Millionaire’s cheesecake
This millionaire’s cheesecake is the ultimate indulgent dessert. Don’t let it fool you though, it’s really easy to make, which is great for kids who want to impress in the kitchen.
A millionaire’s cheesecake is the perfect dinner party dessert. It’s indulgent, rich and so easy to make, but spectacular enough to really impress your friends. The caramel cheesecake mixture itself is smooth and light, and perfect balanced with the chocolate ganache topping.
There’s more than one way to make a millionaire’s cheesecake. Ours is made with a simple biscuit base, a delicious caramel cheesecake filling and a chocolate ganache topping. Each of the layers is easy to make so it’s a great dessert for kids to help with. And it really is a delicious cross between a cheesecake and millionaire’s shortbread. Yum!
I love no bake cheesecakes, partly because I find them much simpler to make than baked cheesecakes, which is ideal when you’re making them with children. There’s no need to use your oven, although you’ll still need a bit of patience for it to set in the fridge.
As you can make it ahead of time it’s also a great recipe to make if you’re entertaining. But don’t let its simplicity fool you, this cheesecake is delicious enough and spectacular enough for it to be a great go to dessert for special occasions.
How can kids help make this millionaire’s cheesecake?
No bake cheesecakes are a great desserts for kids to help make as there are plenty of simple steps for them to get involved in. In fact, this recipe is so easy you could almost let your kids take over and make the whole thing themselves. Certainly, order children should be able to manage it.
Making the cheesecake base is a fun and easy job for kids, even young children and toddlers, to take charge of. Kids can measure the biscuits out as well as bashing them into a crumb which is one of my kid’s favourite jobs. Alternatively, you can get your kids to blitz them in a food processor.
Once you have the biscuits and melted butter mixed together it’s a simple case of pressing them into the cake tin to form the base. There’s nothing your kids shouldn’t manage, although younger children might need help melting the butter.
The caramel cheesecake filling itself is also very easy to make. For us, the cream and mascarpone come in the perfect sized cartons so we were able to just pour the whole carton in. If yours come in a different size, your kids can help measure everything out before whipping it all together.
And once you’ve made the filling and the base, your kids can help assemble the cheesecake, before levelling the filling, adding the chocolate ganache, and leaving it to set.
How long does a millionaire’s cheesecake keep?
This cheesecake will keep covered and refrigerated for a few days. As is it is full of cream and mascarpone it won’t keep at room temperature.
Can you use cream cheese instead of mascarpone?
Yes, if you don’t have any mascarpone you can swap it for the same amount of cream cheese. We use cream cheese in some of our other cheesecakes and find it a little stronger in flavour and tangier than mascarpone so you might like to add a little extra icing sugar to balance the flavours.
What can you use instead of Digestive biscuits in the base?
Digestives work well but if you don’t have any you could try an alternative plain or even a chocolate biscuit. Graham crackers, plain Digestives or Oreos would all work well. Or to make it feel even more like millionaire’s shortbread you could use shortbread biscuits in your base.
How do you stop the cheesecake sticking to the bottom of the tin?
To stop the base of the cheesecake from sticking, make sure you grease the base and sides of your spring-form or loose bottomed tin well with butter. We always line the bottom of the tin with a circle of baking, greaseproof or parchment paper as well.
If you use a loose bottomed tin, when you want to remove the cheesecake from the base, set it on top of a glass and carefully push down. The cheesecake should pop out.
How long does it take to set?
No bake cheesecakes take at least 6 hours to set. If you have time, it’s best to make it the day ahead and leave it overnight to set.
If it’s not set after 6 hours or so and you can’t wait much longer, pop it in the freezer for around an hour before you serve it.
Other cheesecake recipes you’ll love
If you liked this millionaire’s cheesecake, you might like some of our other cheesecake recipes:
Baked chocolate ripple cheesecake
No bake lemon cheesecake
Double chocolate cheesecake
White chocolate and raspberry cheesecake
No bake orange cheesecake
Biscoff cheesecake
No bake chocolate cheesecake
Strawberry cheesecake
Banoffee cheesecake
After Eight cheesecake
Maltesers cheesecake
No bake key lime pie
Lemon meringue cheesecake
Or if you have more caramel to use, why not try one of these easy recipes:
Caramel banana bread
Chocolate caramel cupcakes
Caramel stuffed cookies
Caramel apple crumble
Banoffee cupcakes
Useful equipment
You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make this millionaire’s cheesecake
Digital scales
Freestanding mixer
Mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Cake tins
Serving plate
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Ingredients
For the base
250g Digestive biscuits ( or plain biscuits)
125g (½ cup) butter
For the caramel cheesecake filling
250g (1 cup) Mascarpone cheese
300ml (1 ¼ cup) double / whipping or heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g caramel / dulce de leche (we used ½ a tin of Carnation caramel)
50g icing (confectioners sugar)
For the chocolate topping
125g dark chocolate
150 double cream
To decorate (optional)
Caramel
How to make a Millionaire’s cheesecake
Get your kids to grease side and base of a round 8 inch (20cm) spring-form or loose bottomed baking tin and then line the base with a circle of baking or parchment paper.
Make the biscuit base
Start by getting your kids to measure out the biscuits. Pop them in a large mixing bowl or a large zip lock / freezer bag then get your kids to bash them with a rolling pin until they are a nice fine crumb.
Crushing the biscuits in a bag saves a lot of mess and is a bit quicker so a good option if you kids are in charge of this step! As well as bashing the biscuits, try rolling your rolling pin over them to crush them finely.
Alternatively, and for an even quicker/easier option, if you have a food processor you use that to blitz the biscuits into a fine crumb for you.
While your kids are crushing the biscuits, you can measure the butter out and put it in a pan or microwavable bowl. Heat it gently on the hob or blast it in the microwave until it has fully melted.
Once the butter has melted, add the biscuit crumbs to your pan or bowl. Or, if you crushed the biscuits in a bowl, you could pour the butter into the bowl instead. Get your kids to stir it together until all the biscuit crumbs are nicely coated in butter.
Finally, to make your base, get your kids to tip or spoon the crushed biscuits into your prepared baking tin. Then, using the back of a metal spoon or a spatula press the base down firmly into the tin until it is all nice and level. Make sure you keep pressing it down in the middle and at the sides until it is nice and flat and firmly pressed into your tin so that your base holds together and doesn’t end up crumbly later.
Pop the base in the fridge to chill for around 20 minutes while you make the filling.
Make the caramel cheesecake filling
Start by measuring out the double cream and mascarpone cheese and add them both to a large mixing bowl or a free-standing mixer. Our cartons of cream and mascarpone are exactly the right size so it’s quite an easy job for kids as they just tip the whole thing in. If you need to measure yours out, the best and easiest way of doing it accurately is to use the ml setting on your digital scales or measuring cups if you don’t have any scales.
Using a hand held whisk, or the whisk attachment of your free-standing mixer, whisk the mascarpone and double cream together until your mixture is nice and smooth and has formed soft peaks.
If you’re unsure what you’re looking for in soft peaks, you want the mixture to be thick enough to hold very briefly if you lift the whisk up, before the cream then flops back down on itself again.
Add the icing sugar, vanilla and caramel
Get your kids to measure out the icing sugar and vanilla and add it to your mixing bowl. If your kids are quite young, you may need to hold the measuring spoon while your kids pour in the vanilla or vice versa.
Spoon in the caramel.
Whisk everything into your mixture one last time so it is well combined and has thickened up. If you find it easier, you can use a spatula to get it all well mixed in. Make sure you stop mixing it when it’s well combined so it doesn’t end up over-mixed.
Make the millionaire’s cheesecake
Get your kids to spoon or pour the caramel cheesecake mixture onto your prepared biscuit base. Spread it out and level the top with a spatula, the back of a spoon or a small palette knife.
Cover the cheesecake with cling film / glad wrap and chill it for at least two hours.
Add the chocolate ganache topping
Pop the double cream into a double boiler (a heatproof bowl set on top of a pan of simmering water.) Gently heat the cream while you chop the chocolate into small pieces. Add the chocolate to your bowl and continue heating it all, stirring it so it comes together in a glossy, chocolate mixture.
Remove the chocolate ganache from the heat and leave it to cool and thicken for at least 15 minutes.
Pour the ganache on top of your cheesecake and put it back in the fridge to set. Leave it for a few hours, or overnight.
To serve, carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin and put it on a serving plate. Add a drizzle of caramel or some chocolate shavings, serve and enjoy!
Millionaire's cheesecake
Equipment
- Digital scales
- Freestanding mixer
- Mixing bowl
- Measuring cups
- Cake tins
- Serving plate
Ingredients
For the base
- 250 g Digestive biscuits or plain biscuits
- 125 g (½ cup) butter
For the caramel cheesecake filling
- 250 g (1 cup) Mascarpone cheese
- 300 ml (1 ¼ cup) double / whipping or heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 150 g (½ cup) caramel / dulce de leche we used ½ a tin of Carnation caramel
- 50 g (½ cup) icing confectioners sugar
For the chocolate topping
- 125 g (¾ cup) dark chocolate
- 150 (¾ cup) double cream
To decorate (optional)
- Caramel
Instructions
- Grease side and base of a round 8 inch (20cm) spring-form or loose bottomed baking tin and then line the base with a circle of baking or parchment paper.
Make the biscuit base
- Measure out the biscuits. Pop them in a large mixing bowl or a large zip lock / freezer bag then crush them with a rolling pin until they are a nice fine crumb.Measure the butter out and put it in a pan or microwavable bowl. Heat it gently on the hob or blast it in the microwave until it has fully melted.
- Once the butter has melted, add the biscuit crumbs to your pan or bowl. Or, if you crushed the biscuits in a bowl, you could pour the butter into the bowl instead. Stir it together until all the biscuit crumbs are nicely coated in butter.
- Finally, to make your base, tip or spoon the crushed biscuits into your prepared baking tin. Then, using the back of a metal spoon or a spatula press the base down firmly into the tin until it is all nice and level and firmly pressed down.Pop the base in the fridge to chill for around 20 minutes while you make the filling.
Make the caramel cheesecake filling
- Start by measuring out the double cream and mascarpone cheese and add them both to a large mixing bowl or a free-standing mixer.Using a hand held whisk, or the whisk attachment of your free-standing mixer, whisk the mascarpone and double cream together until your mixture is nice and smooth and has formed soft peaks.
Add the icing sugar, vanilla and caramel
- Measure out the icing sugar and vanilla and add it to your mixing bowl.Spoon in the caramel.Whisk everything into your mixture one last time so it is well combined and has thickened up. If you find it easier, you can use a spatula to get it all well mixed in. Make sure you stop mixing it when it's well combined so it doesn't end up over-mixed.
Make the millionaire's cheesecake
- Spoon or pour the caramel cheesecake mixture onto your prepared biscuit base. Spread it out and level the top with a spatula, the back of a spoon or a small palette knife.Cover the cheesecake with cling film / glad wrap and chill it for at least two hours.
Add the chocolate ganache topping
- Pop the double cream into a double boiler (a heatproof bowl set on top of a pan of simmering water.) Gently heat the cream while you chop the chocolate into small pieces. Add the chocolate to your bowl and continue heating it all, stirring it so it comes together in a glossy, chocolate mixture.Remove the chocolate ganache from the heat and leave it to cool and thicken for at least 15 minutes.
- Pour the ganache on top of your cheesecake and put it back in the fridge to set. Leave it for a few hours, or overnight.
- To serve, carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin and put it on a serving plate. Add a drizzle of caramel or some chocolate shavings, serve and enjoy!
Notes
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