Are you someone who thinks Christmas would not be complete without eggnog? I can take it or leave it, but it has been ages since I’ve had any. My favorite is eggnog spiked with dark rum, something introduced to me by my friends David and Jarrod at one of our Christmas get-togethers. I haven’t seen them in ages, but I immediately thought back to that Christmas when I found this Rum Caramel Drizzled Eggnog Cheesecake recipe. How can eggnog and rum get better? Add cheesecake. But that’s true for a lot of things! So let’s find out if this recipe is as good as it sounds.
When two holiday favorites come together and make the most delicious dessert; that is elegant enough to grace any table.
The Ingredients
I haven’t made a ton of cheesecakes, but I have noticed a pattern in the recipes. The cheese used is either mascarpone, which produces a firmer cheesecake, or cream cheese, which makes a softer and creamier cheesecake. This recipe uses the latter, along with several other easy to find staples.
I had a few things like sugar, vanilla, cornstarch, and nutmeg, so I had some shopping to do. Fortunately, nothing was difficult to find, not even the eggnog since Christmas is so close. That will probably make this only possible during this season since I can’t imagine finding eggnog at any other time.
The Process
This recipe had two main parts: making the cheesecake and crust and making the rum-caramel sauce. I did both the same day and refrigerated the cake overnight so it could set thoroughly. Here’s how my time as spent:
- 19 minutes to prep
- 1 hour 10 minutes to cook
- 1 hour to cool
- 2 hours 29 minutes total
The 19 minute prep time is how long it took to make the crust and bake it while preparing the filling. Once the filled crust was in the oven, I began making the rum-caramel sauce. That took 11 minutes and was ready long before the cheesecake came out of the oven.
First up was making the graham cracker crust. This was pretty simple, and I had it in the oven in just six minutes. I did hesitate since the instructions didn’t say to grease my springform pan and ended up skipping it. I hoped the butter in the crust and the non-stick pan would be enough to keep it from sticking. It did stick a little, so I recommend greasing your pan to make serving easier.
After that, I got started on the filling. This part wasn’t too difficult (just mixing), but you will need a hand mixer and a medium mixing bowl or a stand mixer. Also, be sure to put your cream cheese out on the counter for a couple of hours to soften. You do not want to attempt this with cold, hard cream cheese. You will burn out your mixer.
With the baked crust filled and back into the oven, I moved onto making the rum-caramel sauce. My trusty 2.5-quart saucepan was just big enough to hold the boiling sauce. I definitely would not go any smaller, or you will have a huge mess to clean up.
You probably noticed this in the main photo, but my cheesecake sunk in the middle. A lot! Although it wasn’t immediately apparent (see photo below). The recipe notes do say the filling will rise above the edge of the pan (I put it on a sheet pan in case there were any drips).
The center had sunk drastically as the cheesecake cooled overnight in the refrigerator. I can’t say I was pleased, but I wanted to learn why. My search turned up a great article called 12 Cheesecake Mistakes We’re All Probably Making, and I made several on the list:
- Using cold ingredients – My cream cheese was softened, but my eggs and cream were cold.
- Overmixing – I’m convinced this is why my cheesecake puffed up so much then sank. Overmixing introduces too much air.
- Not greasing the pan- This wasn’t specified in the recipe, so I skipped it.
- Not using a water bath – This wasn’t specified in the recipe, so I skipped it.
But this Rum Caramel Drizzled Eggnog Cheesecake recipe was so good that I will have to give it another try. Maybe next Christmas, and you know I’ll be sure to update this post when I do!
