Instant Pot Turtle Cheesecake
When I had a dinner party for a friend’s birthday, I knew it was time to make Instant Pot Turtle Cheesecake. What can be better than chocolate, homemade caramel, & pecans made? I loved making this cheesecake, which was a suggested flavor from the fantastic people on my Facebook Instant Pot group. What an amazing support system this group is and how much fun to have them in my life.
Quick Tip on Bringing Cream Cheese and Eggs to Room Temperature in a Hurry
Fill your sink with water that is just a bit above room temperature. It should be warm – not so hot you can’t put your hand in it comfortably. Add your cream cheese to a gallon ziptop bag, seal and place in water bath for 10 minutes. Your eggs can just go into the water. After 10 minutes, your cream cheese and eggs will be at the perfect temperature to use.
I’m Gonna Let You In On My Secret
I think the best part about making cheesecakes in my Instant Pot is that once you get a good base recipe or two, the possibilities are endless. The base of this recipe is the same as the base for the Mexican Hot Chocolate Cheesecake and the Chocolate Mint Cheesecakes I’ve already posted. Change up the crust, change up the additions and you have a brand new cheesecake that will wow your guests and baffle your family. Best of all – it takes less than an hour to cook it every single time.
I Fully Admit I’m a Food Snob
An old friend and her kids actually gave me a super hero theme song because apparently – cooking is my superpower. I can go along with that just fine. When I made this cheesecake, I made homemade caramel sauce. It is a variation on Alton Brown’s caramel sauce It is so worth it and tastes about a billion times better than the store bought stuff. But, it isn’t a necessity. If you don’t have the time or want to do that, feel free to use the stuff in the store. The cheesecake will still be delicious and everyone will still gape at the beauty of your creation.
As an illustration – I used boxed brownie mix. Why? Because I know that these commercial companies have access to flour blends that I don’t and it can make a huge difference in texture. I love Ghiradelli’s brownie mixes and they had a chocolate caramel pecan one. Why reinvent the wheel when a company I trust has one that fits my purpose? Cooking isn’t a hard and fast rule – you do what works for you and ignore the haters.
| Servings |
|
- 1 brownie mix Your favorite!
- 10 ounces 70% bittersweet chocolate
- 32 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 14.5 ounces sugar
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 2 cups pecans toasted
- 1 bag chocolate chips melted
Ingredients
For the Crust
For the Filling
For the topping
|
Rate this recipe!
|
- Prepare your pan like you normally would for a cheesecake. I like to cover the bottom of my springform pan with a round of parchment paper and I collar the sides with parchment taller than the normal sides of the pan. This allows me to have taller cheesecakes and nothing sticks.
- Prepare the brownies as suggested on the box and bake in the bottom of your springform in the oven. Allow brownies to cool completely.
- Stir chopped chocolate in metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove bowl from over water; cool chocolate until lukewarm but still pourable.
- Cream cream cheese, sugar, and cocoa powder in mixer until smooth. Combine in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in lukewarm chocolate. Pour filling over crust; smooth top. If you have collared your cheesecake, you can use all the filling. If not, fill your pan 2/3 full. Cover top of springform pan with aluminum foil.
- Pour 1 cup of water into the pressure cooking pot, and place the trivet in the bottom. Carefully center the filled pan on a foil sling* and lower it into the pressure cooking pot. Fold the foil sling down so that it doesn't interfere with closing the lid.
- Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and set the timer for 45 minutes. When beep sounds, turn off pressure cooker. use a natural pressure release for 10 minutes, and then do a quick pressure release to release any remaining pressure. When valve drops carefully remove lid. Remove cheesecake and check the cheesecake to see if the middle is set. If not, cook the cheesecake an additional 5 minutes.
- Remove the springform pan to a wire rack to cool. Remove aluminum foil. When cheesecake is cooled, refrigerate covered with plastic wrap for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Combine sugar, light corn syrup, cream of tartar and water in the saucepan over high heat and give it a stir. Allow the sugar to dissolve.
- When the sugar has dissolved, reach for your candy thermometer and apply as the manufacture suggests. Pretty soon the mixture will reach a boil and the temperature will start increasing.
- Turn the heat down to medium once you hit 230 degrees F and in about five minutes, you’ll get close to 300 degrees F. That’s when you can give it a stir.
- Once you get to 340 degrees F, turn the heat off and remove the thermometer (be careful, it’ll be hot).
- Pour in the heavy cream (stand back because it’ll bubble). Just wait. It’s just the moisture cooking out of the cream. As soon as you can safely approach the cooktop again, add vanilla bean paste if desired, & return the heat to medium and continue cooking for three minutes.
- Remove from heat and let it cool thoroughly before containment. In the fridge it will last about a month.
- Add thin layer of caramel to the top of the cheesecake.
- Arrange toasted pecans around the top of the cheesecake.
- Cover in melted chocolate and allow to cool in the fridge until the chocolate has set.
I have the 6qt duo and 8qt doi. My 6qt holds only a 7in pan at best. What size does your recipe hold for your instant pot?
I’m using the 8 quart, and I am using an 8 inch springform pan with a parchment collar. The great news is that with the 7 inch pan, you can still collar – your cheesecake will just be REALLY tall. I would add about 5 or 10 more minutes to the cooking time to deal with the added height.
Am I missing where you use the vanilla bean paste? I’ve never used that- where do you get it and can it be substituted for regular vanilla? Thanks for the awesome recipe, I plan on making it soon!
It is an optional step after you add the cream to the caramel. 🙂
Hi there, I have a question about the brownie mix. I have a 7 inch springform pan to fit in my instant pot. Isn’t an entire brownie mix going to fill up the pan by itself?
Brownies are denser and usually don’t fill the pan. I used an 8 inch pan and it didn’t fill mine, but it was thicker than most crusts. This is a very thick cheesecake. One thing you can do if you are concerned about how thick the crust is, using a pan slightly smaller than the cake, while it is still warm – press the brownies down. This will make the brownies very dense, but thinner.
I will be using a 7″ cheesecake pan to make this. How high above the top of the pan do you recommend making the parchment collar? I don’t want a mess in my pot!
3-4 inches above the rim at the highest. 🙂 Enjoy it!
How much room should be between instant and pan. I have 8quart instant. Which size pan should I use for the cheesecake.
Great question. For an 8 quart, I use an 8 inch. It leaves perfect amount of room around.