Instant Pot Neapolitan Cheesecake

It’s been a little while since I posted an Instant Pot cheesecake recipe and with Easter being a mere couple of days away, I felt I simply had to share my latest creation – my Instant Pot Neapolitan Cheesecake.

As national “it’s ok to eat chocolate in place of all meals” day (aka Easter Sunday) is imminent, I thought I would up the cheesecake ante and veer away from the traditional biscuit base most have and in it’s place, show you how to cook a brownie layer in your Instant Pot!

Yep, that bottom couple of centimetres is a fudgy, gooey and rich chocolate brownie which you could make as it is with just a few more minutes cooking time added. This recipe just keeps on giving!

Now it would be wrong to say that this Neapolitan Cheesecake is as completely easy to make as my previous, all-cooked-at-once cheesecakes but I hope you agree that the end result both visually and taste wise, is more than worth a little more prep time. After cooking the brownie layer, you need to mix up two cheesecake mixes – I use my food processor as it cuts through the batter without whipping it and incorporating air (which would lead to collapsing/cracking cheesecakes) but you could whisk it by hand instead. Some top tips are:

• You need more water when you have multiple pressure releases or the Instant Pot won’t come to pressure on the second and third cookings – 500ml (2 cups) will do the trick
• Lining your cake tin with my favourite Bake-o-glide silicone liners in the base and slides gives both a beautiful finish but also gives the extra height you need – this is a tall cheesecake
• Use a single piece of kitchen roll and a thin piece of foil to cover the cheesecake whilst ever layer cooks – this minimises condensation on the cheesecake but if you do get some, dab it away with more kitchen roll

Now we need a word about the strawberry layer – fresh strawberries don’t play nicely when cooked. They are lacklustre in flavour, add too much moisture and turn an unpleasant bluish-grey colour. I get around this by using freeze dried strawberry powder which has great flavour and gives a lovely natural pink to the mix. Even so, it does fade a little once cooked so I do add 1/4 tsp of Americolor Soft Pink or Sugarflair Baby Pink food colouring gel to boost it. It’s such a tiny amount, I don’t feel bad about using it.

And just in case you hadn’t heard, these Instant Pot silicone accessories have just been released and as soon as I saw the announcement, I bought the “starter set” for myself to play with.

And it’s brilliant!

It has a long handled silicone trivet, a solid base steamer basket (which would double as a cake tin or rice cooker) and a slotted base steamer basket (handy for steaming veg or fish). It makes retrieving your cheesecakes safer as a 7 inch springform cake tin slots into the trivet securely plus it is nice and strong and sturdy. This particular set has sold out but you can buy via them separately via the affiliate links in this post – I really do recommend the trivet in particular.

If you love anything Neapolitan, don’t forget to check out my Neapolitan Macarons and Neapolitan Biscuits. Plus do share your photos with me on Facebook when you give my recipes I go – I love hearing from readers. I’ll always answer comments and questions as quick as I can too. Now go, get your pressure cooker cheesecake on!

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Instant Pot Neapolitan Cheesecake

Layers of vanilla and strawberry cheesecake on top of a fudgy chocolate brownie base, all cooked in the pressure cooker! 

Servings: 8 people

: 620 kcal

Author: Just Jo

Ingredients

For the brownie base:

• 100 g soft butter
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder (25g)
• 100 g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 100 g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 50 g dark chocolate chips

For the strawberry layer:

• 4 tbsp freeze dried strawberry powder
• 75 g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 280 g full fat cream cheese
• 75 g sour cream
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 tsp concentrated pink food colouring gel or paste (optional)

For the vanilla layer:

• 75 g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 280 g full fat cream cheese
• 75 g sour cream
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (or the seeds of one vanilla pod)

Instructions

1. Pour 500ml of water into the Inner Pot and place the trivet in. Line a 7 inch springform cake tin with reusable silicone liners or baking parchment - make sure the sides come up about 1 cm taller than the tin. 

For the brownie layer:

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan then whisk in the cocoa and sugar until well combined. Allow to cook then beat in the eggs, flour and baking powder before stirring in the chocolate chips. Scrape into your prepared tin and level it off. 

2. Place a piece of kitchen roll over the tin then loosely crimp a piece of tin foil over that (see photo) then place on the trivet in the Inner Pot. Set to Manual High for 18 minutes and do a QPR when finished. It will have just set and be quite puffed up so use a clean oven mitt or tea towel to press it down and level it off, making room for the cheesecake. 

   

For the strawberry layer:

1. You can make both cheesecake batters whilst the brownie layer cooks.

2. Start by blitzing the strawberry powder, caster sugar and cornflour in the food processor to get any lumps out then add the remaining ingredients (including the food colouring if using) and blitz again. Scrape down as necessary until you get an even mix with no streaks of white remaining. 

3. When the brownie is ready, gently pour the strawberry mix over the top and once again cover with kitchen roll and foil as before. Cook on Manual High for 15 minutes and then do a QPR. Very gently dab away any condensation that has collected on top with a piece of kitchen roll - it's very delicate so do be careful!

For the vanilla layer:

1. Proceed as for the strawberry layer, blitzing the dry ingredients first before adding the wet. Now this part is crucial - when you come to pour the vanilla mix over the barely set strawberry layer, you need to do it slowly, starting at the edges and pour it with the jug/bowl held just above the strawberry. If you go too hard, fast or from a great height, it will mix into the strawberry layer rather than remain separate as in the photos. 

2. Cook for 15 minutes on Manual High then let the pressure go naturally. Remove and cool on a rack until reaches room temperature then refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours before serving (an overnight chill is even better). 

Recipe Notes

1. You need more water in the pot than for other cheesecakes as you are cooking in three stages and loose water when you do your QPR each in between. 1 cup is not enough. 

This post contains affiliate links, meaning I will earn a little commission if you chose to buy items I’ve advertised, helping me to bring you all these recipes for free!

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