My sister Liz is legend in our family for her Irish Cream Cheesecake. Rich, creamy and utterly delectable!!! It has the traditional creamy smooth consistency of a New York style cheesecake that everyone enjoys. It’s an elegant, decadent treat that you are absolutely going to love! The best part? This cheesecake is not at all difficult to make and the results are pretty darn impressive! Making this at home will save you loads of money, and no one will ever suspect that it didn’t come from a high end expensive bakery. Yes, it’s that spectacular!
There are three elements to this cheese cake; the crust, the filling, and the topping. The crust, filling and creamy topping can be made up to a day in advance making it easy to pull off this spectacular dessert without a lot of stress. All that’s left to do is to add the shredded white chocolate and pecan halves right before serving.
How To Make Liz’s Most Fabulous Irish Cream Cheesecake:
Start by making the graham cracker crust. Grease a 9 inch springform pan generously with butter.
Set aside.
Place graham crackers, 5 oz pecans, and sugar in a food processor. Pulse until you have a fine mixture that resembles sand.
Don’t forget to put the blade in your food processor like I did…LOL! I didn’t get very far without the blade.
Once you’ve got the blade in the food processor and processed the graham crackers, sugar and pecans, add the melted butter and pulse to combine.
Pulse until mixture looks like coarse wet sand.
Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the springform pan and about 2 inches up the sides of the springform pan.
Place the crust in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. While the crust is chilling in the fridge, you have just enough time to make the filling.
Make the filling:
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Use an electric mixer to beat together the softened cream cheese and ¾ cup sugar until it’s smooth and creamy.
In another mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, Irish cream, and vanilla extract until blended.
Beat the egg mixture into cream cheese mixture until smooth and creamy and well combined.
Pulse white chocolate in a food processor or chop it using a sharp knife. Reserve about 1½ oz for the topping.
You can use either a white chocolate bar or you can also use white chocolate chips.
Add 3 oz of the grated/chopped white chocolate to the cream cheese filling.
Stir to combine.
Pour the cream cheese mixture into the chilled crust.
Don’t worry about any lumps you might see in the batter. The white chocolate bits will melt into the cake batter as it bakes.
Bake cheese cake until the edges are puffed and dry looking and the center is just set, about 50-55 minutes.
Resist the urge to open the oven door to check on the progress as it bakes. The fluctuation in temperature from opening the oven door could cause cracks to form on the top of the cheesecake. Turn on the oven light to check on progress through the glass door instead.
Remove cheesecake from the oven before it starts to brown.
Cool cake completely to room temperature on a rack.
Make the topping:
Once the cheesecake has cooled completely, make the topping. Mix sour cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract together in a small bowl until smooth and creamy.
Spread the sweetened sour cream topping onto the cooled cheesecake.
Cover cheesecake and refrigerate until well chilled, about 6 hours or overnight. (Cake can be prepared 1 day ahead up to this point)
To serve:
Sprinkle with reserved grated/chopped white chocolate evenly over the top.
One last little special touch before serving up this cake. Line the edge of the cheesecake evenly with pecan halves.
Run a knife all around the edge between the cake and the Springform pan to make sure the crust isn’t stuck to the sides of the springform pan. Gently release the sides of the springform pan and remove the cheesecake before serving.
A big shout out to my sister Liz for sharing her most wonderful recipe! She is legend in our family for this cheesecake and for good reason. It’s one of the very best cheesecakes you will ever eat and it’s a beautiful and impressive dessert to serve to guests and at special occasions when an ordinary cake just won’t do. This is the dessert I serve every year at Christmas. It’s both elegant and utterly delicious!
You will get loads of oh’s, ahh’s, and yum’s, when you serve up this delectable dessert, guaranteed! Trust me, you can bake up a cake in your kitchen that’s just as elegant and beautiful as any cake you can buy at a bakery at a fraction of the cost. Plus, I bet it tastes even better too, because it has that one secret ingredient that you will never find in a store bought cake…love!
This post was originally published April 2022 and republished with updated photos, recipe notes, and new content December 2025.
Irish Cream Cheesecake
Equipment
- 9 inch springform pan, with 2¾ inch high sides
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 10 whole graham crackers, broken into pieces
- 5 oz pecans, about 1¼ cups
- ¼ cup sugar
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
- 1½ lbs cream cheese, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- ⅔ cup Irish cream liquer
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 oz white chocolate, such as Lindt grated
For the topping:
- 1½ cups sour cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ oz white chocolate, grated
- 16 pecan halves
Instructions
Make the crust:
- Grease springform pan.
- Place graham crackers, 5 oz pecans, and sugar in a food processor. Pulse until you have a fine mixture.
- Add melted butter and pulse to combine.
- Press crumbs into the bottom of the springform pan and 2 inches up the sides of the pan.
- Refrigerate crust for 20 minutes.
Make the filling:
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Use an electric mixer to beat together softened cream cheese and ¾ cup sugar until smooth and creamy.
- In another mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, Bailey's and vanilla until blended.
- Beat egg mixture into cream cheese mixture.
- Pulse white chocolate in a food processor. Reserve 1½ oz for the topping.
- Add 3 oz. of the grated white chocolate to the cream cheese filling and stir to combine.
- Pour mixture into chilled crust.
- Bake until edges are puffed and dry looking and the center is just set, about 50 minutes.
- Cool completely on a rack.
Make the topping:
- Mix sour cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract together in a small bowl.
- Spread topping onto cooled cake.
- Refrigerate until well chilled, about 6 hours. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead.)
To serve:
- Sprinkle reserved grated white chocolate over the top and line the edge of the cheesecake with pecan halves.
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Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
John 6:35
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That sounds amazing! My hubby is the “chef” in our family. I’m passing this along to him! Thank you
I think you’ll really like this. It’s a family favorite!