Layered Cranberry Cheesecake Dessert

Dress up your dessert table with this beautiful Layered Cranberry Cheesecake Dessert. Raspberry Jell-O with little cubes of pound cake, a cheesecake layer, then a delicious cranberry compote. Topping it all off is a scrumptious brown sugar crumble.

Fresh cranberries found in the market this time of year make this treat perfect for your holidays. The recipe calls for a 13 x 9, but for this particular blog I used an 11 x 8 plus 2 goblets to better show you the layers. Also, you could use cranberry flavored Jell-O, or even strawberry; any red flavored Jell-O gelatin would look and taste great.

Making the Jell-O bottom layer

Using a 13 x 9 clear baking dish (if you want to show off your beautiful layers), make and pour raspberry flavored Jell-O gelatin over cubed pound cake. Buy the pound cake in the freezer section and cut the cake into small 1/2″ cubes until you have 2 cups worth. Stir the cubes and Jell-O together to coat the pound cake, then put the dish in the refrigerator. Because this needs to set up for a few hours, start with this layer first.

Making the cheesecake middle layer

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese with the sugar until it’s smooth. Add the Cool Whip and spread the mixture on top of the Jell-O layer. Even though this is the middle layer, I make this part last and then assemble everything. This will make more sense (I hope) as you keep reading.

Making the top layer

The top layer consists of 2 parts, the cranberry compote (so yummy!) and the brown sugar crumble (also yummy!). Both need to be cooked and then cooled off before putting on tp of the cheesecake layer, which is why I make this part before the cheesecake layer. In other words, this way the compote and crumbles have time to cool off while making the cheesecake layer.

So let’s do the brown sugar crumbles first. In a microwave safe bowl, mix flour and brown sugar together, then cut in cold butter until the mixture in crumbly. Microwave for 3 minutes stirring after each minute. Microwave for another 1 or 2 minutes stirring after about 30 seconds until the mixtures becomes a little crisp and begins to turn a golden brown. At that point, mix in some finely chopped nuts and let cool on a plate.

Next is the cranberry compote. In another microwave safe bowl, mix the fresh cranberries with water and sugar. Microwave for 3 straight minutes and stir. Microwave for another 3 minutes stirring after each minute. Lastly, microwave for another 3 minutes. Now the berries should be broken down and the water/sugar has thickened up some. Set aside to cool.

Putting it all together

At this point, everything should be made, set, and cooled so that all that’s left is to put it all together. The cheesecake mixture gets spread over the Jell-O mixture, then put the cranberry compote over the cheesecake layer. Lastly, sprinkle the brown sugar crumble over the entire dessert and you’re done.

As mentioned earlier, this Layered Cranberry Cheesecake Dessert recipe calls for a 13 x 9 baking dish, but that isn’t what I used in this blog. If you want to make it using 2 goblets and an 11 x 8 baking dish, here’s how. Follow all the same steps only fill the goblets first. Pour the Jell-O mixture about 1/3 of the way into the goblets, then pour the rest of the Jell-O mixture into your 11 x 8 dish. Add about 8 cubes of pound cake into each goblet, then dump the rest of the cubes into the 11 x 8 dish. Do the same with the next layers and it will turn out beautifully.

Looking for more dessert ideas? Try this Harvest Dirt Trifle, a spin-off of the traditional Dirt Cake made with Oreo cookies, or you might like this German Apple Cheesecake made like Grandma’s.

Don’t forget to pin one of these pictures to your Pinterest board. Have a blessed day and happy baking.

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