No-Bake White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake
This has been a hot, dry summer where I live, but the raspberries were abundant at the local pick-your-own farm. My son and I spent one very warm morning picking raspberries for jam. Besides ending up with a scratched arm (mental note: wear long sleeves!) I had enough left over after making the jam, to fill this recipe with lots of berry goodness.
White Chocolate Raspberry No-Bake Cheesecake
Historically, I have not been a fan of no-bake cheesecake. I think it stems from growing up eating the 1980’s version of “no bake” cheesecake at church functions and bridal or baby showers.
I’m not sure exactly what was in them. It’s not that they were bad or anything, they just lacked that rich, creamy taste that baked cheesecakes are known for. As I recall, they had more of a cool-whip flavour than cream cheese flavour.
In any case, I was somewhat skeptical when I decided to try the recipe from Roxana Yawgel (atreatsaffair.com) that I found on Pinterest. But, the heat was really high that day and I didn’t want to turn the oven on for more than an hour, which is how long it takes to bake a typical cheesecake. So, I took the plunge.
It was so worth it! This is, dare I say, almost better than baked cheesecake. I’m not sure if I’ll ever go back. It was incredibly rich, smooth and creamy. Not to mention the delicious, fresh raspberries inside the cake – something not possible with a baked cake. And there was not need to have the oven heating up the house.
The fresh raspberries were perfect, although I did add more berries than the recipe suggested. I think I’ll try another kind of berry next time – maybe strawberries or blackberries!
- 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
- 6 TBSP butter, melted
- 12 oz (squares) white baking chocolate
- 1 cup whipping cream (chilled & beaten)
- 3 packages (250g each) cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup plain greek yogurt, room temperature
- 3-4 pints (170 g each) fresh raspberries - washed and air-dried (or other type of berries)
- Heat oven to 350F. Line 13x9" pan with tin foil.
- Melt butter and combine with graham crumbs. Press crumb mixture firmly onto bottom of pan and bake for 6-8 minutes, or until golden. Cool completely.
- Microwave chopped chocolate 30 seconds at a time until mostly melted. Stir to melt remaining chunks until chocolate is smooth.
- Whip cream in chilled bowl with chilled beater (make sure there's no grease or oil in the bowl first!) until firm peaks form. Store in fridge until needed.
- Beat cream cheese and yogurt until smooth with no lumps.
- Stir in melted chocolate, taking care to combine thoroughly. (You can still use the mixer, if you want.)
- By hand, using a spatula, fold in the whipped cream. (This keeps it light and fluffy.)
- Spoon half of the cheesecake batter over the crust and spread evenly.
- Place half of the raspberries on the batter and press in gently.
- Spoon remaining batter on top and smooth out.
- Refrigerate covered cheesecake for 2 hours or more. Just before serving, spread remaining raspberries on top.
- This should be consumed in a couple of days because of the fresh fruit inside.
- Adding the raspberries on top just before serving prevents them from "bleeding" into the batter as they sit in the fridge.