No bake chocolate cheesecake
This delicious no bake chocolate cheesecake is the ultimate dessert for any chocolate lover. It’s also really easy to make, which is great for kids who want to get busy in the kitchen.
This no bake chocolate cheesecake is the perfect dinner party dessert. It’s delicious and light and so easy to make, but spectacular enough to still impress your friends. The chocolate cheesecake mixture itself is smooth and chocolatey and sits on top of a delicious chocolatey base.
I love no bake cheesecakes, because I find them much simpler to make than baked, which is ideal when you’re making them with children. There’s no need to use your oven, although you still need a bit of patience for it to set in the fridge.
It’s also a great recipe to make if you’re entertaining, as you can make it ahead of time. 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 no bake chocolate cheesecake?
No bake cheesecakes are a great desserts for kids to get involved in making as there are plenty of simple steps for them to get involved in. In fact, it’s so easy you could almost let your kids take over and make the whole thing themselves. Certainly order children would be able to manage it.
Making the cheesecake base is a fun and easy job for kids to take charge of. And if you want to get very young children involved in the kitchen then this is the step for them. Kids can bash all the biscuits to 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 chocolate cheesecake filling itself s also very easy to make. For us, the cream and mascarpone came 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 and leaving it to set.
How long does a no bake chocolate cheesecake keep?
This no bake 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 an equal 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 chocolate Digestive biscuits in the base?
Chocolate digestives work well but if you don’t have any you could try an alternative plain or chocolate biscuit. Graham crackers, plain Digestives or Oreos would all work well.
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 no bake chocolate 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
Millionaire’s cheesecake
Strawberry cheesecake
Banoffee cheesecake
Useful equipment
You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make this no bake chocolate cheesecake
Digital scales
Freestanding mixer
Mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Cake tins
Serving plate
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Ingredients
For the base
250g Chocolate Digestive biscuits (or other chocolate or plain biscuits)
125g (½ cup) butter
For the filling
250g (1 cup) Mascarpone cheese
300ml (1 ¼ cup) double / whipping or heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g milk chocolate
50g icing (confectioners sugar)
To decorate (optional)
Chocolate/chocolate chips
Whipped cream
How to make a no bake chocolate cheesecake
Grease side and base of an 8 inch (20cm) round 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 chocolate 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.
Bashing 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! 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 until it has fully melted.
Once the butter has melted, add the chocolate 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, get your kids to tip or spoon the biscuit base mixture 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 press it all well into the sides as well as in the middle 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.
Melt the chocolate
Get your kids to measure out the chocolate and break it into pieces. Add it to a heatproof bowl. Pop the bowl over a pan of simmering water (a bain-marie) and heat it gently until it has melted. If your kids are old enough to be trusted around a cooker, they can help stir it until it is is nice and smooth.
Remove the chocolate from the heat and set it aside for now to cool down.
Make the chocolate cheesecake filling
Now measure out the double cream and mascarpone cheese and add them a large mixing bowl or a free-standing mixer. Ours 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 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 soft peaks are, you’re looking for 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 chocolate
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.
Carefully pour in the cooled down melted chocolate.
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 get all the cream from the bottom of the bowl, but stop mixing it when it’s well combined so it doesn’t end up over-mixed.
Make the chocolate cheesecake
Get your kids to spoon or pour the chocolate 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 six-eight hours. If you have time, overnight is best.
To serve, carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin and put it on a serving plate. Add some chocolate shavings/chocolate chips or whipped cream, serve and enjoy.
No bake chocolate cheesecake
Equipment
- Digital scales
- Freestanding mixer
- Mixing bowl
- Measuring cups
- Cake tins
- Serving plate
Ingredients
- For the base
- 250 g Chocolate Digestive biscuits or other chocolate or plain biscuits
- 125 g (½ cup) butter
- For the filling
- 250 g (1 cup) Mascarpone cheese
- 300 ml (1 ¼ cup) double / whipping or heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 250 g milk chocolate
- 50 g icing confectioners sugar
- To decorate optional
- Chocolate/chocolate chips
- Whipped cream
Instructions
- Grease side and base of an 8 inch (20cm) round 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 measuring out the chocolate biscuits. Pop them in a large mixing bowl or a large zip lock / freezer bag then bash them with a rolling pin until they are a nice fine crumb.Bashing 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. 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.
- Measure the butter out and put it in a pan or microwavable bowl. Heat it gently until it has fully melted.
- Once the butter has melted, add the chocolate 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, tip or spoon the biscuit base mixture 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 press it all well into the sides as well as in the middle 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.
Melt the chocolate
- Measure out the chocolate and break it into pieces. Add it to a heatproof bowl. Pop the bowl over a pan of simmering water (a bain-marie) and heat it gently until it has melted, stirring it occaisionally.Remove the chocolate from the heat and set it aside for now to cool down.
Make the chocolate cheesecake filling
- Now measure out the double cream and mascarpone cheese and add them 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 chocolate
- Measure out the icing sugar and vanilla and add it to your mixing bowl. Carefully pour in the cooled down melted chocolate.
- 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 chocolate cheesecake
- Spoon or pour the chocolate 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 six to eight hours. If you have time, overnight is best.
- To serve, carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin and put it on a serving plate. Add some chocolate shavings/chocolate chips or whipped cream if you like, serve and enjoy.
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