A simple no bake chocolate cheesecake which should serve 12 comfortably. Mini eggs optional!

I adapted the recipe from one I found for individual mini chocolate cheesecakes.

You can use any crumbly biscuits you like for the base, even chocolate ones, but I find chocolate cheesecake so rich I think it’s better to have a plain base.

Ingredients (12 large slices of chocolate no bake cheesecake):

For the base –

• 250 g /  8.8 oz digestive biscuits (or any other crumbly biscuit)
• 110 g / 3.9 oz butter (baking margarine would also work)

For the cheesecake layer –

• 400 g /  14 oz cream cheese (you can use full fat or low/half fat. But if you use low fat you will have to beat the mixture for longer to encourage it to thicken up)
• 150 g /  5.3 oz icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 175 ml / 6 fl oz double cream
• 200 g / 7 oz dark chocolate (you can use plain or milk chocolate if you want a less intense chocolatey flavour. Next time I make this, I’m going to use a Terry’s chocolate orange!)

For decoration –

• 50 g / 2 oz chocolate of your choice to melt and drizzle over the cheesecake
• Mini eggs – use as many as you like!

Choosing a tin

The best tin size is an 8-inch (20cm) springform tin. However, if your tin is a little bigger or smaller, you should be ok, but the base and cheesecake layer will either be thicker or thinner. And if you don’t have a springform tin, you can get away with using an ordinary round baking tin or round bottomed dish as long as you line it with baking paper or plastic film (so you can lift the finished cheesecake out when it’s set). I lined the base of my springform tin with greaseproof paper to make it easier to lift the cheesecake off the base of the tin.

Method:

Crush the biscuits to a fine crumb either using a food processor or rolling and bashing them with a rolling pin. I used the second method, putting the biscuits in a freezer bag before crushing them:

Melt the butter in a bowl, either by warming it over a pan of simmering water or by giving it bursts of heat in the microwave. Pour the melted butter into the crushed biscuits and stir through. Spoon the biscuit mixture into your tin and press down using the back of a spoon until you have an even, compact base layer. Put the tin in the fridge to chill while you make the chocolate cheesecake layer.

Break the 200 g of chocolate into small pieces and melt. You can do this in a microwave, using 1 minute, remove and stir, then put back in for further shorter bursts (20-30 seconds) of heat between stirs. Alternatively, put the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir the chocolate until it has all melted.

While the melted chocolate is cooling, make the chocolate no bake cheesecake filling. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla. Start by stirring the ingredients by hand until the icing sugar is incorporated (this is just to stop an electric whisk creating an icing sugar cloud and covering you in it). Then use electric hand beaters or a stand mixer to beat the mixture until it begins to stiffen. This will take at least a couple of minutes. If you’ve used low fat cream cheese it will take longer.

Add the cream and beat again until the cheesecake mixture thickens. This may take anywhere up to 5 minutes, so don’t despair, it will thicken up eventually! It should have a mousse-like consistency and look something like this:

Add the melted chocolate to the filling mixture and stir through until the colour is even. You can do this by hand (I did, stirring gently to try not to knock air out of the mixture) or continue to use the mixer.

Spoon the no bake chocolate cheesecake filling on top of your chilled biscuit base, spreading it out  using a spatula or the back of a spoon until even and smooth.

Chill the chocolate cheesecake. If your cheesecake mix was nice and thick when you first put it in the fridge, you’ll only have to chill the cheesecake for 2-3 hours before you can remove it from the tin and transfer it to a plate.

If your cheesecake layer mixture was thinner, you will probably need to chill the cheesecake overnight to make sure it’s fully set.

As a final step, I melted a little white and milk chocolate (in the microwave) and drizzled it over the top of the chocolate cheesecake. I then put a couple of Cadbury’s mini eggs on each slice.

If your cheesecake doesn’t set, don’t panic. You can freeze it and then serve it as a sort of ice cream cake dessert. It should keep in the freezer for 3 months.

Your no bake chocolate cheesecake will keep in the fridge, covered, for three days.

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If you would like other recipes featuring cheesecake:

 

No bake Snickers cheesecake

 

 

 

 

Chocolate cheesecake brownies.

 

 

 

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Claire Huston / Art and Soul