Looking for an easy and totally PRECIOUS dessert this Easter? Then you need to make these individual mini Easter cheesecakes!
The mini cheesecakes feature a creamy white chocolate and Cadbury Mini Egg filling, a classic graham cracker crust, and a sweet topping of toasted coconut and additional Cadbury Eggs to look like the perfect Easter nest. These treats are kid approved and well loved.
They also look absolutely GORG on a dessert table at an Easter brunch or potluck.
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How to Make Mini Egg Cheesecakes
What you'll need for the crust
- A standard 12 cup muffin pan and cupcake liners: for the perfect size and easy cleanup. Making mini cheesecakes in a muffin pan helps them to set faster too!
- Graham crackers: I love the plain honey flavor, but you can use your favorite variety or even crushed cookies--like shortbread or golden Oreos. You'll need about 1 cup of crushed cookies for the perfect base.
- Melted unsalted butter: for binding the crust crumbs together.
- Granulated sugar: for flavor, but the sugar will also work as a glue to keep the crust together
- A pinch of salt: for adding flavor and balancing out all the sweet elements of the recipe.
For the Mini Egg Cheesecake Filling
- Heavy whipping cream: this will lighten the mixture and create an airy and creamy texture for the filling.
- Cream Cheese at room temperature: Gotta have cream cheese for cheesecake! Also the cream cheese sets beautifully after chilling, that way your cheesecakes will be nice and firm and can be eaten cleanly.
- Sour cream: for added tang and acidity. The sour cream helps to balance out all the richness and sweetness, while also providing structure to help the filling set.
- Granulated sugar: for sweetness and flavor. White sugar also melts beautifully into the filling as it sets.
- White chocolate (not chips), melted: using white chocolate gives these cheesecakes a little extra structural insurance. The chocolate sets up very firmly when it's cold, so by incorporating the white chocolate into the cream cheese and whipped cream filling, we can ensure that our cheesecakes will set nicely and won't weep (or melt). White chocolate also adds a lovely creaminess and special flavor to the filling.
- Vanilla extract and lemon juice: to add more flavor and balance to the filling.
- Cadbury Mini Eggs: these will add texture and flavor, and really make these mini cheesecakes festive for Easter! I use a 9oz bag for this recipe. That will be enough for both the filling and the topping.
For The Nest Topping
- Shredded sweetened coconut: toasted to make super fast and adorable nests.
- Cadbury Mini Eggs: to make the topping of these cheesecakes look like real bird nests and to make these extra festive for Easter.
Instructions
Prepare the Crust for the Cheesecakes
Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners and set it aside.
In the bowl of a food processor, add the graham crackers and sugar and process until fine crumbs.
Add in the melted butter and pulse until the crumbs are evenly moistened and will clump together when squeezed in your hand.
Distribute the crumbs among the 12 muffin cups. It'll be about 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of crumbs per muffin cavity.
Using the bottom of a clean glass, tamp down the crumbs until they are even and compact.
Pop the muffin pan in the freezer while you make the cheesecake batter.
Making the Cheesecake Batter
Measure out ¾ cup (about 48) of the Cadbury Mini Eggs and place them in a thick Ziploc bag. Using a sturdy measuring cup, rolling pin, or heavy pot, crush the candies into small pieces. The pieces should be slightly smaller than a standard sized chocolate chip. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, add the cold heavy cream.
Whip the cream on medium speed until it starts foaming, then turn up the speed to medium high and continue whipping until the cream has reached stiff peaks, about 2 minutes. You'll know the cream is ready when the cream stands straight up on the end of the beater without drooping.
Carefully spoon the whipped cream into another bowl and pop it in the fridge.
Return the whisk attachment and bowl to the stand mixer. Do not wash.
Add the cream cheese to the mixer bowl and whip at medium speed until smooth.
Add 1 tablespoon of sour cream and whip to combine. Give the sides and bottom of the bowl a scrape with a rubber spatula.
Pour in the sugar and beat until fully incorporated.
Next, add in the melted white chocolate and give a quick mix to combine.
Add your lemon juice and vanilla extract. Give the bowl another scrape with a rubber spatula and then one final mix on the mixer to ensure everything is fully incorporated and smooth.
Fold in the whipped cream and Mini Eggs
Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and grab the whipped cream from the fridge. Gently spoon the whipped cream onto the cream cheese filling. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the cream until almost completely integrated.
Pour the crushed Cadbury Mini Eggs into the batter.
Finish folding gently until no more streaks of whipped cream are showing, and the candy eggs are evenly distributed.
Fill the Muffin Cups
Remove the graham cracker crusts from the freezer. Gently spoon the filling over the crusts. Make sure to spread the batter all the way to the sides of each muffin cavity to prevent any gaps between the bottom of the batter and the crust. Fill the center of each cup slightly above the muffin liners with the cheesecake batter.
Tip: I spoon the batter up the sides of the liners first and fill in the centers after. The batter should be slightly fuller in the center and just barely come up above the muffin liners.
Smooth out the tops of each cake and chill for a minimum of 4 hours, but overnight is best.
Make the Topping for the Cheesecakes
To make the little nest topping for the Mini Egg cheesecakes, start by toasting your coconut flakes.
In a cold, dry skillet, add the sweetened coconut. Toast the coconut over medium to medium low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Toast until the coconut is crisp and golden brown, about 6-7 minutes.
Remove the coconut from the heat and set aside to cool.
Once the cheesecakes are fully chilled, you can take them out of the muffin pan and set them on your final serving dish.
You can also remove the muffin liners at this time, or feel free to leave them on if you prefer that look. If you are removing the liners, do it while the cakes are still cold.
Top the center of each cheesecake with a heaping teaspoon of the toasted coconut. Use your finger to make a little depression in the center of each coconut pile and add 1-2 Mini Cadbury Eggs to make a"nest".
Serve the cheesecakes immediately or return them to the fridge to stay chilled until ready to serve.
Removing the Cheesecake From the Muffin Pan
Use a butter knife to gently lift the cheesecake out of the pan. The cheesecakes will come out of the muffin pan easily by lifting them out by the paper liners. Make sure to do this while the cheesecakes are really cold, that way you won't squish the sides of the cakes in the process.
Remove the cupcake paper from the cheesecakes while they're still very cold to ensure clean removal.
Expert Tips
- Make sure your cream is super cold and whipped to stiff peaks. If the cream is too warm, it won't whip up stiff enough. And if the cream isn't whipped enough, the batter may fall or become too dense or runny.
- Crush your eggs into small pieces. you want to crush your Mini Eggs into pieces slightly smaller than a standard sized chocolate chip. You don't want dust, but you want the candy pieces small enough to allow the cheesecake batter to fill the muffin cup easily.
- Make sure your white chocolate isn't too hot before adding it to the cream cheese mixture. You may run the risk of melting the cheese if the chocolate is too hot.
- Freeze the crust. This helps to give you a sturdy base without baking!
- Chill for the recommended time. Under chilling will cause the cakes to become too soft and not pull away from the paper wrapper.
- Overfill your muffin cups. The batter should come up just slightly above the muffin liner. This is to replicate how a baked cheesecake will rise in the oven. Generously filling each muffin cup will give you the perfect crust to filling ratio.
Frequently Asked Questions
These Mini Egg cheesecakes will keep for a good 6-7 days in the fridge. Over time, the graham cracker crust will soften a bit, but the cakes will still remain solid enough to remove the wrappers easily and eat with your hands!
Make sure to store your leftover cheesecakes in an airtight container.
Yes! These cheesecakes freeze beautifully.
To freeze, keep the muffin papers on and transfer the cakes to an air tight, freezer safe container. Pop the cheesecakes into the freezer and store them for weeks until ready to eat!
When you're ready to serve, just take out however many cakes you need and allow them to thaw in the fridge until soft enough to eat (about an hour). You can either peel off the paper liners when they're frozen or after they thaw.
Nope!
As long as the cakes have chilled long enough, the wrappers will remove cleanly from the cheesecakes.
Tip: When you're pulling away the liners, make sure to hold each cheesecake from the bottom crust. No bake cheesecake filling is softer than baked cheesecake filling, so you don't want to squish the sides of the cakes with your fingers.
Also, remove the wrappers right after you take the cakes out of the fridge. As the filling comes up to room temperature, the cakes will soften making it harder to take the paper liners off cleanly.
In general, a no bake cheesecake is not as firm as a traditional baked cheesecake. This recipe will produce individual cheesecakes that are firm enough to remove the muffin papers without the cakes losing shape or the filling running out.
However, if you find that your cake did not set, here are some areas that may have gone wrong:
The cakes haven't chilled long enough. These individual Mini Egg cheesecakes need a minimum of 4 hours in the fridge-- but overnight is preferred. A long chill session will ensure that both the edges and the centers of the cakes are completely set and will hold their shape when removed from the muffin pan.
The whipped cream was not whipped stiff enough. If the heavy cream was not whipped to stiff peaks, then there was not enough air incorporated to stabilize the cream and fat. Without enough air, the cream will just collapse over time and get runny. As a result, the cheesecakes will have a softer set filling. There's a whole science to whipping cream-- you can read about it here if you'd like!
The whipped cream was not folded into the filling properly. The folding technique allows whipped ingredients (like whipped cream) to be gently incorporated into other (heavier) ingredients without deflating the air we whipped into them. However, if your whipped cream was improperly folded into the cream cheese mixture, the air may have been knocked out causing the whipped cream to deflate--and that would impact the cheesecake filling. If you've never folded ingredients into batters before, this video is a great tutorial for the folding technique!
Other Recipes You Might Like:
No Bake Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake
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📖 Recipe
Individual Mini Egg Cheesecakes
Individual no bake Cadbury Mini Egg Cheesecakes! These are the perfect sweet treats for your Easter celebration this year!
Ingredients
For the crust
- 9 graham crackers (1 cup crushed)
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
For the No Bake Mini Egg Filling
- ¾ cup of heavy whipping cream, cold
- 8 oz of cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon of sour cream
- ⅓ cup of granulated sugar
- 3 oz of white chocolate (not chips), melted and slightly cooled
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
- ¾ cup (about 48) whole Cadbury mini eggs from a 9oz bag
For The Nest Topping
- ½ cup of sweetened coconut flakes
- 24 whole Cadbury Mini Eggs
Instructions
Prepare the crust for the cheesecakes
- Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners and set it aside.
- In the bowl of a food processor, add the graham crackers and sugar and process until fine crumbs.
- Add in the melted butter and pulse until the crumbs are evenly moistened and will clump together when squeezed in your hand.
- Distribute the crumbs among the 12 muffin cups. It'll be about 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of crumbs per muffin cavity.
- Using the bottom of a clean glass, tamp down the crumbs until they are even and compact.
- Pop the muffin pan in the freezer while you make the cheesecake batter.
Making the mini egg cheesecake batter:
- Measure out ¾ cup (about 48) of the Cadbury mini eggs and place them in a thick Ziploc bag. Using a sturdy measuring cup, rolling pin, or heavy pot, crush the candies into small pieces. The pieces should be slightly smaller than a standard sized chocolate chip. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, add the cold heavy cream.
- Whip the cream on medium speed until it starts foaming, then turn up the speed to medium high and continue whipping until the cream has reached stiff peaks, about 2 minutes. You'll know the cream is ready when a dollop stands straight up on the end of the beater without drooping.
- Carefully spoon the whipped cream into another bowl and pop it in the fridge.
- Return the whisk attachment and bowl to the stand mixer. Do not wash.
- Add the cream cheese to the mixer bowl and whip at medium speed until smooth.
- Add 1 tablespoon of sour cream and whip to combine. Give the sides and bottom of the bowl a scrape with a rubber spatula.
- Pour in the sugar and beat until fully incorporated.
- Next, add in the melted white chocolate and give a quick mix to combine.
- Add your lemon juice and vanilla extract. Give the bowl another scrape with a rubber spatula and then one final mix on the mixer to ensure everything is fully incorporated and smooth.
Fold in the whipped cream and mini eggs
- Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and grab the whipped cream from the fridge. Gently spoon the whipped cream onto the cream cheese filling.
- Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the cream until almost completely integrated.
- Pour the crushed Cadbury Mini Egg pieces into the batter, and finish folding gently until no more streaks of whipped cream are showing, and the candy eggs are evenly distributed.
Fill the muffin cups
- Remove the graham cracker crusts from the freezer. Gently spoon the filling over the crusts. Make sure to spread the batter all the way to the sides of each muffin cavity to prevent any gaps between the bottom of the batter and the crust. Fill the center of each cup slightly above the muffin liners with the cheesecake batter.
- Smooth out the tops of each cake and chill for a minimum of 4 hours, but overnight is best.
Tip: I spoon the batter up the sides of the liners first and fill in the centers after. The batter should be slightly fuller in the center and just barely come up above the muffin liners.
Make the topping for the Cheesecakes:
- To make the little nest topping for the Mini Egg cheesecakes, start by toasting your coconut flakes.
- In a cold, dry skillet, add the sweetened coconut. Toast the coconut over medium to medium low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Toast until the coconut is crisp and golden brown, about 6-7 minutes.
- Remove the coconut from the heat and set aside to cool.
- Once the cheesecakes are fully chilled, you can take them out of the muffin pan and set them on your final serving dish.
- You can also remove the muffin liners at this time, or feel free to leave them on if you prefer that look. If you are removing the liners, do it while the cakes are still cold.
- Top the center of each cheesecake with a heaping teaspoon of the toasted coconut flakes. Use your finger to make a little depression in the center of each coconut pile and add 1-2 mini eggs to make a"nest".
- Serve the cheesecakes immediately or return them to the fridge to stay chilled until ready to serve.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 655Total Fat: 47gSaturated Fat: 28gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 51mgSodium: 151mgCarbohydrates: 65gFiber: 5gSugar: 54gProtein: 6g
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