You are going to love this dulce de leche cheesecake. The filling is smooth and creamy with rich caramel notes. This is a must make dessert!

Slice of caramel colored dulce de leche cheesecake on plate by the rest of the cheesecake.

This dulce de leche cheesecake is super simple to make and is basically no fail. You don’t need a water bath and if you follow my tips, it won’t crack.

The dulce de leche adds that rich creaminess with caramel flavors, so you know it has to be good. And the recipe is easy enough you can probably commit it to memory.

We have been enjoying my Aunt Donna’s sweetened condensed milk cheesecake recipe for years. Yet, somehow it just occurred to me that it would be wonderful with dulce de leche as well.

The caramel flavor is perfect with the brown sugar and graham cracker crumbs in the crust. Serve it as is or dress it up with a drizzle of caramel sauce and a sprinkling of pecans.

Tips for Getting Your Cheesecake Filling Perfectly Creamy

Beat the room temperature cream cheese really well before adding anything else. This is your only real chance to get all of the lumps out.

Once you start adding more liquid, it gets harder to beat out chunks of cream cheese. So make sure it’s softened, beat it well and scrape the sides of the bowl a few times before you move on.

Slice of dulce de leche flavored cheesecake on plate, ready to eat.

Lifting slice of dulce de leche cheesecake out of the whole cake showing smooth center and caramel color.

Add the remaining ingredients a bit at a time to make sure they incorporate well. It’s worth taking a couple of minutes to do it right.

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Once you start adding the eggs, keep the mixer on low. You don’t want to incorporate air at this point.

Give the cheesecake a couple of good taps on the counter before you put it in the oven. That helps get any air bubbles out.

Tips for Avoiding a Cracked Cheesecake

How do you avoid a crack without a water bath? Bake the cheesecake low and slow and let it cool slowly too.

This allows the cheesecake to bake through evenly. It helps give it that amazing texture as well.

Cooling it too quickly can also cause a crack. Once it is set, I like to turn off the oven and crack the door open but leave the cheesecake inside.

Whole dulce de leche cheesecake on glass cake plate.

Close up of a slice of caramel flavored dulce de leche cheesecake.

After about ten or fifteen minutes, I move the cheesecake to the counter to cool to room temperature. Then it goes in the fridge to chill.

The gradual cooling makes such a difference!

If you want more cheesecake goodness, I have quite a few ideas for you. Check out my collection of cheesecake recipes for more tasty inspiration.

5 from 2 ratings

Dulce De Leche Cheesecake

Author: Carlee

Servings: Servings (a 9 inch cheesecake)

This cheesecake is super simple to make and is basically no fail. There's no water bath to mess with either. Just follow these simple directions and you will have a smooth, creamy, caramel-y cheesecake to enjoy!

Prep: 15

Cook: 1 10

Additional Time 1 25

Total: 2 50

Equipment

Ingredients

Makes: 9inch round

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300°F
Stir the 2 Tablespoons light brown sugar and 1½ cups graham cracker crumbs* together in the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan, add the melted 4 Tablespoons butter. Mix together and press into the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Make sure the cream cheese is really softened. In a large bowl, whip the 24 oz cream cheese until completely smooth, being sure the scrape the sides of your bowl a couple of times.
Mix in the 14 oz dulce de leche a little bit at a time, scraping the bowl after mixing in each addition.
Stir in the 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
Add the 4 large eggs, one at a time mixing until just combined. You don't want to whip air into the mixture at this point.
Pour the cream cheese mixture onto the crust. Thump it on the counter a couple of times to get out any big air bubbles.
Bake until the middle doesn't jiggle, about an hour
Let cool and then chill at least a couple of hours, preferably over night.

Notes

*You can buy a box of graham cracker crumbs or make you own. This recipe requires 1 sleeve of graham crackers turned into crumbs. I usually use a food processor for this but you can put them in a large resealable plastic bag and go over them with a rolling pin several times until they are fine crumbs.

For the best results, use full-fat cream cheese.