No Bake Chocolate Cheescake Recipe

I’ve been trying to get a bit more creative in the kitchen because there really is a limit to the number of times I can make fajitas, a roast dinner or a tuna pasta bake. One of the main problems I face is that I get absolutely zero enjoyment out of standing in the kitchen for hours prepping or waiting for things to cook so I wanted to find a recipe for a quick but more importantly easy dessert.

I found a Good Food recipe for a “No Bake Chocolate Cheesecake” (all credit goes to Good Food) and decided that I’d use the bank holiday weekend to trash my kitchen by having a go at this seemingly simple recipe. The concept of ‘No Bake’ is completely new to me but also very appealing because I’m useless at the whole “Don’t open the oven door or the cakes will sink” thing… Here’s my attempt:

THE INGREDIENTS

• 45 g butter, melted (get unsalted butter!)
• 110 g caster sugar
• 120 ml whipping cream (Tesco, green lid, next to the double cream)
• 150 g dark chocolate, melted and cooled (would advise using chocolate 60% cocoa solids minimum)
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder (get the Green & Black’s cocoa powder, it’s so worth it)
• 200 g cream cheese (Philadelphia is fine but you don’t want to buy the fat free version as the cheesecake will end up sloppy like me on a Saturday morning)

THE METHOD

Firstly you will need to mix the crushed biscuits with the butter and 1 tablespoon of the caster sugar. It will look as if you didn’t melt enough butter but actually what you’re trying to do is just lightly coat the biscuits rather than create something that sticks together.
Put the cheesecake base in the fridge to set whilst you get on with the fun bit: CHOCOLATE TIME.
Melt the chocolate like a normal human being. I chose to deviate from the recipe as I didn’t have a circular glass bowl; I found that a dangerously placed glass fajita serving dish over a pot of boiling water worked perfectly. Mary Berry may not agree.
The recipe says to whip the cream until “soft peaks form”. I just whipped it until it started to turn thick and creamy. Then you need to add the cooled melted chocolate, and then the cocoa powder mix. Give this all a stir with a wooden spoon until it looks like a sort of dusty ganache and set it aside.
Next, you need to beat the cream cheese and the remaining sugar together. Fold this into the cream chocolate mixture and mix thoroughly, taking care to ensure that all of the ingredients are mixed together completely.

Try not to eat the entire bowl of chocolate mixture then and there. If you survive this step you may progress onto the next part: spread the heavenly chocolate mess onto the crushed biscuits in the tin.

All you need to do next is pop the cheesecake into the fridge for an hour or two to let it set before serving! I actually found that the biscuit base crumbled away when I served it after an hour (nope, couldn’t wait any longer) but after I had left it overnight it was much easier to serve. I’d recommend making this the day before if you’re planning on serving it to guests or people who care what their food looks like.

I can’t believe how easy this was to make. It was pretty cheap (the ingredients cost just over £7 in total and this recipe serves 8-10 people) and it took me around 15 minutes to create from start to finish. It looked pretty good, even for an amateur, but most importantly it tastes amazing. It’s really rich and chocolatey but it’s not overpowering or sickening.