Bananas Foster Cheesecake has a vanilla wafer crust, a creamy banana and rum-flavored filling topped with a bananas foster mixture with sliced bananas and pecans. It’s a wonderful cheesecake for a Mardi Gras celebration or a New Orleans-themed party.
Banana flavored desserts are among my favorite and they are so southern. This Banana Pudding Cheesecake is another must make recipe.
If you’re like me, you always have ripe bananas on your counter and what better way to use them up than in this delicious New Orleans-style cheesecake. In addition to the banana and rum flavoring in the cheesecake filling, it is also flavored with a little cinnamon and nutmeg. The flavor for this Bananas Foster Cheesecake is superb and it comes from all-natural ingredients. Real banana and real rum, no flavorings at all.
Tips for making Bananas Foster Cheesecake
For best results. use a quality cream cheese and let it come to room temperature before you use it.
You can flambe the banana slices if you wish by igniting it, but I find it tastes just as good and is much safer to skip doing it.
A water bath is used for this cheesecake. Make sure to wrap the springform pan well with aluminum foil to avoid any water seeping in. The water bath helps prevent cracks from forming in the cheesecake, but since the top of the cheesecake is covered with the bananas foster mixture, you could skip the waterbath if you wish. Just be sure you do not overcook the cheesecake. That is what is most likely to cause cracks.
More Mardi Gras Desserts
Bananas Foster Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
- 1/4 cup salted butter,, melted
Filling
- 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese,, room temperature
- 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons dark rum
- 3 large eggs,, room temperature
Bananas Foster Topping
- 1/4 cup salted butter
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons dark rum
- 2 bananas,, sliced
- 1/2 cup pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine vanilla wafer crumbs, pecans, and melted butter in a medium bowl. Mix well. Press into the bottom and about 1-inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake 10 minutes. Let cool.
- Cover the outsides of the springform pan in aluminum foil. Place in a large baking dish. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.
- Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese, brown sugar, and flour until smooth and blended well. You want to beat it on low speed so that you don't whip too much air in.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add bananas, cinnamon, nutmeg, and rum and mix well on low speed.
- Mix in eggs one at a time on low speed, scraping down sides of bowl between additions.
- Pour batter into pan with crust. Pour warm water into the baking dish until it comes halfway up the sides of the springform pan.
- Bake for 1 hour. Turn oven off, crack oven door slightly and leave in for 1 more hour.
- Remove springform pan from water bath and set on the counter for 20 minutes. Remove the sides of the pan and refrigerate until chilled, at least 6 hours.
- Make Bananas Foster topping. Melt the butter in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and heavy cream. Stir until sugar is melted.
- Add rum and simmer for 1 minute. Add bananas and pecans and cook 1 more minute. Let cool and then pour on top of cheesecake.
Notes
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe adapted from Life, Love, and Sugar
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Loved the topping!