The No-Bake Cheesecake Bake Off

A party cake for summer, fall or any season in between

If it’s too hot to bake where you are—I get it. Even though my (pretty weak) central AC decided to work this summer, I’m still too generally sticky to want to keep my oven on for hours. Hence the no-bake cheesecake “bake off”! In this newsletter, we have:

1. No-bake cheesecake “bake off” recap

2. A no-bake strawberry cheesecake recipe: perfect for any Barbie parties!

3. How I selected the recipes for this bake off: plus a link to the master spreadsheet in case you want to investigate or compare recipes

4. More August baking inspo! Featuring specific picks from past bake offs

The No-Bake Cheesecake Bake Off

If you’re loathe to read the entire blog post, here are my personal picks:

• I can’t imagine a more delicious crust than one made with Biscoff crumbs—as long as the caramelized, salty version of graham crackers sounds good to you, I’ll always recommend this crust: Bravetart

• Filling wise, I liked Sally’s Baking Addiction as a tangy filling that felt the closest to a baked cheesecake. But upon further tasting, I did like Bravetart’s creamy, moussey filling paired with the crumbly Biscoff crust. I also really liked Divas Can Cook for a filling that tasted like key lime pie!

Other observations:

• Generally people did not enjoy the texture of cheesecake stabilized with gelatin (Simply Recipes)—imagine cheesecake Jello.

• I personally didn’t love the foamier texture of cheesecakes made with Cool Whip (31 Daily and Taste and Tell). However, I think Cool Whip is an amazing shortcut for no-bake cheesecake if you’re short on time. It’s a small textural price to pay! (And perhaps flavor if you’re sensitive to artificial flavors.)

• I loved the unique flavor of Southern Living’s honey cheesecake but it stood out unfavorably to most tasters. I think it would be excellent if made standalone.

To read the entire blog post, you can find it here!

Strawberry No-Bake Cheesecake

I always like to use my personal picks from the bake offs when I want to riff on the flavors (in this case, Bravetart). My vision for this cheesecake was a pretty pastel filling that would match the Barbie aesthetic and get its color from ground freeze-dried strawberries. A chocolate Oreo crust sounded like a better pairing with a strawberry filling than a graham crust, but of course you can use any kind of cookie you like (including Stella’s original, brilliant Biscoff suggestion!). The result is a creamy, refreshingly fruity filling on top of a decadently thick Oreo crust. Because there’s no baking, it’s a flexible, forgiving recipe that’s quite easy to assemble and even easier to enjoy :)

Note: the amount of freeze-dried strawberries is equivalent to one bag of Trader Joe’s freeze-dried strawberries, which is where I exclusively buy freeze-dried fruit.

Adapted from Bravetart/Serious Eat’s recipe

Ingredients for crust:

• 2 cups Oreos, Oreo thins, or other cookies of choice (250g)

• 5 tablespoons butter, melted (70g)

• pinch of kosher salt

Grease a 9” pie pan or tart pan. In a food processor, process the Oreos until finely ground. Add the butter and salt and process until smooth. Pour the Oreo crumbs into the pie pan and use a glass or measuring cup to tamp down the crumbs until firmly packed down in a flat layer. (You can press crumbs up the side of the pie pan if you like, but I kept the crumbs as a single bottom crust layer.)

Ingredients for the filling:

• 1.5 cups heavy cream, cold (340g)

• 16 oz full-fat cream cheese, cold (455g)

• 3/4 cup sugar (150g)

• 1/2 cup freeze-dried strawberries (34g), ground to powder in a food processor or Nutribullet

• 1/8 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt

• 2 tsp lemon juice, optional

• 1 cup fresh strawberries

In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks. Set aside in a separate bowl. Without wiping out the mixer bowl, change to the paddle attachment. Add the cold cream cheese, sugar, ground freeze-dried strawberries and salt until creamy. Fold in the heavy cream until smooth and combined. Taste the batter and decide if you want to add the lemon juice for tang (I didn’t because I didn’t have lemon on hand).

Pour the batter into the crumb-lined pie pan. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours to overnight. Just before serving, slice the strawberries and place in a decorative pattern over the top.

How I picked the no-bake cheesecake recipes

While baked cheesecake is set with the help of eggs, flour and milk proteins coagulating in the oven, no-bake cheesecake relies on several different thickening techniques. There were also multiple types of sweeteners and dairy used.

Here’s why I chose each of the recipes:

• Preppy Kitchen: Thickened with whipped heavy cream and adds sour cream and a mix of sweetened condensed milk, sugar and powdered sugar.

• Divas Can Cook: Uses a similar technique to many key lime pies—lemon juice helps thicken the milk proteins in condensed milk for a thick texture.

• 31 Daily: Uses a 2:1 ratio of cream cheese to Cool Whip.

• Taste and Tell: Uses a 1:1:1 ratio of cream cheese to Cool Whip to sour cream.

• Simply Recipes: Uses gelatin to stabilize a 1:1 mixture of cream cheese and heavy cream.

• Sally’s Baking Addiction: Thickened with whipped heavy cream and adds sour cream.

• Southern Living: Thickened with whipped heavy cream and sweetened with honey only.

• Natasha’s Kitchen: Thickened with whipped heavy cream and uses a mix of cream cheese and mascarpone.

• Bravetart: Thickened with whipped heavy cream, no sour cream.

This master spreadsheet contains most of my bake off spreadsheets where I collect and compare recipes. If you ever want to compare your favorite recipes against the ones I’ve tested to see if any are similar, this will make it easy!

MORE FUN SUMMER BAKES AND EATS

• Best Strawberry Cake Bake Off: Late summer strawberries in tow? These strawberry cakes are such a fun, fresh summer bake. I loved Kara’s Couture Cakes and My Cake School.

• Best Tiramisu Bake Off: For another fantastic no-bake dessert, this tiramisu bake off was a triumph. A Cozy Kitchen is my go-to!

• Best Vanilla Cake Bake Off: These vanilla cakes are the perfect base for any cake needs. My pick? Preppy Kitchen!

• A favorite stack of diner pancakes