Peppermint Mocha Cheesecake Recipe

What would happen if a Peppermint Mocha and a Cheesecake had a baby? Pure magic, that’s what. This cheesecake perfectly balances the flavors of coffee, peppermint, and chocolate into a delicious and elegant dessert.
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This Peppermint Mocha Cheesecake is all of your wildest dreams come true in one simple dessert. Despite the complicated name and scary words like “cheesecake”, this is actually really simple to make.


Peppermint Mocha Cheesecake
What would happen if a Peppermint Mocha and a Cheesecake had a baby? Pure magic, that’s what. This cheesecake perfectly balances the flavors of coffee, peppermint, and chocolate into a delicious and elegant dessert.
Ingredients
Crust
- 3/4 cup chocolate graham crackers crushed
- 1/3 cup butter melted
Filling
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 8 ounce bricks of cream cheese room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
- 3 eggs beaten
- 3 tablespoons instant coffee
- 1/2 chocolate bar grated
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Crust
Spray springform pan and add liner to bottom of pan.
In medium bowl, mix crushed graham crackers and melted butter. When graham crackers are wet through, press gently into bottom of springform pan. Refrigerate while you make the filling.
Filling
In electric mixer add cream cheese and beat until smooth (no lumps left).
Add in sugar while mixer is running on low and cream thoroughly.
Add in cocoa powder.
Add in sour cream, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract.
Sprinkle in the instant coffee.
Mix until smooth (cheesecakes should have no lumps).
Remove crust from refrigerator. Gently poor cheesecake mixture into springform pan. Carefully place cheesecake in oven.
Bake for 38-40 minutes. Cheesecake should still be slightly jiggly in middle.
To prevent falling and cracking, turn oven off and let cool in the oven for one hour.
Remove cheesecake refrigerate for 4 hours. Once cool, garnish cheesecake with grated chocolate, crushed peppermint, and whipped cream. Serve cold.

Tips for Making Cheesecake from Scratch
Many people are intimidated by the idea of making cheesecake, but it really is a simple dessert to make. Here are a few tips to give you confidence in the art of cheesecake.
- Invest in a springform pan. I ordered mine off of Amazon for under $20. It makes baking the perfect cheesecake so much easier.
- Use liners for your springform pan. This guarantees that your cheesecake won’t stick to the pan. These also work great for regular cakes. I bought 200 off of Amazon for just $11. That’s a whole lot of cakes!
- Instead of removing the baked cheesecake from your oven when it is finished, turn off the oven and leave it in for an hour. This helps prevent cracking on the top.
- Don’t overcook it! Your cheesecake will still be slightly jiggly when it is finished. This will firm up when it cools.
And if you love cheesecake as much as I do, be sure and check out my recipe for Cranberry Orange Cheesecake.