No bake strawberry cheesecake

Ditch artificial flavourings and gelatine and make this easy no-bake strawberry cheesecake. Bursting with natural colour and flavour, this is the best strawberry cheesecake you’ll ever make at home.

US Readers – Please check my notes regarding fat content which will affect the setting of this cheesecake!

Cheesecakes do not often appear on this blog for a very simple reason: I find them very hard to resist and end up eating way too many slices. So I don’t make cheesecake very frequently, unless I can be sure I have people coming over to help me make it disappear. 

I used to, if truth be told, be slightly afraid of them. I am not keen on water baths for baked cheesecakes, but luckily my Instant Pot has eliminated the need for those.

Pressure cooker cheesecakes are AMAZING, so good they are almost worth the price of the gadget! You must make my peanut butter and salted caramel cheesecake if you don’t take my word for it.

I also used to be slightly apprehensive of no-bake cheesecakes… What if they don’t set right? I have had a couple of occasions where the promised dessert was a puddle instead of a wow! This no-bake strawberry cheesecake is so simple and so foolproof that I can say, hand to heart, that you have nothing to be afraid of when making it.

UPDATE: It has come to my attention that double (heavy) cream has a lower fat content in the US (36%) than in the UK  (48%) where I am based. This is likely going to affect the setting of the cheesecake! Please bear with me I will retest the recipe with lower fat cream and gelatine to see if we can work around this issue. Check this article for a more in-depth look at the differences of dairy products around the world.

Why I love this no-bake cheesecake

• It requires no baking (clue is in the name)
• It’s gelatine-free and therefore vegetarian friendly. Although I may have to tweak the recipe for US readers (see update above)
• It’s free of artificial colour or flavourings (that pink colour is all natural baby!)
• It is bursting with strawberry flavour
• It tastes truly amazing and has a very light mousse texture
• It so easy – just take a look at the video in the recipe card below

How to make no-bake strawberry cheesecake

For this cheesecake to set successfully YOU MUST use full-fat cream cheese and double cream (48% fat content).

Step 1. Make your cookie crust base: mix the crushed cookie with melted butter and pack into a springform or a cake tin with a loose base. Chill while you make your filling.

Step 2. Use a hand mixer to briefly beat full fat cream cheese and icing sugar to combine. 

Step 3. Add strawberry purée, freeze-dried strawberry powder and vanilla paste and mix again. 

Step 4. Add double cream and whisk until your cheesecake filling holds peaks. Use a spatula to mix again, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl.

Step 5. Pack your filling over the chilled base and level. Chill for 8 hours or overnight.

Step 6. Carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin, smoothing the sides with a palette knife if necessary. Decorate with fresh sliced strawberries and mint leaves and serve.

Recipe notes and troubleshooting

• I used Biscoff speculoos cookies which have a lovely caramel flavour, but you can also use graham crackers, digestive biscuit or Oreos. 
• Freeze-dried strawberry powder* gives intense colour and flavour to this cheesecake. There are also other freeze-dried fruit powders available if you want to experiment.
• If you can’t get hold of the freeze-dried strawberry powder you can simply leave it out of the recipe. The cheesecake will have a subtler strawberry flavour and will only be a pale pink.
• Use full fat cream cheese and double cream to help set the cheesecake. If you use low-fat cream cheese the cheesecake might not set – in this case you might want to add some gelatine to help it set. Double cream in the UK has a fat content of 48% which is 12% more than heavy cream in the US. 
• I used a 18cm (7in) loose bottomed cake tin*, sprayed it with cake release and lined the bottom and sides with baking paper. Don’t use butter to grease the tin as it hardens in the fridge and will make the cheesecake removal from tin very difficult. You can use a springform cake tin if you prefer.

MAKING THIS RECIPE OR OTHERS?

Post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #supergoldenbakes. I can’t wait to see your take on it!

We’ve got a dozen brand-new recipes from the Celebrating Food bloggers:

• Lemon Meringue Pie Cheesecake from Ashlee Marie
• Cheesecake Brownies from Creations by Kara
• Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes from Pretty Providence
• Cherry Cheesecake Popsicles from Crumb Blog
• Instant Pot Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake from Savory Experiments
• Coconut Key Lime Cheesecake Bars from Real Mom Kitchen
• No Bake Berry Cheesecake Parfait from An Italian in my Kitchen
• Dairy Free Cheesecake from Namely Marly
• Cappuccino Cheesecake from Simply Stacie
• Chocolate Almond Cheesecake in Jars from Premeditated Leftovers
• No-Bake Vanilla Cheesecake Mousse from The Baker Upstairs
• Instant Pot Cheesecake from My Mommy Style

More cheesecake recipes from the blog archives

• Instant Pot peanut butter caramel cheesecake
• Mirror glaze white chocolate cheesecake
• Nutella and salted caramel cheesecake
• No-Bake Blueberry Lime Cheesecake

No-bake strawberry cheesecake

Lucy Parissi

Ditch the artificial flavourings and gelatine and make this easy no-bake strawberry cheesecake. Bursting with natural colour and flavour, this is the best strawberry cheesecake you’ll ever make at home. Make sure you use full fat cream cheese and double cream in this recipe! Heavy cream may not have a high enough fat conent for the cheesecake to set for those in the US.

4 from 5 votes

Print Rate

Course: Dessert

Keyword: No bake strawberry cheesecake

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Chilling time: 8 hours 20 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 10 slices

Ingredients

For the cookie crust

• 200 g | 7oz Biscoff cookies
• 100 g | 3 1/2oz | scant 1 stick unsalted butter

For the filling

• 560 g | 20oz full fat cream cheese or mascarpone cheese
• 150 g | 5.3 oz | 1 1/4 cup icing sugar
• 200 g | 7oz | 1 cup strawberries
• 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
• 3 tbsp freeze-dried strawberry powder
• 250 ml | 1 cup heavy cream OVER 40% FAT CONTENT
• Handful fresh strawberries to decorate

Instructions

• Liquidise the strawberries in a blender and set aside.
• Spray a 18cm (7in) loose bottomed cake tin with cake release. Line the bottom and sides with baking paper. You can also use an 18cm (7in) springform cake tin if you prefer.
• Crush the cookies in a food processor or place in a bag and crush with a rolling pin. Melt the butter.
• Gradually add the melted butter and mix together until the cookie crust holds together. You might not need to add all the butter.
• Pack the cookie crust into the prepared tin and chill for 20 minutes or until needed.
• Use a hand mixer to briefly beat cream cheese and icing sugar to combine. Do not overmix.
• Add strawberry purée, freeze-dried strawberry powder and vanilla paste and mix again.
• Add double (heavy) cream and whisk until your cheesecake filling holds peaks. Use a spatula to mix again, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl.
• Pack your filling over the chilled base and level. Chill for 8 hours or overnight.
• Carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin. If you have use a loose-bottomed cake tin, place over a small jar or tin and push down so that the cheesecake is released. Keep the base on.
• Remove the paper lining the sides and smooth with a palette knife if needed.
• Decorate with a handful of sliced strawberries and sprinkling of freeze-dried strawberry powder. You can also add some pretty edible flowers if you like.

Video

Notes

UPDATE: It has come to my attention that double (heavy) cream has a lower fat content in the US (36%) than in the UK (48%) where I am based. This is likely going to affect the setting of the cheesecake! Please bear with me I will retest the recipe with lower fat cream and gelatine to see if we can work around this issue.

• The cheesecake will keep for a couple of days in the fridge but it is best eaten once sliced.
• I used Biscoff speculoos cookies which have a lovely caramel flavour, but you can also use graham crackers, digestive biscuit or Oreos. 
• If you can’t get hold of the freeze-dried strawberry powder you can simply leave it out of the recipe. The cheesecake will have a subtler strawberry flavour and will only be a pale pink.
• I used a 18cm (7in) loose bottomed cake tin, sprayed it with cake release and lined the bottom and sides with baking paper. Don’t use butter to grease the tin as it hardens in the fridge and will make the cheesecake removal from tin very difficult. You can use a springform cake tin if you prefer.

Tried this recipe?Mention @supergolden88 or tag #supergoldenbakes!