seen the slow cooker bags so what could i substitute. We cant get graham crackers so will use digestive biscuits
Toffee bits are little bits of toffee that we usually find in the baking aisle next to the chocolate chips. Maybe you don’t have them in Australia? You could try breaking up some toffee candy instead. I’m not sure of a substitute for the slow cooker bags, I’m sorry!
I made this cheesecake for Thanksgiving and my in law’s all loved it so much, I’m making it for my family for Christmas Eve! Am I able to make the salted caramel ahead of time (a couple days) and warm a bit before pouring onto the crust? I would jar the caramel topping then add the flour to the remainder then jar that separately. I have never stored caramel with flour like that so just not sure how it would hold up??!
I’m so glad it was a hit! I haven’t ever jarred caramel sauce with the flour before either. I think it would be fine, but you could always add the flour right before adding it to the crust if you wanted to be safe. Either way, you can definitely make the caramel sauce up to two weeks ahead.
This may seem like a silly question but here goes…. for the caramel sauce do you use regular sugar or brown sugar?? I’m really wanting to make this. It looks amazing!!!
It’s regular granulated sugar.
How much water do you use to melt your sugar? The cheesecakes turned out perfect but I’ve had two failed batches of the caramel sauce!
The caramel sauce I used in this is a dry caramel, so there is no water used. If you prefer trying a wet caramel, you can try this one. https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/easy-salted-caramel-sauce/
I’ve made this twice now and making it again this upcoming weekend for a birthday party. It’s a HUGE hit!!! Sooo good!!
I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks Monica!
I just made this and didn’t have the bag to use so used just the foil for the water bath. When I took it out it is clear water got in the pan. 😭 What should I do? The crust seems to be soggy. Should I just go ahead and cool in fridge or cook some more? Thanks!
I would just let it cool. Once it’s firm, you can remove it from the pan and if you let it sit in the fridge for a little bit, it’ll dry out a little. I’m sorry the water got in! That’s the worst!
I have had one of these for a few years now… it is the best!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079DDKS96/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=imtotu-20&linkId=5dca77b0fdb4f5a169aacdf7bdbe84ed&language=en_US
Never a wet Cheesecake again
That looks pretty neat! I might have to try it! Thanks!
I’m going to make this in the next day or two, I’m curious why it is baked 1 hour and 45, I just tried the vanilla bean and it was I hour 15. What would the difference be?
With all the caramel sauce in it, it needed a little longer to bake. You could always check it a little sooner and see. You usually want to look for the edges to be set and the inner couple of inches to still be jiggly.
Thank you, was just curious. I’ve made the strawberry with the chocolate ganache and the vanilla bean cheesecake. They both came out perfect. These are great recipes!
Hi! Do you really bake it for 1 hr and 45 mins??
That’s how long I baked it, yes.
How do you store extra caramel sauce?
Store it in the refrigerator.
I am very excited to try this recipe. I have made several of your recipes and eveyone turn out exceptional. I am curious about the salted aspect of this recipe. I think I may add some salted carmel flakes on top.
I hope you enjoy it! Glad to hear you’ve enjoyed the others!
I made this cheesecake for my husbands birthday this week. After the first bite, he immediately closed his eyes and said “Mmm, this is the best cheesecake I have ever had”. It was also a hit with his co-workers the next day. Thanks for a great recipe!
I’m so glad to hear that! Glad he enjoyed it! Thanks Mo!
experimenting ….I’ve halved this recipe and it baked in 15 mins and that’s pushing it…it said serves 10 -14 but I thought impossible. I forgot to add the flour in the caramel that sits on the crust, it disappeared into the cake😷 I am doing it again today but would like to add condensed milk instead of the brown sugar…Is that an option for a smoother cheesecake..
Great recipe …I love it..thank you
I haven’t tried the condensed milk, but you could try it. I’m not sure that it’ll change the texture all that much.
Where is the salt though, I think I would use salt flakes on top too. Sounds delicious I’m going to try
This is a great recipe especially the trick with the water bath! Thanks a lot for sharing this. My friends are addicted to this cake.
So glad it’s a hit!
Mine came out great even though the power did go out while it was baking. It just got a little brown on the top. The crust with the caramel soaked in was my favorite part. I loved being able to say that I made my own caramel. In the filling, I added 1/2 a cup of heavy whipping cream. This was a great recipe for my first time making a cheesecake.
Wonderful! I’m glad it turned out and you enjoyed! 🙂
Can you make two of these salted Carmel cheesecake in the oven at the same time or do you have to make it separately? Do you use regular bake or convention oven bake? What brand or kind of toffee bits do you use? Thank you!!
I would think that making two at the same time wouldn’t be ideal. The heat wouldn’t circulate in the oven as well and it’d probably take a while longer to bake. You’d want to use the regular bake setting and I use these toffee bits.
Followed the recipe to the letter, but I believe the top of the filling has gone a light brown colour, is this normal?
I don’t normally have my cheesecakes brown on top. I assume you’re using the water bath? Assuming you are, what part of the oven is the cheesecake in? I normally have it in the middle so it isn’t too close to the heat source (which is on top in my oven). It could also be that your oven runs a little hotter. Hopefully it still turned out ok!
This is one of my favorite recipes ever! It’s delicious, moist, and the leftovers hold up well when just wrapped in plastic wrap and left on the counter. I’ve already made twice today for small party with friends! So happy they all love it and asked for the recipe :)I’ll definitely make it again.
Wonderful! I’m so glad you all enjoyed!
I made this the night before thanksgiving – my first time ever attempting a cheesecake. The store was sold out of crockpot bags and despite three layers of foil, some water did seep it’s way in from the water bath, but thankful it still turned out PERFECT! Every thing about it is just spot on. My entire family RAVED about it and the other thanksgiving desserts were left untouched! I had a great time making it and really appreciated the very specific direction. Thank you for this amazing recipe it will be one I use for years!!
Wonderful! So glad it was a hit!
I’m so excited … made this this evening for a coworkers birthday tomorrow! It looks fabulous just worried a bit because when I took it out of the water Beth and took off the foil wrap and slow cooker bag there was wster inside of the slow cooker bag. 😢 I couldn’t find any holes either. Not sure what happened. Hope the cheesecake is still good.