Fig Cheesecake

This fig cheesecake is easy to make and delicious! It’s made with fresh figs and a delicious, not-too-sweet, and very rich cheese mixture layered over a simple graham cracker base. It’s the perfect summer cheesecake!

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I love cheesecake! And I love cheesecake with fruit (or other fresh fruit cakes like this apple cake)! Like lemon and raspberry cheesecake, cherry cheesecake, pumpkin cheesecake, or the classic strawberry cheesecake. Really… any cheesecake!

I was visiting my family in Israel when I realized that I’ve landed smack in the middle of fig season. Now let me tell you something… If you’ve never tried fig jam you make sure that you do right after you make this fig cheesecake. It’s my favorite jam of all jams and not one that we can easily find at the store. You simply must!

Fig Cheesecake Recipe…

But since I am a fig nut, I made the jam, and then another batch to make sure to fed my obsession the whole time I was in Israel, yet I was still left with some figs (I picked way too many…). I was thinking, what else can I make and a fig cheesecake came to mind. It came out so so delicious that I had to share it with you!

Ingredients…

• Graham crackers – you’ll see me using the Israeli equivalent below since I made this cheesecake when I was in Israel… I thought I’d mention it just in case you are wondering.
• Butter
• Philadelphia cream cheese
• Sour cream
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Figs – choose ripe, soft, yet not too soft and falling apart figs.

Kitchen Tools…

• Cutting board
• Knife
• Frying pan
• Wooden Spoon
• Food processor
• A stand mixer or a mixing bowl and hand mixer
• 9” Springform pan

How to Make Fig Cheesecake…

Step one – prepare the figs. Slice the figs in half. Place them in a shallow pan and add sugar. Cook on medium-high for five minutes until the sugar melts. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Step two – prepare the crust. Add the crust ingredients to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times until the ingredients are finely ground. Butter the bottom and sides of the springform pan well or cut a piece of parchment paper in a circle to fit at the bottom of the pan.

Pour the crust mixture into the pan and press it to the bottom of the pan and about an inch up the sides. Set the pan in the freezer.

Step three – prepare the cheese filling. Add the ingredients for the cheese filling into a mixing bowl and use a hand mixer to mix them together until the mixture is smooth. Of course, you can also do this with a stand mixer.

Step four – assemble the cake. Remove the crust from the freezer, add half of the cheese filling onto it, then set a layer of the figs, flat part up, into the cheese mixture. Add the rest of the cheese filling, and one more layer of figs into it.

Step five – bake the cake. Bake in a 300 degrees F preheated oven for an hour or so, until the edges are golden and the center is set. It’s a good idea to place an oven safe dish with water in it in the oven to accompany the cake as it bakes. This adds moisture and keeps the cheesecake from drying out.

Once time is up, turn the oven off but don’t remove the cake from the oven. Let it stay inside and cool slowly and gradually. This will prevent it from cracking. This may take an hour or so. When the cake has cooled to room temperature, you can remove it from the oven.

How to Cure and Serve this Fig Cheesecake…

Like every baked cheesecake, this one benefits from a day of curing too. This is the hardest part of making any cheesecake, but, once it’s baked and cooled to room temperature, it’s better to cover it with tin foil and place it in the fridge for 24 hours (preferably), or at least overnight before serving.

Then, before serving, run a knife between the cheesecake and the edges of the pan to release it and remove the spring part of the pan. Slice the cake and serve.

How to Store this Cake…

• In the fridge – this fig cheesecake will last 7-10 days in the fridge. I usually add the spring part of the pan back around the cake, cover it with tin foil and place in the fridge. You can also place it in a plastic bag if you are concerned about it catching other flavors in the fridge.
• In the freezer – this fig cheesecake can be stored in the freezer for up to a year. It’s a bit hard to take it off the bottom of the spring pan and freeze it whole, so I usually slice it and freeze individual servings. Make sure to use a freezer-safe container, place slices in zip-lock bags, or wrap the slices in plastic food wrap before freezing.
  To serve, thaw slices at room temperature. I’m gonna mention here that this cheesecake is delicious half-frozen.

Kitchen Notes…

• Add vanilla extract – everything is better with vanilla extract! Feel free to add a teaspoon to either the figs when you cook them at the beginning or to the cheesecake filling.
• Add other fruit – I haven’t tried this, but I imagine that you can try to add other fruit like maybe plums (cook them with the figs).
• Use frozen figs – if you happen to freeze a batch of figs you can use them to make this fig cheesecake. Let them thaw, remove the liquids, and then cook them with the sugar before adding to the cake.
• Use light cream cheese – this is a very rich and creamy cheesecake. If you want to make it a tiny bit lighter, you can use light cream cheese instead of regular cream cheese.
• Make a sour cream topping – I like leaving the top of this cheesecake exposed because I think that the figs are beautiful. However, if your cheesecake cracked a bit or if you prefer making a topping for it, you can mix one pint of sour cream, 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract with a hand mixer. Top the cake once it has cooled to room temperature.

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Well, I guess that I am adding another must-make recipe to my fig collection of recipes! This cake was delicious and definitely another reason to look forward to fig season. I hope that you’ll give it a try!

More Delicious Baked Goods…

• Easy Strawberry Bread
• Chocolate Walnut Cake (gluten-free)
• Challah Bun Recipe
• Death by Chocolate Zucchini Bread
• Simple Mulberry Cookies

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