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Cheesecake ice cream

A tangy, rich cream cheese ice cream, often studded with graham crust pieces and swirled with fruit sauce.

Sometimes found Found in some shops and some grocery freezers. What the badge means

Cheesecake ice cream is a tangy, rich cream cheese ice cream, often with bits of graham crust and a ribbon of fruit sauce. It turns up in some shops and some grocery freezers, but not everywhere.

This page covers what it tastes like, how to make cheesecake ice cream at home, what to serve with it, how common it is and what the nutrition figures show.

What cheesecake tastes like

Cheesecake ice cream is tangy and rich. The bright, slightly sour edge of cream cheese sits against sweet cream, much like the dessert it is named for. The texture is smooth and creamy. The base is usually pale, close to the natural color of cream and cream cheese. Many versions add pieces of graham crust, which bring a little crunch and a toasty, honeyed note. A fruit swirl, often strawberry or cherry, runs through the scoop in red ribbons and adds a sweet-tart contrast. The main ingredients are cream cheese, a sweet dairy base, graham crust and a fruit sauce.

Where cheesecake comes from

The sources we use do not record who first made cheesecake ice cream or when.

What they do show is where it has a following. Instacart reports that in its 2025 order data, Tennessee was the only state where cheesecake was the flavor it ordered more of than the country as a whole.

How it is put together follows the same logic as factory ice cream. H. Douglas Goff’s Ice Cream Technology e-Book from the University of Guelph says pieces such as cookies and fruit go in as the ice cream leaves the freezer, when about half its water is frozen and it is about as soft as soft serve. That is why graham pieces belong at the end of churning, and why a fruit sauce is swirled in as the container is packed rather than blended into the base. The cream cheese itself goes in first, blended smooth into the base.

How to make cheesecake at home

Our Base Builder sets up the no-churn style for this flavor: sweetened condensed milk folded into whipped cream, sized to your machine and shown in grams and cups. A Philadelphia base, with no eggs, also works if you have an ice cream maker. The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe.

To add the flavor, blend softened cream cheese into the base until it is completely smooth. Fold graham cracker pieces in at the end of churning. Factories add pieces like these as the ice cream leaves the freezer, when about half its water is frozen and it is about as soft as soft serve, which is why home cooks wait until the end. With a no-churn base, fold them in just before you pack the container. Swirl a strawberry or cherry sauce through as you pack.

If you already have a cheesecake ice cream recipe you like, the Recipe Scaler resizes it to your machine and converts cups to grams.

Base formula

Open the Base Builder: No-churn (condensed milk and whipped cream)

Other styles that suit it: Philadelphia (no eggs)

The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe.

What to serve with cheesecake

Strawberry sauce is the classic match, spooned over the top so it echoes the fruit swirl inside. Cherries work the same way, fresh or as a sauce, and their tartness suits the tang of cream cheese. Crumbled graham crackers on top add crunch and repeat the crust flavor. For a dessert table, set scoops beside a bowl of cherries, a jar of strawberry sauce and a plate of graham crackers so guests can build their own.

  • strawberry sauce
  • cherries
  • graham crackers

How common cheesecake is

Our badge puts cheesecake at 3 of 5, a first quarter (half moon) badge labeled Sometimes found. That means you can find it in some shops and some grocery freezers, but not all. The badge tells you how easy the flavor is to find, not how much people like it. No survey we use lists cheesecake by name, so the badge is our judgement alone. One regional note comes from Instacart: in its 2025 order data, Tennessee was the only state where cheesecake was the flavor it ordered more of than the country as a whole.

No survey we use lists this flavor by name, so its badge is our own judgement of how easy it is to find.

  1. Rare Rare enough that you would most likely make it at home.
  2. Hard to find Look for it in specialty shops and seasonal runs.
  3. Sometimes found Found in some shops and some grocery freezers.
  4. Easy to find Common in most grocery freezers.
  5. Classic A classic you can buy almost anywhere.

Nutrition, roughly

FoodData Central has no record for cheesecake ice cream, so the figures shown are for a plain vanilla base, not this flavor. Regular vanilla has 207 kcal, 11 g fat and 21.2 g sugars per 100 grams, or about 137 kcal in a 1/2 cup (66 g) portion. Rich vanilla has 249 kcal and 16.2 g fat per 100 grams. Cream cheese, graham pieces, fruit sauce and sweeteners all change these numbers.

Nutrition per 100 grams

FoodData Central record Calories Fat Saturated fat Sugars Protein
Ice creams, vanilla FDC 167575 1/2 cup (66 g): about 137 kcal, 7.3 g fat 207 kcal 11 g 6.79 g 21.2 g 3.5 g
Ice creams, vanilla, rich FDC 167573 249 kcal 16.2 g 10.30 g 20.6 g 3.5 g

FoodData Central has no record for cheesecake itself: these are the figures for a plain vanilla base, regular to rich. Mix-ins and sweeteners change them.

Questions people ask

Is cheesecake ice cream hard to make at home?

No. A no-churn base is a simple route: blend softened cream cheese into the base until smooth, fold in graham pieces, and swirl in strawberry or cherry sauce as you pack. Our Base Builder sets up the no-churn style for you.

When should I add the graham cracker pieces?

Add them at the end of churning. In factory ice cream, pieces go in as it leaves the freezer, when about half its water is frozen and it is about as soft as soft serve.

Can I stir cake mix into cheesecake ice cream?

The FDA says not to. It treats flour as a raw food and advises home cooks not to use raw-flour products such as cake mix in ready-to-eat treats. Use graham crackers for the crust pieces instead.

Bakery and dessert ice cream flavors · All flavors

Plan and make it with these

Sources

  1. Pint-Sized Obsessions: Instacart Maps America's Favorite Ice Cream (2025 orders, July 2026) Instacart
  2. Handling Flour Safely: What You Need to Know U.S. Food and Drug Administration
  3. Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Freezing/Whipping of Ice Cream H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
  4. Ice creams, vanilla (FDC 167575) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
  5. Ice creams, vanilla, rich (FDC 167573) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service

Every data source the site uses is on the Sources page.