Peppermint Mocha Cheesecake Recipe

Can’t decide between peppermint, coffee, and chocolate? Well I have good news. You can have it all! This cheesecake recipe combines all your favorite flavors into a rich and impossible to resist dessert.

It even has a chocolate graham cracker crust. So let’s get to making this gorgeous chocolate, coffee, & peppermint cheesecake. Scroll to the bottom if you want to get straight to the recipe, or read on if you want to learn tons of helpful tips and tricks along the way!

Getting Started with Cheesecakes

Cheesecakes come in a million variations from a Southern Classic Cream Cheese Pie – think of that as a homemade version of a no bake cheesecake. It’s light, fluffy, and delicious. Your traditional cheesecakes will be much more smooth and dense. These are often called New York Style. Cheesecake lovers are often purists and think it’s best to not cover the cheesecake in fruit or add anything to the center.

Cheesecakes can also be made with ricotta in place of the cream cheese and other incredible additions.

For this recipe, we are creating a New York style with some gorgeous additions!

About Springform Pans

Springform pans are used for cheesecake for 2 reasons. 1. It’s easy to wrap the springform pan in foil and to block out any water from the water bath (we’ll talk about that later.) 2. It’s the easiest way to prevent the cheesecake from sticking to the pan.

However, you do not need to use a springform. Lots of people prefer to use a parchment lined pie pan with tall sides that don’t slope. If you aren’t using a springform, be prepared to line everything with parchment.

About a Water Bath

Water baths are used with many different types of souffles, custards, and creme brulees. A water bath is what prevents the surface from cracking and breaking. I have seen traditional cheesecake recipes that skip the water bath – but I wouldn’t trust them!

Making a water bath is easy. Just be sure that your pan is covered with aluminum foil to prevent in water from leaking in. And when you take your cheesecake in and out of the oven, work slowly to prevent water from splashing.

How Long Until You Can Serve a Cheesecake

A Cheesecake needs to be completely cool before you serve it. I would recommend waiting many hours or even a full day. The good news is that cheesecakes keep quite well in the fridge! I would say they keep longer than cakes or cupcakes, closer to a week like a pie.

Totally delicious, right?! Now there are just a few additional things you should know about to make this recipe truly special. First of all, I used regular whipped cream here. But it will be so much better with a gorgeous homemade whipped cream.

If you want to add crushed peppermint like I did, it’s so gorgeous and fun! Just add a couple of starlight mints to a plastic bag and crush with a hammer. Then sprinkle them across the top of the cheesecake.

If you aren’t obsessed with peppermint, that’s okay! You can actually use less peppermint extract in this recipe. Peppermint extract is quite strong, so even 1/2 teaspoon will give you a touch of minty flavor but it will make the coffee and chocolate flavors come through more thoroughly.