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This Frosted Animal Cookie Cheesecake has frosted circus animal cookies in the crust and throughout the cheesecake! It’s thick, creamy and topped with fun pink-colored white chocolate and sprinkles – much like the animal cookies!
I love cookies and cheesecake together. If you do too, you’ll want to try this Best Oreo Cheesecake recipe and this Chocolate Chip Cookie Crust Cheesecake. You’ll be in cookie heaven!
An Easy Birthday Cake Idea
I am a natural born sweets lover. If loving dessert can be in your blood, it’s in mine. This cheesecake kind of reminds me of that because these frosted animal cookies have been a favorite cookie of mine for as long as I can remember. On many occasions I have picked up a bag from the store, only for it to last 48 hours in my house – at the most. It’s dangerous for me to even buy them and that was the case when making this cheesecake.
Often when buying ingredients, I get plenty extra. Of course there are always endless bags of flour, sugar and packages of butter. But when I need things like animal cookies, I also have to buy several bags. I’m not a fan of running to the store over and over again. And I still had to make a couple trips to replenish these cookies as I was testing out this recipe.
Working with these cookies over a few days and not eating all the cookies was SO HARD! I probably snacked on a few more than I should have, but I couldn’t resist! I feel the same way about the cheesecake – so good!
To start, there’s the frosted animal cookie crust. This took several attempts before I was happy with it. Because of all the frosted cookies, you really barely need any butter to hold things together. The icing on the cookies kind of melts together and holds it all in place. I added a touch, just to be safe.
For the filling, there’s more animal crackers. About 3/4 cup go right into the bottom of the crust, then another 1 1/4 cups in the batter. The cookies soften up as the cheesecake bake, but still retain just enough crunch. It gives the cheesecake plenty of frosted animal cookie flavor – and color! I tried one version where I added some sprinkles to the cheesecake batter, but because nonpareil sprinkles bleed so easily, it actually messed up the fun pink and white color.
Homemade Ganache
On top of the cheesecake is a white chocolate ganache that is colored to a light shade of pink, similar to the pink cookies. You could leave it white, but the pink is just so cute! Finish off the cheesecake with some sprinkles and animal cookies and you’re good to go!
I really loved the final version of this cheesecake. Between the crust and all the cookies in the cheesecake, it’s delicious! The cheesecake filling is thick, creamy and full of vanilla flavor. The white chocolate finishes it off beautifully! I love all the flavors and every bite is a little bite of pink and white cookie cheesecake heaven!
Watch How To Make It
Print
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 Slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Frosted Animal Cookie Cheesecake has frosted circus animal cookies in the crust and throughout the cheesecake! It’s thick, creamy, yummy and so fun!
Ingredients
CRUST
- 2 1/4 cups (302g) frosted animal cookie crumbs
- 2 tbsp (28g) salted butter, melted
FILLING
- 24 ounces (678g) cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup (207g) sugar
- 3 tbsp (24g) all purpose flour
- 1 cup (230g) sour cream, room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 cups (208g) chopped frosted animal cookies, divided
WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE
- 6 oz (169g) white chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup (60ml) heavy whipping cream
- Pink gel icing color
- Sprinkles
WHIPPED CREAM
- 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy whipping cream, cold
- 4 tbsp (29g) powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line a 9-inch (23cm) 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 of the springform pan.
3. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
4. Cover the outsides of the pan with aluminum foil (I also use a plastic crock pot liner – see method for preventing your water bath from leaking here) so that water from the water bath cannot get in. Set prepared pan aside.
CHEESECAKE FILLING
5. Reduce oven to 300°F (148°C).
6. In a large mixer bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar and flour until well combined (Use low speed to keep less air from getting into the batter, which can cause cracks). Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
7. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract, mixing on low speed until well combined.
8. Add the eggs one at a time, beating slowly and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.
9. Stir in about 1 1/4 cups of chopped animal cookies. Stir just until mixed, so the colors from the sprinkles don’t mix into the batter too much.
10. Pour a small amount of batter into the bottom of the crust in an even layer, then add the remaining 3/4 cup of chopped animal cookies.
11. Pour the remaining cheesecake filling into crust, over the cookies, and spread into an even layer.
12. Place springform pan (covered with aluminum foil) inside another larger pan. Fill the larger 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.
13. Bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes.
14. Turn off heat and leave cheesecake in oven with door closed for 30 minutes.
15. Crack oven door and leave the cheesecake in the oven for about 30 minutes.
16.Remove cheesecake from oven and chill until firm, 5-6 hours or overnight.
TO FINISH OFF THE CHEESECAKE
17. When the cheesecake is cool and firm, remove from the springform pan and set on a serving plate.
18. To make the white chocolate ganache. Put the white chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl.
19. Microwave the heavy whipping cream until it just begins to boil, then pour it over the chocolate chips. Allow it to sit for 2-3 minutes, then whisk until smooth. If it doesn’t melt completely, microwave for 10-20 seconds, then whisk until smooth.
20. Color the ganache with a little pink gel coloring, if desired.
21. Pour the ganache onto the cheesecake and spread into an even layer.
22. To make the whipped cream, add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.
23. Pipe dollops of the whipped cream on top of the white chocolate ganache.
24. Top the cheesecake with frosted animal cookies and some sprinkles, if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Cheesecake is best for 3-4 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 529
- Sugar: 42.2 g
- Sodium: 327.6 mg
- Fat: 30.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 56.4 g
- Protein: 9.1 g
- Cholesterol: 106.4 mg
Categories
Enjoy!
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Made this tonight for my boyfriends birthday, delicious! I had to bake slightly longer (it’s a gas oven and just seems to cook slow) and definitely need the parchment paper, I didn’t have any and the crust stuck to the pan a bit. But it was cute and tasty, thanks!!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Is the crust supposed to be cooked all the way after baking for 10 minutes? mine is still soft.
That’s fine. I wouldn’t over bake it.
Hi! If I make this ahead of time and need to freeze, do i freeze it BEFORE i put the ganache?
I haven’t tried it, but I’m thinking it’d be ok either way.
I made this for my birthday this weekend and OH MY GOODNESS. It’s seriously the most delicious cheesecake I’ve ever had. We usually have quite a bit of cake left after parties but it was completely devoured and now I have family members requesting I make it for them! The cooking method was perfect and my cheesecake was crack free!
Followed this exactly and it came out beautiful and delicious!!
This recipe is amazing. I made it for Easter. For starters it couldn’t be cuter or more festive. None of that matters if it doesn’t taste good though. I can honestly say this is probably one of the best tasting cheesecakes I have ever had. Winner for sure. Thank you for sharing this. I love the other readers idea of a cadbury egg cheesecake!
Can this be made ahead and frozen?
Sure! Just wrap it well and thaw in the fridge.
I’d love to try this in mini mason jars using Sous Vide. Do you think it would work? I’m going to test it out but looking to see if anyone else has tried this method and come across any conversions needed, besides perhaps making a smaller batch.
Thank you,
Perrie
It should be fine. A little like making mini cheesecakes.
it’s normally just my husband and me, and he’s not always helpful in eating cheesecake. I just bought a little 6″ pan so I can make “personal” cheesecake. I was wondering if you would have a guess at how long to bake this recipe, cut in half, and baked in a 6″ pan.
I’m sorry, I’m not really sure. My instant pot cheesecake uses a 7 inch pan, so you could try those measurements. I’m just not sure about baking time.
I plan on making this for my son’s bday (doing a blue and white version instead of pink!). Do I need to use gel food coloring or can I use liquid? Thank you!!
I haven’t tried liquid coloring in ganache, so I can’t say for sure.
I just finished a slice of this, started it last night and finished it up this morning, so I had a piece for breakfast (shhh..) I followed your directions exactly, no substitutes. Thank you so much, my 6 year old daughter fell in LOVE the minute she saw it.
A good cake and my 9 year old loved it for her birthday today. It gets 4 stars because even after following the directions to use a slow cooker liner and foil, the crust was very soggy but the flavor was good. I would probably cook it 10 minutes less than called for but that’s probably our oven requirement.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! For the record though – a leaky cheesecake pan is a problem with the pan, not the recipe. I can’t fix your leaky pan for you. I can only make suggestions for how to help.
Hi!
This is probably a silly question but do you recommend measuring by weight with a scale or with measuring cups?
I always measure my dry ingredients with a scale.
I’ve had this recipe pinned for several years and finally had an occasion to bake it! It’s only the second time I’ve made a cheesecake, but it turned out incredible!! The only thing I noticed was that my animal cookies were much pinker than your picture. I read the comments and saw that you used Keebler brand and I used Mother. I’ll try that brand next time. It was a huge hit at the party!!
A few people said that they liked the fact that it wasn’t too sweet…can that be such a thing?!
Can’t wait to try another of your cheesecake recipes 🙂 Thanks!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Yes, I have noticed the difference in the shade of pink between the two brands too. Either is fine.
I’ve been dying to make this for ages, but the link I have to the recipe always results in an error and says the page no longer exists? I’m so sorry to bother you, but is there any way you could provide and updated link to the recipe? Thank you in advance, I truly cannot wait to make this gorgeous cheesecake!!!
I’m so sorry for the trouble! There was an issue today that affected thousands of sites – mine included. It looks like it’s been resolved, so you should be able to access it here now. Sorry about that!
Tried this recipe and came out perfect!! Inwas asked to make it for a childs birthday and I wanted to make it in a 11.5 inch springform pan not sure how to adjust the recipe and baking time any suggestions?
I haven’t made a cheesecake that size before, so I’m not sure. You could try adding a little more batter – maybe do 1 1/2 recipes worth?