No-bake Strawberry Cheesecake

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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! Check this article for a more in-depth look at the differences of dairy products around the world.

I am including a variation which includes powdered gelatine to stabilise the cheesecake filling – check out the recipe notes!

Here’s Why It’s a Must Make!

• It requires no baking (clue is in the name)
• It’s gelatine-free and therefore vegetarian friendly.
• 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 Strawberry Cheesecake

Take a look at this step by step tutorial – plas note you will find the full recipe, including ingredients in the recipe card at the end of this post.

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. Don’t mix for too long!

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 ideally 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

TOP TIP 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 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.
• 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.

Cheesecake Recipes from Archives

• Instant Pot peanut butter caramel cheesecake
• Malteser Cheesecake
• No Bake Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
• White Chocolate Cheesecake
• Mirror glaze white chocolate cheesecake
• No-Bake Blueberry Lime Cheesecake