9x13 Inch Pan Tiramisu Cheesecake

This is a recipe I dug out of my archives for Memorial Day. It's called Tiramisu Cheesecake, and it's a throwback to the early 2000s when Kraft and similar brands were all about making cheesecake more approachable, especially for home cooks who didn’t own springform pans or want to fuss with water baths. It's a 9x13 inch pan cheesecake recipe. Ingredients include Nilla Wafers, cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, coffee powder, eggs and whipped cream.

I believe this one was originally in Kraft’s Food & Family magazine where it was marketed as a "bake-and-share" solution, so less about the wow factor (like a Basque Cheesecake or Dubai Chocolate) and more about convenience, portability, and making dessert for a crowd. In other words, perfect for Memorial Day.

Tiramisu Cheesecake

This is a fun, no-brainer type dessert you can make a day ahead of time. Instead of ladyfingers, it uses Nilla Wafers for the base and layers. The cookies are brushed with (very!) strong coffee and topped with two layers of cheesecake batter—one coffee, one vanilla. Here's a picture I took midway through. This is the second layer of wafers sitting on a layer of coffee flavored cream cheese. After taking the photo, I poured on the vanilla layer, which is thinner than the coffee layer. As it bakes, the cookies move around a bit which you can see in the strata of the first photo.

Smaller Batch Square Pan Cheesecake

The original recipe and what's in the card is for a 9x13 inch pan, assuming all you out there have more friends and family than we do. I just made us an 8-inch by halving the recipe and using an 8-inch square metal pan. Here's a picture of the whole thing. If you are serving up to 6, you might want to go with the half batch 8-inch version. The 9x13 inch will feed a crowd, but the 8-inch pan is a pretty decent size too.

Tiramisu Cheesecake Notes & Tips

Some notes! I'll add more if I get any questions.

• I used a metal pan rather than a glass dish. If using a glass dish, you may have to adjust the baking temperature or timing. I've only tested in metal.
• If you replace the instant coffee with instant espresso powder, you only need half the amount. Even with half the amount, espresso powder will be much, much stronger. It's probably best to stick with instant coffee crystals as directed.
• Brushing the Nilla Wafers with the coffee mixture is a bit awkward because they move around, so try to anchor them with broken cookies if you can. Just dab the coffee mixture onto them rather than douse them.
• Be sure to use very soft cream cheese. I used very soft cream cheese and was able to just stir the batter without using an electric mixer. Then again, I made half batch. If making the full batch is probably a lot easier to just use the mixer.
• The cream can be spread over the top or you can pipe it out with a round tip like I did. Espresso beans would be the perfect addition (though there's plenty of caffeine in this already), and I think a drizzle of caramel sauce would also be nice.

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Recipe

9x13 Inch Tiramisu Cheesecake

Anna

Two layers of flavored cheesecake baked in a 9x13 inch dish and chilled.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Cooling and Chilling 6 hours hrs

Total Time 7 hours hrs

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 16

Ingredients

 

• 1 box Nilla Wafers (12 oz) or about 44 cookies
• 5 teaspoons instant coffee or half the amount espresso powder divided
• 3 tablespoons hot water divided
• 4 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 3 cups Cool Whip or other whipped topping, thawed
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 13x9 inch inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Spray the bottom of the pan with cooking spray.
• Layer half of the wafers (44) on bottom of prepared pan.
• In a small bowl, dissolve 2 teaspoons of coffee granules or 1 teaspoon of espresso powder in 2 tablespoon of hot water. Use a pastry brush to dab the wafers with the strong coffee mixture. Try not to soak them, just do your best to brush half of the coffee into the layer of wafers. Reserve the other half of this coffee mixture for the second layer of wafers.
• In a large bowl, beat the softened cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream and vanilla; mix well.
• Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended.
• Dissolve remaining 3 teaspoons coffee granules (or 1 ½ teaspoons espresso powder) in remaining 1 tablespoon hot water.
• Put about 3 ½ cups or weigh out 14 oz of batter in a a medium bowl. Stir in dissolved coffee.
• Pour coffee flavored batter over wafers in baking pan. Layer remaining wafers over batter. Brush wafers with reserved dissolved coffee. Pour remaining plain batter over wafers.
• Bake 45 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Lift cheesecake from pan, using foil handles. Spread or pipe over whipped topping and dust with cocoa powder.
• Optional: Before serving, drizzle with chocolate syrup and caramel sauce.

Keyword Cheesecake, Kraft, Tiramisu

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