Chocolate

Triple-Chocolate No-Bake Cheesecake

by:
July  8, 2021
4.5
6 Ratings
Triple-Chocolate No-Bake Cheesecake
Photo by Rocky Luten Prop Stylist: Megan Hedgpeth Food Stylist: Anna Billingskog
  • Prep time 13 hours
  • makes One 9-inch cheesecake
Author Notes

The first time I read a no-bake cheesecake recipe, I sort of wrote it off as something only worth doing in the summer. But this is more than an easy recipe, it’s an incredibly satisfying one—and almost entirely foolproof, to boot. Yes, I make no-bake cheesecakes in the summer when I want a delicious, creamy, crowd-pleasing dessert without having to turn on my oven. But I’m also here to admit that they’ve been added into my regular dessert rotation year-round for other reasons: their make-ahead friendliness and the ratio of impressiveness (high) to effort (low). Make it a solo chocolate cheesecake by using 12 ounces (340 grams) of a single type of chocolate, or leave the chocolate out altogether for a classic vanilla base! —Erin Jeanne McDowell

What You'll Need
Watch This Recipe
Triple-Chocolate No-Bake Cheesecake
Ingredients
  • Chocolate Cookie Crust
  • 2 1/4 cups (300 grams) chocolate cookie crumbs (from about 18 chocolate sandwich cookies)
  • 4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter, melted (or use salted butter and skip the salt)
  • Pinch fine sea salt
  • Nonstick spray
  • Cheesecake Filling(s)
  • 1 3/4 pounds (795 grams) cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1/3 cup (66 grams) granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup (56 grams) confectioners' sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons (7 grams) vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 1/2 cups (345 grams) cold heavy cream
  • 8 ounces (226 grams) bittersweet chocolate, melted
  • 5 ounces (142 grams) milk chocolate, melted
  • 5 ounces (142 grams) white chocolate, melted
Directions
  1. Chocolate Cookie Crust
  2. In a food processor, pulse the cookies until fine crumbs form. Add the butter and salt and pulse to combine.
  3. Lightly grease a 9-inch cake pan with nonstick spray (you can also use a 9-inch flan or cake ring, placed on a flat parchment-lined baking sheet). Press the crust into an even layer into the base and about halfway up the sides of the pan.
  4. Freeze the crust to firm it up for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.
  1. Cheesecake Filling(s)
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese for 2 minutes. Add the granulated and confectioners' sugars and mix for 2 minutes more. Add the vanilla and salt and mix to combine.
  3. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl, scraping out the bowl well. Return the mixer bowl to the stand mixer and fit with the whip attachment. In the stand mixer, whip the cream on medium speed. Continue to whip until the cream reaches medium peaks; you want it to be well aerated, but not too stiff, so it’s easy to fold with the other ingredients.
  4. Add about one-quarter of the whipped cream to the bowl with the cream cheese mixture and use a silicone spatula to combine and lighten the texture of the base. Gently fold the remaining whipped cream into the mixture in 2 more additions.
  5. Divide the mixture among 3 bowls total (including the one it’s already in), placing about one-third of the batter in each bowl.
  6. The chocolate should be freshly melted and cooled only slightly. If it cools too much, it will set up/form clumps when you try to add it to the batter. Gently stir the melted bittersweet chocolate into one of the bowls, then pour on top of the frozen crust and spread into an even layer.
  7. Stir the milk chocolate into the next bowl, then pour on top of the dark chocolate layer. Gently spread into an even layer.
  8. Finally, mix the white chocolate into the final bowl, then pour it on top of the milk chocolate layer. Gently spread into an even layer.
  9. Refrigerate the cheesecake for 12 hours (overnight). Using a small offset spatula or paring knife, gently loosen the edges of the chilled cheesecake, then remove the outer ring. (You can also use a kitchen torch to lightly warm the edges, which will make it unmold really smoothly and is ideal when using a flan/cake ring, too.)
  10. Note: If desired, you can bake the crust at 350°F for 12 to 15 minutes. This does make the crust crisper and hold together a bit better, which can make for a sturdier, easier-to-slice cheesecake.
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Erin Jeanne McDowell
I always have three kinds of hot sauce in my purse. I have a soft spot for making people their favorite dessert, especially if it's wrapped in a pastry crust. My newest cookbook, Savory Baking, came out in Fall of 2022 - is full of recipes to translate a love of baking into recipes for breakfast, dinner, and everything in between!

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2 Reviews

Bee
Bee April 11, 2023
This cheesecake is delicious and looks just like the pic. Its no-bake but has the denseness of a baked cheesecake. Yum!
There is however an error in ingredient list... you need double the butter it calls for in the crust. 1/4 cup of butter didnt even come close to binding 300grams of crumbs.
 
CheeseCakeStuffs
CheeseCakeStuffs August 8, 2021
This was definitely worth it! Layers came out great, looked exactly like the picture. Delicious. Will make again when I entertain.

This is really efficient if you have two people - one person is blending the cream cheese while the other is whipping the cream, one person is putting down one layer while the other is prepping the next chocolate etc.

The white chocolate layer was surprisingly my favorite, so when I make this again I'm going to skip the milk chocolate layer, and instead just make half a batch of the white chocolate layer and half a batch of the bittersweet layer. To keep the tri-color layers I'll just mix the white and bittersweet batches together to make the lighter transition layer. This would make one less chocolate to worry about with a similar effect and get some more white chocolate in there.