Chocolate Chip Cheesecake for Halloween

This Halloween Chocolate Chip Cheesecake has three festive layers: cookie crust and light cheesecake filling, topped with a shiny chocolate ganache. The result is a sweet and spooky dessert perfect for October. 

When my family and I first saw the movie Hotel Transylvania, I loved when they mentioned “scream cheese”. The idea just stuck with me and eventually, I developed this Halloween cheesecake recipe. 

Update: This is such a fun and popular holiday treat that I’ve updated the post with new photos and helpful tricks for you to treat yourself and your family to this sweet and scary cheesecake this October. 

How to Make Chocolate Chip Cheesecake for Halloween

This no-bake cheesecake is perfect for a small Halloween party this year. It’s fun to make, and kids can easily help out too. You can start with a store-bought or homemade cookie crust. For an easy no-bake cheesecake crust made with Oreos, follow the crust recipe in my Strawberry Cheesecake post.  

The filling is a light and ghost-like whipped mixture of cream, cream cheese, and sugar. Simply fold in mini chocolate chips, and you’re done! Top it off with dense two-ingredient chocolate ganache and the Halloween decorations of your choice. 

Tip: When baking cookies, use a scoop to portion out the dough and get perfectly round, even size cookies.

Tips for Perfect No-Bake Cheesecake

Before you get started on this Halloween Chocolate Chip Cheesecake, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Let the cream cheese soften to room temperature for a few hours before you start making the filling. Cold cream cheese won’t turn light and fluffy. 
• Be sure to beat the heavy cream until medium-stiff peaks form. You’ll know it’s done when you pick up the whisk attachment, flip it upside down, and the cream clings to the whisk but flops over a bit on top. 
• When you fold in the chocolate chips, or any mix-in, do so gently. Use a rubber spatula and fold until just combined. The goal is to keep as much air in the filling as possible. 
• For the slices to hold together when you slice it, be sure to chill the cheesecake in the fridge for at least 6 hours. Note: this is a perfect make-ahead dessert! 
• Likewise, allow the chocolate ganache to cool to a thick and spreadable consistency before covering your cake. If it’s too warm, the chocolate can cause the cream cheese filling to melt. 

Decorating Ideas for Halloween Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

This cheesecake has a smooth, shiny chocolate ganache on top. It’s the perfect blank slate for decorating however you like. This year, we used a bat template to decorate the top. Any other Halloween-inspired shape would also work. The first time I made this recipe, I used a Scream face template. 

To use a template, place your printed template under a piece of parchment paper. Melt white chocolate chips in the microwave and transfer the melted chocolate to a piping bag with a small round tip or Ziploc with a corner snipped off. 

Trace the template onto the parchment paper with white chocolate and fill in the middle. Then place the parchment paper in the fridge on a flat plate or baking sheet to cool and harden. You can do this step first and by the time you finish making the cheesecake, the chocolate should be set up. 

When your chocolate template is hard enough, set it on top of your ganache-covered cake.  

You could also easily decorate this cake with Halloween sprinkles or other small candies. 

More Halloween Recipes 

If you’re still in the mood for Halloween baking, try these other holiday-themed recipes:

• Halloween Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies pack tons of chocolaty flavor, along with festive colored sprinkles for the holiday. 
• Pressure Cooker Candy Corn Cheesecake from Pressure Cooking Today has three colorful layers just like the classic halloween candy
• Halloween Peanut Butter Cup Popcorn is a fun to eat, sweet, savory and crunchy stanck. 
• Creepy Crêpes from Not Quite Nigella are a scary twist on your typical brunch. 

Happy Halloween!

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Halloween Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Halloween Chocolate Chip Cheesecake is light and fluffy on the inside, with a shiny chocolate ganache coating the top for a spooky and sweet surprise. 

Prep Time25 mins

Total Time25 mins

Course: Cheesecake

Cuisine: American

Servings: 8 Servings

Calories: 525kcal

Author: Barbara Bakes LLC

Equipment

• Cuisinart HM-90BCS Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed Handheld Mixer with Storage Case, Brushed Chrome
• KitchenAid KFP1133WH 11-Cup Food Processor with Exact Slice System – White

Ingredients

• 1 9- inch ready-made chocolate graham cracker pie crust Oreo crust
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces cream cheese softened
• ⅓ cup sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¾ cup miniature chocolate chips

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

• 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped, divided
• ¼ cup heavy cream

Instructions

• Cheesecake
• In a mixing bowl, beat the heavy cream until medium peaks form. 
• In a medium mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, salt, and vanilla until smooth. Add cream cheese mixture to heavy cream and beat until incorporated.
• Gently fold in miniature chocolate chips.
• Spread batter evenly into pie crust. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours to set or overnight for best results.
• CHOCOLATE GANACHE
• Place half of the chocolate in a small mixing bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream on medium-high heat until it comes to a boil.
• Remove the cream from heat and immediately pour over chocolate in the small bowl and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Add the remaining chocolate and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Cool until the ganache is thickened but still thin enough to spread.
• Spoon chocolate ganache on top of the cheesecake, spreading to edges. Refrigerate until ganache is set and ready to serve.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 525kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 71mg | Sodium: 243mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 32g