Although a big fan of New York style cheesecake, I always end up making no-bake cheesecake more often. It's cool to skip the oven from time to time. While no-bake cheesecakes may seem a summertime kind of treat, they can work equally fine also in the winter. In this post I have a dark chocolate cheesecake with a raspberry filling. Raspberries and chocolate are a great pairing, and their intense flavours make this decadent chocolate raspberry cheesecake perfect even on a winter day.
Valentine's day is a winter occurrence and this cake kind of suits the festivity. Raspberries are not in season at the moment, of course. In this raspberry cheesecake I'm using raspberry jam, as well as freeze-dried raspberries for decoration. If you can get your hands on some imported and extremely expensive fresh raspberries, I warmly recommend getting those too, and serving them on the side. They complement the flavour of this cake by adding some wonderful freshness in an otherwise very rich bite. But if they're absolutely not available anywhere, just go with jam and freeze-dried. It's so wonderful we have many ways of preserving fruits for the time of the year when they're not available.
Not in a mood for chocolate? Try this raspberry chili no-bake cheesecake!
To make this chocolate no-bake cheesecake you need to use bitter chocolate. Go for 70% cocoa or more. Cheesecake alone is quite a flavourful cake even when made simple. Cream cheese has this peculiar tang, and if we're adding berries, like in this case, we should really aim at balancing the flavour spectrum that would otherwise tend to the sour end. The cheesy notes are already partly toned down by using half cream cheese and half whipping cream. Dark chocolate complements the work adding a deeper bitter flavour. We all know how wonderful dark chocolate is with raspberries, after all, right?
Loving chocolate and fruits? Try this Black Forest crepe cake!
This dark chocolate cheesecake recipe has a subtle raspberry flavour. It's found between the crust and filling, where I spread a very thin layer of raspberry jam. As simple as it sounds, this may be a tricky operation, as a too thick layer of jam may cause the filling to slide away from the crust once it's hardened. So don't use more than one spoonful of jam, and make sure not to spread it on the edges of the crust. The weight of the filling may already contribute to spread it further. This way the filling will seal the edges, not letting the jam work as a gliding surface.
Oreo cookie lover? How about this Oreo no-bake cheesecake?
This cake is decorated with chocolate ganache and freeze-dried raspberries, for an even more intense dark chocolate and raspberry flavour. In the filling I like to use strong dark chocolate, 70% cocoa at least. This is to ensure the maximum flavour once it's blended with all the other ingredients. On the topping I use a slightly less intense chocolate - 50% cocoa or similar. You don't want the ganache to be too bitter. The freeze-dried raspberries have this wonderful sour flavour that just adds a final touch - plus they have such a powerful aesthetic appeal - just look how they stand out on the chocolate brown. So beautiful.
Looking for other ways to use freeze-dried raspberries? How about these raspberry choocolate balls, a true Swedish delicacy?
No-bake chocolate raspberry cheesecake
Equipment
- Electric mixer
- Bowls of various sizes
- Microwave
- Food processor
- Springform pan 20cm (8in)
Ingredients
- 14 Oreo cookies 1 package
- 60 g butter
- 300 g cream cheese
- 120 g powdered sugar
- 230 g dark chocolate 50% cocoa
- 135 g raspberry jam
- 250 ml heavy cream
- 20 g gelatin sheets
- 2 tablespoon freeze-dried raspberries
Instructions
- Melt the butter in the microwave and set aside. Open each Oreo cookie and separate the biscuits from the filling. Set the filling aside and add the cookies to a food processor fitted with the rotating blades. Crush the biscuits until fine and, as the blades are still rotating, pour in the melted butter. Line the bottom of a springform pan with baking paper and the sides with a cake collar (optional). Spread biscuit mixture evenly all over the bottom of the pan. Chill in the fridge for the time being.
- Soak half of the gelatin sheets (10 g) in cold water for 5 minutes. Gently heat the raspberry jam in the microwave, stirring from time to time, until steaming hot. The jam will loosen in texture. Squeeze excess water from the softened gelatin sheets and stir into hot jam. Set aside to cool.
- Melt ¾ of the chocolate (150g) in the microwave at the lowest setting, checking every minute. Combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar and Oreo fillings in a bowl and mix at medium speed for 2-3 minutes, until combined and smooth. Add the melted chocolate (ideally it should not be hot but barely warm, so let it cool some before adding it). Start the mixer again and whisk it all in until smooth.
- Soak the rest of the gelatin sheets (10 g) in cold water. Heat 100 ml of cream and stir in the soaked gelatin to melt, adding it little by little. If you notice that the gelatin does not melt immediately when about halfway, microwave the cream some more. Adding the gelatin might have cooled the cream too much to effectively melt all of the gelatin. Slowly pour the gelatin and cream mixture into the other bowl, mixing at low speed until even and combined.
- Take the crust out of the fridge and pour in the chocolate cheesecake filling. To achieve a flat top, gently shake the springform pan and tap the pan on the countertop a couple of times. This might even cause some air bubbles to come to the top. Place in the fridge for cooling about 10 minutes.
- Take the cheesecake out of the fridge, it will still be very wobbly, but hopefully slightly firmer. Using a spoon, pour the jam and gelatin mixture all over the surface of the cake. Return the cake to the fridge and let it set for a minimum of 2 hours (or better overnight).
- When the cake is set, make the ganache. Warm up remaining cream (150 ml) and take away from the heat just before it reaches boiling temperature. Add remaining chocolate (80 g) to the cream and stir until combined. Let sit until it reaches room temperature, you can speed up the process by placing the bowl in an ice bath and stirring from time to time. When cooled to room temperature, pour the ganache over the cheesecake starting from the middle and moving in circles outwards, letting it gently drop down the sides. Decorate with freeze-dried raspberries. Let the ganache set in the fridge before cutting.
Notes
This looks so delicious! I'm saving it to make it as soon as possible!
Thanks dear!