A delicious and easy to make no-bake chocolate cheesecake. A crunchy biscuit base topped with smooth, creamy and indulgent chocolate.
As promised when I shared my Easy Chocolate Brownies recipe last week, I’m back with another classic recipe… Easy No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake. It’s got a crunchy digestive biscuit base topped with smooth, creamy and indulgent chocolate. Even better, it’s easy to make too.
Whilst it’s no bake, you still need to leave plenty of time to make it so it has time to set properly in the fridge. If you need to speed that process up a bit then you could pop it into the freezer instead.
How to crush the biscuits for your cheesecake base
Jon and I had a bit of a disagreement about how crushed the biscuits should be for the base. He prefers them to be quite finely crushed so you get a really firm base once the crumbs are mixed with melted butter. I prefer them to be a little more chunky so that the base is a little more crumbly and has more of a crunch.
If you prefer finely crushed biscuits then I’d recommend using a blender or food processor. I blitzed mine for this cheesecake in my Kitchen Aid using the pulse function to ensure that they weren’t too finely ground. You would get a similar result using a spice grinder, although as they are small in size you’ll probably need to blitz the biscuits in batches.
If you prefer your biscuits a little less finely ground (like me) or don’t have a blender then you can also use a pestle and mortar, or pop your biscuits into a bag and bash them with a rolling pin.
Easy No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake
INGREDIENTS
- 100 g digestive biscuits - 8 biscuits
- 40 g butter
- 250 g cream cheese
- 120 g caster sugar
- 175 g milk chocolate - choose something from the baking aisle rather than the sweet aisle in the supermarket as this is easier to melt
- 20 g cocoa powder
- 150 ml double cream
INSTRUCTIONS
- Line the base of an 18cm round loose bottomed tin with greaseproof paper or a reusable baking liner (I use these).
- Crush the digestive biscuits (100g, there's a list of different ways this can be done above the recipe). Melt your butter (40g) and mix it with the crushed biscuits. Mix together the crushed biscuits and melted butter. Put the biscuit mix into the prepared tin and use the back of a spoon to push it flat. Put the tin into the fridge to chill while you make the topping.
- Melt the milk chocolate (175g). I melt mine in a saucepan over a very low heat, but you can also use a bain marie or the microwave in 20 second bursts if you prefer. Set aside to cool.
- Beat together the cream cheese (250g) and caster sugar (120g).
- In a different bowl whisk the double cream (150ml) until it forms soft peaks. Add the melted chocolate and beat in. Sift in the cocoa powder (20g) and mix well until combined. Add the cream cheese mixture and fold together until everything is fully combined.
- Remove the tin from the fridge and add the cheesecake mixture. Use a small palette knife or the back of a spoon to smooth the top (you'll need to push it down to avoid air bubbles before smoothing).
- Refrigerate until the cheesecake has set (at least a couple of hours but preferably longer if you can).
- When you're ready to serve carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin. If you find the edges have become a little smudged by the movement run a palette knife around the edge to smooth them again.
- Serve. I've served mine topped with some dark and white chocolate shavings made by running a peeler along the side of a block of chocolate.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free From/Suitable For…
The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary and product recipes can change over time.
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Egg-Free
- Tree Nut-Free
- Peanut-Free
- Sesame-Free
- Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free
- Fish-Free
- Crustacean-Free
- Mollusc-Free
- Celery-Free
- Mustard-Free
- Lupin-Free
Isy says
Lovely! My ten year old made this..sprinkled with smashed crunchie bars..we all thought it was very yummy.
M Hall says
How do you make the base firmer any tips otherwise perfect
Charlotte Oates says
I like a slightly crumbly base. However if you wanted it firmer you could:
* Grind the biscuits more finely
* Add a little more melted butter to bind the biscuits together.
You also might like to increase both the biscuit and butter quantities to make the base a little deeper. That will help with making it firmer.
anna says
OMG it was delicious. I added a bit of sugar and mixed spice to the base and doubled the quantity (base only). Thank u so much
Bethany says
Love this recipe!!!!
Only cheesecake recipe i ever use.
My family loves a thick base, so i normally double up the amount of biscuit and butter, and i also use dark chocolate and skip the cocoa powder.
Highly reccomend, even to beginners.
Bella says
Hi!
Can I replace the milk chocolate with dark chocolate?
I only have dark chocolate in the cupboard and it will be the first time that I will make a cheese cake so I am not so sure how it will turn out if I use the dark chocolate.
🙂
Charlotte Oates says
That’ll be absolutely fine. I use milk chocolate as it’s my favourite. You’ll just find it has a slightly richer chocolate flavour.
Katie Williams says
Hi, I didn’t quite have enough of the milk chocolate so I added a small amount of dark and that didn’t seem to effect it, I’m sure using dark would work x
Penny Marie Allen says
Heya
Is this 434 for the whole cheese cake? Or is this per slice
Thanks in advanced
Penny
Charlotte Oates says
Per slice
Barbara shippen says
Just put my cheesecake in the fridge to chill till tomorrow. Had a little taste, it seemed a little sweet even though i used coco powder. Used milk chocolate so would recomend using plain chocolate for a richer flavour.
Lesley says
Hi Charlotte, This is my first recipe from you and while it’s setting in the fridge, I’m counting down the minutes. I tried a little taster and omg it’s absolutely delicious…I’m not a big lover of chocolate cheesecakes but I saw yours and thought I’d have a go…thank you so much for this recipe and I will be trying lots of your others ones, believe me …xx
Elise says
Hi there is it caster sugar or icing sugar? Never used caster sugar always been icing sugar for cheesecake I have used, just want to double check. Thanks
Charlotte Oates says
It’s caster sugar. I prefer cheesecakes made with caster to icing. It will work with icing sugar if you prefer though.
Bianca says
Hi! No cocoa powder of any sort, do you think it will make a huge difference if I skip it?! Thank you
Charlotte Oates says
It will still be chocolatey, but you may find it’s not quite as firm as the cocoa helps to thicken the cheesecake mixture a little.
Claire says
A lovely easy to follow recipe. Made this today (my very first time making a cheesecake) and it turned out great! I couldn’t get my hands on any coco powder as it has sold out everywhere at the moment so luckily I had some hot choc powder in the cupboard as a replacement. I set my cheesecake in the fridge for around 3 hours. So yummy. Thank you for the recipe!
Alkesh Chavda says
Hi Charlotte,
I left my cheesecake to set overnight but it’s turned out to be soggy particularly in the middle (above the biscuit crust). Any ideas where I went wrong please?
Please note I used granulated sugar instead of caster sugar (but ground it down as much as I could with a pestle and mortar) and used chocolate powder instead of Cocoa but reduced the sugar by 20g. That was definitely a bad move as it still turned out too sweet.
Thanks
Charlotte Oates says
I’m not too sure why it would have been soggy, especially more in some parts of the cheesecake than others. Which brand of cream cheese did you use? I find that some seem to work better than others so it may be that. I always use Philadelphia.
Alkesh Chavda says
HI Charlotte, Yes used I Philadelphia.
Any other ideas? Has this happened to anyone else.
Thanks
Charlotte Oates says
As far as I know, most people have no trouble with this cheesecake setting (I’ve been sent lots of pictures of successful ones). It could be that your cream wasn’t whipped enough when you added the other ingredients. Thats really the only other thing I can think of.
Kirsty Tompkins says
I usually make lemon/lime no bake cheesecakes as ive always thought chocolate ones would be too heavy & rich but I made this one last night & my boyfriend and I have almost demolished it. Absolutely dreamy & so easy to make
Kavita says
Such an easy recipe – all done and chilling in 30 mins…!
Thank you!
steph says
This is the first cheesecake i have ever made and it was easier that i thought it would be and very delicious. My son said that it is better than all the other cheesecakes!! thank you for your recipe. I will be sure to keep checking your page for other recipes too.