Don’t let this No Bake Cheesecake fool you – while it may be a simple vanilla cheesecake recipe, it certainly delivers on all that you’d expect from a creamy, silky smooth cheesecake with a melt-in-your-mouth, buttery graham cracker crust. Top with fresh raspberries and a dollop of lemon curd or add a little cool whip and caramel sauce and you have the perfect dessert for any occasion!
You may be accustomed to fussing with a springform pan, a water bath, cracked cheesecakes, and long bake and cool times with a traditional cheesecake recipe. What I love about this no-bake dessert is that you can make an absolutely delicious cheesecake with an ultra creamy filling and it takes little preparation and will please even the pickiest cheesecake lover.
This No-Bake Cheesecake recipe will also provide you with a fantastic foundation to work with if you feel like going a few extra steps and jazzing it up with some fresh berries as garnish, or making a more decadent chocolate cheesecake by using chocolate graham crackers and adding melted chocolate to the cream cheese filling! The options are endless, so give it a try today!
Table of contents
- How Long Have Cheesecakes Been Around For?
- More Easy Recipes To Try
- Ingredients:
- How to Make this Perfect Cheesecake Recipe:
- How To Store No Bake Cheesecake
- How Long Can I Leave This No Bake Cheesecake on the Counter?
- What Variations Can I Make To This Cheesecake Recipe?
- Tips For Making a Great No Bake Cheesecake
How Long Have Cheesecakes Been Around For?
Longer than you may think! In fact, the earliest recorded cheesecakes date back thousands of years ago when a Greek writer around 230 AD described cheesecakes being fed to gladiators, consisting of a mix of wheat flour, honey and pounded cheese.
While the first versions of the cheesecake are substantially different from what we enjoy today, we can credit the addition of sugar to the cook serving England’s King Henry VIII. The use of cream cheese in place of cottage cheese can be attributed to a New York farmer who accidentally invented cream cheese in 1872, although the use of cream cheese in cheesecakes only took off in the early 1900s.
Today, the majority of cheesecakes are made with a cream cheese mixture and are considered to be a dessert with varying degrees of sweetness depending on the additional ingredients and toppings used.
More Easy Recipes To Try
Ingredients:
Filling Ingredients
- 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
- 1 ¾ cups powdered sugar, divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 3 cups heavy cream, cold
Homemade Graham Cracker Crust Ingredients
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup salted butter, melted
How to Make this Perfect Cheesecake Recipe:
- Combine graham cracker crumbs and granulated sugar in a mixing bowl (or right in a 9×13 baking dish to reduce dishes).
- Melt butter in a heat-proof bowl in the microwave. Pour melted butter into the graham cracker mixture and stir until evenly combined.
- Press graham cracker mixture evenly across the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Place baking dish in the freezer to firm up the crust while making the cheesecake mixture.
- In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese, 1 ¼ cups of powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and sour cream until thoroughly combined, mixing down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Pour 3 cups of heavy whipping cream into a chilled mixing bowl. Beat on medium high speed (either with a standing mixer whisk attachment or with a handheld mixer). When the whipping cream thickens to soft peaks, add in the remaining ½ cup powdered sugar (2-3 minutes).
- Continue beating until whipped cream forms stiff peaks. Set aside about 2 cups of the whipped cream for decorating the top of the cheesecake.
- Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the remaining whipped cream (about 4 cups) into the cream cheese mixture.
- Spread the cheesecake filling evenly over the chilled graham cracker crust. Use an offset spatula to smooth the top of the cheesecake.
- Place cheesecake in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or in the freezer for at least 2 hours to set.
- Transfer reserved whipped cream to a piping bag fit with Tip #1M.
- Pipe 12 dollops of whipped cream onto the cheesecake, evenly spaced in the center of each of 12 square slices of cheesecake.
How To Store No Bake Cheesecake
This No Bake Cheesecake can be stored, covered, for 2-3 days in the refrigerator or for 1 month in the freezer.
A helpful tip when storing any cake in the freezer is to wrap individual slices in plastic wrap so that you don’t need to defrost more than what you need at any given time. If you opt for this method, then I suggest flash freezing the slices first on a sheet pan for about 2 hours and then wrapping them – this will make it much easier to store without jeopardizing the cake slices in any way.
How Long Can I Leave This No Bake Cheesecake on the Counter?
This cheesecake should always be stored in the refrigerator when you are not serving it. With that said, keep in mind that the longest it should sit out at room temperature is 6 hours. After that, you run the risk of your cream-based ingredients spoiling or separating.
What Variations Can I Make To This Cheesecake Recipe?
This recipe makes a no-bake vanilla cheesecake, so if you’d like to adapt this recipe then consider the following ideas:
- Use chocolate graham crackers for a chocolate crust or use crushed Oreos instead of graham crackers. Top with chocolate sauce!
- Slice some fresh fruit like strawberries to garnish the top of your cheesecake. Alternatively, use some canned cherry pie filling as a glaze to this vanilla cheesecake.
- Turn this delicious dessert into a decadent chocolate cheesecake by adding about 8 ounces of melted chocolate to the filling mixture.
- Make a lemon blueberry cheesecake by adding some lemon juice and zest to the cheesecake filling, placing fresh blueberries (or canned blueberry pie filling) on top of the cheesecake.
- Make mini cheesecakes from this recipe by simply assembling your cheesecake in small containers such as ramekins, shallow glass jars, or even muffin tins!
Tips For Making a Great No Bake Cheesecake
- Make sure that the cream cheese is at room temperature when incorporating it into the other cheesecake filling ingredients. This will help to ensure that it mixes smoothly so that you get a silky smooth cheesecake texture.
- You can save yourself time by making your cheesecake filling and crust in advance and then storing them in the refrigerator or freezer for easy assembly later on. The cheesecake filling should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen cheesecake filling in the refrigerator and then proceed to spread it on the graham cracker crust.
- Be careful not to overmix the heavy whipping cream when combining it with the other ingredients otherwise it could turn into a butter-like consistency.
- This recipe uses a 9×13 inch baking dish. If you want to use a smaller dish for a smaller cheesecake like a 9 inch pie dish then reduce the crust ingredients to 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs, ⅓ cup granulated sugar, and ½ cup salted butter – you can use this recipe for a 9-inch graham cracker crust. Otherwise, stick to the quantities used in this recipe and make one large cheesecake and one small cheesecake.
No Bake Cheesecake
Ingredients
Filling Ingredients
- 3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
- 1 ¾ cups powdered sugar divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 3 cups heavy whipping cream cold
Graham Cracker Crust Ingredients
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup salted butter melted
Instructions
- Combine graham cracker crumbs and granulated sugar in a mixing bowl (or right in a 9×13 baking dish to reduce dishes).
- Melt butter in a heat-proof bowl in the microwave. Pour melted butter into the graham cracker mixture and stir until evenly combined.
- Press graham cracker mixture evenly across the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Place baking dish in the freezer to firm up the crust while making the cheesecake mixture.
- In a medium mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, 1 ¼ cups of powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and sour cream until thoroughly combined.
- Pour 3 cups of heavy whipping cream into a chilled mixing bowl. Beat on medium high speed (either with a standing mixer whisk attachment or with a handheld mixer). When the whipping cream thickens to soft peaks, add in the remaining ½ cup powdered sugar (2-3 minutes).
- Continue beating until whipped cream forms stiff peaks. Set aside about 2 cups of the whipped cream for decorating the top of the cheesecake.
- Use a spatula to gently fold the remaining whipped cream (about 4 cups) into the cream cheese mixture.
- Spread the cheesecake filling evenly over the chilled graham cracker crust. Use an offset spatula to smooth the top of the cheesecake.
- Place cheesecake in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or in the freezer for at least 2 hours to set.
- Transfer reserved whipped cream to a piping bag fit with Tip #1M.
- Pipe 12 dollops of whipped cream onto the cheesecake, evenly spaced to
- Storage:
- Store leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator for 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
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