Raspberry Cheesecake French Toast Bake

Classic french toast bake swirled with sweet cream cheese and raspberry preserve swirl - this is the dish everyone will rave about! It tastes just like an entenmann's raspberry danish crossed with french toast!

Course Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine American

Keyword entemann's raspberry danish, french toast bake, french toast bake with cream cheese, french toast casserole

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 55

Total Time 1 15

Servings servings

Calories 429kcal

Equipment

9x13 baking dish
large mixing bowl

Ingredients

1 loaf challah, sourdough, or brioche see notes
6 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cheesecake and Raspberry Swirl

8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
1 large egg
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅓ cup raspberry preserves

Crumble Topping

¼ cup unsalted butter cold
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup all purpose flour

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray or grease with butter. Cut the challah bread into bite-sized pieces using a bread knife or by hand tearing.
In a large bowl, whisk together the 6 eggs, 2 cups whole milk, ½ cup heavy cream, ¼ cup brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
Add the pieces of bread to the french toast batter mixture in the large bowl and gently toss until all the pieces of bread are coated. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.
Beat the room temperature cream cheese with 1 large egg, ¼ granulated sugar, and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth. You can use a hand blender, standing mixer, or whisk and spatula.
Drizzle with the cheesecake mixture over the top of the bread. Dot with spoonfuls of raspberry preserves. Using a butter knife, run the knife back and forth through the dish to swirl into the bread.
Prepare the crumble topping. In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, and butter together. Alternatively, you can use a pastry cutter or your fingers to break the butter into pea size pieces and mix with the flour and sugar.
Bake in 350°F oven for 50-55 minutes. The center will be just a touch jiggly and the edges should be golden brown. Serve warm.

Notes

The bread. Challah loaf yields the best results for me. It's the perfect amount of bread and the right softness - it's tender but doesn't fall apart. If using brioche you may need two loaves depending on the size. Sourdough or french bread is a great option, especially if you want to prep everything the night before and bake in the morning.
The cheese. Cheesecake is known for its use of cream cheese to get that tangy yet sweet heavenly taste. That said, if you're in a rush, you can 100% dot the top with spoonfuls of cream cheese instead of making the cheesecake mixture. This also works deliciously with mascarpone cheese. Lastly, if you want a less sweet version I'd recommend substituting that option as well.
The raspberries. I highly, highly recommend using raspberry (or your preferred berry) preserves versus fresh fruit. You can absolutely add fresh fruit to the dish, but the preserves are what give the dish it's almost danish like quality.

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