Instant Pot Peanut Butter Cheesecake

It’s fair to say that I have a little crush on my Instant Pot pressure cooker 🙂 But I am not alone in my infatuation, judging but the sheer volume or recipes cropping up online or the number of Facebook fan groups.

For the most part I have been making savoury recipes, family dinners such as my Vietnamese beef stew, Italian chicken soup or the lentil and bean chili.

This peanut butter and caramel cheesecake is my first sweet Instant Pot recipe and guaranteed not to be the last.

Making cheesecake in a pressure cooker is such a game changer – it is so much easier and less fussy than baking in an oven. You don’t have to bother with a water bath, or pre-baking the crust.

That’s not to say that making it is totally trouble-free. Learn from my mistakes, avoid some common errors and achieve cheesecake perfection ‘under pressure’.

Which Pan Should I Use?

The first time I made cheesecake in my pressure cooker, I used my 7 inch springform pan. It worked reasonably well, but I had great trouble removing the cheesecake cleanly. I was more than a little gutted, if I am honest, as my first cheesecake was otherwise perfect.

I invested in a 7 inch deep loose base pan for my later efforts and was relieved to be rewarded with an easy to remove cheesecake with a perfectly crisp crust. The closest tin to Fat Daddio’s cheesecake pan – recommended by almost everyone in North America – was Alan Silverwood anodised 7″/18cm cake pan and I couldn’t recommend it more highly.

Cheesecake Troubleshooting

My second attempt came out of the cake tin in one piece, but it puffed up in my Instant Pot like a soufflé and the top stuck to the foil I had covered the tin with. This is basically a sign that I had beaten the ingredients a little too energetically, introducing air into the filling which then expanded during the cooking.

To achieve a texture that’s dense and yet silkily creamy, the ingredients have to all be at room temperature first and beaten just enough to combine. I used a hand mixer for this but if you only have a stand mixer then use the paddle attachment.

To Cover or Not to Cover

Some prefer to cook their cheesecakes uncovered which takes less time. I found that with this method, condensation collects on the surface which I wasn’t too happy with. So I opted to cover my cheesecake with foil and to also line the base with kitchen towel and foil.

How Long to Cook For?

In terms of cooking times, Instant Pot cheesecake recipes vary quite a lot. I found that this cheesecake needed 50 minutes cooking at high pressure and a 10 minute natural release. When the cheesecake is lifted out it should still have a little ‘jiggle’ in the centre.

If the cheesecake is too jiggly, then it hasn’t cooked for long enough. Cook for a further 5 minutes and allow for a further 10 minutes natural release before taking out again.

The cheesecake needs to cool completely at room temperature first – make sure you remove all the foil – and then chilled in the fridge overnight. It needs a few hours to set and achieve the perfect texture so don’t rush it.

Avoid Unpleasant Odours

Anyone fancy garlic-scented cheesecake? I didn’t think so! Your pressure cooker’s silicone ring can hold on to strong odours from savoury recipes and then lace your sweet ones with unwelcome faint smells.

This is easily avoidable – simply invest in a separate silicone ring for sweet recipes, they even come colour-coded for this purpose. Make sure to pick the right size for your pressure cooker.

To get back to the peanut butter cheesecake – “finally!” I hear you sigh – this is insanely delicious and equally rich. I would say that a smallish cheesecake could easily serve 8-10 people provided the slices are not too generous.

Once the cheesecake is cooked, the top is smothered in dark chocolate ganache and topped with caramel whipped cream. You could add mini Reece’s peanut butter cups as decorations instead or in addition to the cream. Can we all say YUM?! 🙂

Made one of my recipes? Tag me on Instagram or pop by on Facebook and make my day! 🙂

To celebrate Peanut Butter Lover’s Day, I’m teaming up with the Celebrating Food Holiday bloggers to bring you over two dozen spectacular peanut butter recipes. 

Peanut Butter Butterfinger Cookies by Creations by Kara
Reese’s Peanut Butter Bars from Pretty Providence
Peanut Butter Cookies from Namely Marly
Peanut Butter Lover’s Pancakes from Crumb
Creamy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pie from An Italian in My Kitchen
No Bake Peanut Butter Protein Balls from Heather Likes Food
Peanut butter Twix Pie from My Mommy Style
Homemade Nutter Butter Cookies from The Baker Upstairs
Easy Peanut Butter Fudge from Savory Experiments
Triple Peanut Butter Cake from Ashlee Marie
Easy Peanut Butter Granola from Real Mom Kitchen
Peanut Butter Doughnuts with Chunky Peanut Butter Glaze from Premeditated Leftovers
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies from 365 Days of Pressure Cooking
Peanut Butter Pie from Simply Stacie

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave