No-Bake Cheesecake Recipe ~ a very flexible doddle!

You may remember my mentioning that I am back in the kitchen (not mine, I mean professionally!) making the desserts for a rather foodie pub.  The aim is to have a choice of six or so desserts every day including, naturally, something (or even two somethings) chocolatey. Fruit crumbles are a given at this time of year, crème brulée of course is a no brainer and cheesecakes are always popular.

I have started using the same basic (or genius) recipe every time I make a cheesecake and it’s so easy maybe you’d like to start using it too!

No-Bake Cheesecake Recipe

In the pub many of the desserts, cheesecake included, are served in a glass (assembled in advance) to make service much quicker.  This quantity makes enough for 6-8 glasses depending on their size or  one 23cm cheesecake.

NOTE:  Although I say “150g icing sugar” and “120ml something else” these are advisory. Both depend, to an extent, on what the “something else” is; if it’s sharp you might need more sugar, if sweet the opposite. Also when adding the something else please feel free to use your judgement, adding a little more or a little less to create a cheesecake exactly the texture you like it.

         

Base ...

250g crushed digestive biscuits
100g melted butter

Filling …

600g cream cheese at room temperature
approx. 150g icing sugar – sifted
approx.. 120ml something else – see below!

~   Mix together the digestive biscuits and melted butter then sprinkle over the base of a 23cm loose bottomed cake tin, press out into an even layer (or divide between your chosen glasses). Chill for half an hour or so to set.
~   Beat the cream cheese till smooth and creamy.
~   Add half the icing sugar spoonfully whisking in between additions.
~   The mixture will be rather thick so add the something else till a lovely creamy consistency.
~   Taste and add more sugar till delicious.
~   Spread evenly over the base or, if using glasses  ***, spoon or pipe into the glass.

*** By this I don’t mean you've been to Specsavers!

Something Else

The something else should be liquid in form such as a fruit coulis, syrup, coffee, fruit juice, possibly a spirit or liqueur or simply double cream. The addition will soften the mix to the right consistency. 

Here are some of the cheesecakes I have already made using this recipe …

“Plain” Vanilla Cheesecake

Add a drop or two of vanilla extract or the tip of a teaspoon of vanilla paste to the cream cheese plus double cream. This is lovely served with soft summer fruits.

Cappuccino Cheesecake

Beat in 30ml of cool espresso or double strength coffee (maybe a little Kahlua or Tia Maria) plus 90ml of double cream. Dust with cocoa to serve.

Orange, Lemon or Lime Cheesecake 

Add the finely grated zest and the juice of one orange, two lemons or three limes.  Depending on the size and juiciness of the fruit you may need to add a little cream till the cheesecake is the right consistency.

Mango & Lime Cheesecake

Add 100ml of mango purée and the juice and zest of one lime. (A pleasant addition to this is a little chilli syrup, the recipe is here , you’ll have to scroll down a bit.

Banana & Baileys Cheesecake

Peel and slice 3 ripe bananas and cook them in 30g butter together with 30g soft light brown sugar.  Cool and then beat into the cheesecake mix together with 25ml (or more if you like that sort of thing) of Baileys. Soften the mixture to your chosen consistency with double cream.

Rum and Coconut Cheesecake

Simply flavour the cream cheese with 60ml of rum and layer with toasted coconut. See here for a great way to radically improve on desiccated coconut.

Maple Pecan Cheesecake

For this I use Clark’s Original Maple Syrup which is blended with carob fruit syrup; it is utterly delicious and cheaper than pure maple syrup.  Add the syrup to taste and layer the cheesecake with toasted pecans or, even better, sugared pecans – see here for how to make sugared walnuts and do the same with pecans.  A pleasant alternative cheesecake would be honey and sugared walnuts.

Strawberry or Raspberry Cheesecake

Add 120ml appropriate fruit coulis (recipe below). A bit of vanilla extract or paste would be a good addition to either of these or maybe some orange zest in the strawberry version. Top with some fresh fruit or more coulis.

Fruit Coulis - another slight recipe!

        soft berries such as strawberries or raspberries

sugar (approximately
half the weight of the fruit)

~   Put the prepared fruit in a small saucepan.
~   Add the sugar to the fruit.
~   Simmer the fruit, helpfully giving it a squash now and then – you could add a dribble of water to encourage the sugar to melt if the fruit isn’t very juicy.
~   Strain through a fine nylon sieve pushing on the fruit debris to extract as much coulis as poss.
~   Cool, cover and chill till needed.

Peach Melba Cheesecake

Make raspberry cheesecake as above but add a layer of diced fresh peach in the middle of the cheesecake.  (Best to toss the peach in a little lemon juice and caster sugar first to make it sweeter, juicer and less prone to browning.)

Your Turn – let me know what you come up with, I might copy!

Baked Cheesecake, incidentally

Whilst on the subject of cheesecakes, baked cheesecakes are deeply wonderful, are they not?  I used to work for an American lady during one of my stints as Chef of the Tamarind Club who, although she was not much involved in the kitchen side of the business made a wicked New York Cheesecake with a deliciously different crust. 

The strange thing is that although I fancy myself as a good cook and even if she stood over me during the entire process of making her cheesecake the result whilst perfectly delicious and saleable  was never quite as good as hers!  If you fancy a try – here is the recipe.  Let me know how you get on.

Mary’s New York Cheesecake

“Leave all the ingredients out one hour and No More and No Less before making.”
Mary Granfeldt

Base …

60g butter
120g plain flour
50g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling …

900g cream cheese
5 whole eggs plus 3 yolks
250g caster sugar
15g plain flour
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
3 heaping tablespoons sour cream

~   Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/180ºC fan/gas 6.
~   Lightly grease a 23cm springform cake pan.
~   Manually mix together the ingredients for the base and sprinkle, every evenly, over the bottom of the pan.
~   Bake for 15 minutes.
~   Cool a little while making the filling …
~   Reduce the oven temperature to 120ºC/250°F/100ºC fan/gas ½.
~   Beat the cream cheese on medium till smooth and then one at a time add the eggs and the yolks and beat till smooth (again!).
~   Add the next three ingredients and beat in.
~   Add the sour cream and, still on medium, beat till fluffy which takes about a minute.
~   Pour onto the base and bake for 1¼ hours. 
~   Run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake and cool.