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No-Bake Kosher Cheesecake

As Shavuot approaches, I’m adding a new easy cheesecake here, the no-bake cheesecake. It features a cookie crust topped with a very fresh cream cheese layer, egg-free, and is a variation of the traditional Ashkenazi baked cheesecake. You’ll find this cake everywhere in Israel—here’s the recipe to make it at home.

Chloé Flam

No-Bake Kosher Cheesecake

Ingredients

Check off ingredients as you go

    Serves 10 (one 22-25cm/9-10 inch diameter pan)

      For the crust

      • 250g (2½ cups) cookies (petit beurre, Oreos, or speculoos) crushed more or less coarsely to taste
      • 100g (7 tablespoons) melted butter

      For the cream cheese filling

      • 500ml (2 cups) heavy cream (38% fat), very cold
      • 50-100g (¼-½ cup) cane sugar
      • 1 packet vanilla sugar
      • 1 packet vanilla pudding mix or 8g powdered gelatin dissolved in half a glass of water
      • 500g (2 cups) fromage blanc or quark (5% or 9% fat)
      • lemon zest (if you like)

      For decoration (optional)

      Before starting, place your whisk in the refrigerator or freezer so your whipped cream will whip properly.

      Preparing the crust

      1. Mix the crumbled speculoos or petit beurre cookies with the melted butter and press into the pan. Pack down evenly using the bottom of a glass. Refrigerate.

      Speculoos and melted butter cheesecake base

      Preparing the cream cheese filling

      1. Whip the heavy cream until it forms stiff peaks, then as it thickens, add the sugar, zest, and pudding mix (or the gelatin that you’ve dissolved in a little water and warmed—definitely not boiling—just enough to melt it). Beat until you get a thick, homogeneous mixture, then fold in the fromage blanc. In my photo, it’s not completely smooth—I used half fromage blanc and half vanilla mascarpone cream (Gad brand), and it was a bit cold so harder to work with.

      Cheesecake cream filling

      1. Spread the mixture over the cookie base, smooth with a spatula or the back of a spoon, and optionally crumble some speculoos on top (if you choose another topping, add it when serving). Refrigerate for at least six hours before serving, or even better, make it the day before.

      On serving day, serve as is or decorated as you like, for example with caramel topping.

      Unmolded cheesecake cream

      Tips and variations

      • Use a ring mold, a springform pan lined with parchment paper, or muffin tins with paper liners—that way there’s no disaster when unmolding… I recommend putting it in the freezer for about half an hour before serving; it will be even fresher and easier to unmold by first running a knife blade all around before releasing.
      • For a richer cake, add a 200g (7 oz) container of sour cream (shamenet hamoutsa) or mascarpone.
      • For the gelatin, I indicated 8g, but it all depends on how firm you like it. This one holds its shape, as in the photo, with a pleasant, almost mousse-like creamy texture. Some people use up to 12g of gelatin for a very firm consistency—it’s up to you.
      • This cake freezes well! In that case, drain your fromage blanc before using so it releases its water.
      • Use a smaller pan for a taller cake, but I find 25cm (10 inches) is sufficient since this type of cake is always rich.

      And for a traditional Ashkenazi baked cheesecake recipe, click here.

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