No-Bake Espresso Chocolate Cheesecake

No-bake espresso chocolate cheesecake is the ultimate indulgence. A creamy, rich chocolate and espresso no-bake cheesecake with an Oreo biscuit base.

One of my personal favourites, this espresso cheesecake is one which all the family enjoy. This recipe is smooth, creamy and perfect for any occasion. It’s very rich, but that won’t stop you from having another piece later, so that diet is going to have to wait another week. 😉

If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and other readers knowing what you think! And don’t forget to take a picture and tag me @thegourmetlarder or hashtag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram or Facebook. I love seeing what you’ve been baking! 🙂

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RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS

• EASE: easy and no-bake.
• FREE FROM: check my substitutions section for gluten-free, sugar-free and vegan options.
• GREAT FOR: weekend baking, birthdays, picnics or friends and family visiting.
• TASTE & TEXTURE: an Oreo biscuit base topped with a creamy, rich chocolate and espresso cheesecake filling, what’s not to love!
• SERVING: great on its own or with a little whipped cream on the side.
• QUANTITY: 16 slices 20cm (8″) springform pan
• TIME: 45 minutes, plus 4 hours chilling.

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INGREDIENTS

For this recipe all you need are these ingredients:

• Oreo biscuits – used to create a delicious chocolaty biscuit base.

• Butter – adds both structure and flavour to the biscuit base and the ganache topping.

• Dark chocolate – gives this cheesecake and the ganache a lovely deep rich chocolate taste and helps with structure.

Chocolate recommendations: bars – Lindt Excellence dark 70% bar 100g, Montezuma’s darkside 51% bar 90g, Menier dark cooking chocolate 100g, Green and Black’s Organic dark Chocolate 100g, 1kg bags – Callebaut dark chocolate, Callebaut milk chocolate, Callebaut white chocolate.

• Espresso powder – gives the cheesecake its distinct flavour and makes it that little bit more special.

• Double or heavy cream – makes the cheesecake filling lighter and the ganache softer, making the overall cake lighter.

• Full-fat cream cheese – I tend to use Philadelphia for my cheesecakes, it has the perfect consistency for this type of no bake cheesecake. Just remember to remove it from the fridge a couple of hours prior to starting, so that it is easier to incorporate the other ingredients.

• Caster sugar – I like to use caster or fine sugar for this, as the filling is not baked the sugar needs time to dissolve, when the ingredients are mixed together.

• Salt – I highly recommend adding a good pinch of salt to your chocolate cakes. It might seem a bit weird, but it actually has the incredible ability to enhance sweetness, suppress bitterness, and elevate the flavour of chocolate, making your cake taste even better. It’s pretty crazy, the sodium in the salt sends signals to move glucose into your tongue’s sweet taste receptors, making the sweetness really pop. So, don’t be afraid to sprinkle a little salt – it’ll take your cakes to the next level!
  I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt, but any good quality sea salt is fine.

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SUBSTITUTIONS

While I am making recommendations for alternative ingredients, I haven’t necessarily tried them. If you try making any adaptions, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.

GLUTEN-FREE OPTION

• Oreo biscuits: are available gluten-free, look out for them in your supermarket.

SUGAR-FREE AND LOW-CALORIE OPTIONS

• Sugar-free or calorie reduced options: try alternatives such as coconut sugar, honey, natural erythritol, xylitol, stevia or fructooligosaccharide powder instead. There are also sweetener mixes available, that are 70% calorie reduced and low in carb.

• Brown sugar suggestions: Pure Via Baker’s soft brown sugar or Sukrin Gold’s natural brown sugar alternative.

VEGAN OPTIONS

• Butter: I recommend Naturli vegan block or Flora plant-based block butter alternative.

• Chocolate: There are now quite a few brands making vegan chocolate to choose from, such as these bars – Lindt classic milk chocolate, Ombar 55% coco mylk, Ombar 72% dark chocolate, Happi plain oat milk, Happi white chocolate, Montezuma’s Fitzroy 74% dark cocoa.

• Cream: I recommend the Coconut Collaborative double cream or Elmlea plant based double cream.

• Cream cheese: is available from specialist shops, or it can be made at home using soaked cashews. This is not something I have tried to make or know if it would work in this recipe.

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WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?

• Oreo alternatives – Try replacing the biscuits with any other biscuit or cookie. Biscoff, malted milk or digestives would be great.

• Omit coffee – If you don’t like coffee this recipe makes a great chocolate cheesecake even without the coffee. Just omit the espresso coffee from the recipe.

• Boozy version – Add (25ml) 1 shot of Kahula liquor to the cheesecake filling and only use 180ml of double cream, instead of 200ml.

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NUTRITION

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STORAGE AND FREEZING

This cheesecake will keep in the fridge for 4-5 days – if it lasts that long!

Freezing: It is best to place slices into an airtight container and freeze for up to a month. Defrost completely at room temperature before serving.

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TOOLS YOU’LL NEED

Here is some kitchen equipment that I use and recommend for this recipe.

• Milk Saucepan, 1 Litre With Double Sided Pouring Lips

This small pan is a great size for boiling small amounts of liquids and it has pouring lips built into the rim of the saucepan which makes it easy to use.

• Springform Round Cake Pan/Tin, Loose Base 20cm (8 inch)

These springform pans make removing cakes from them after baking a doddle. I personally tend to line them as often as possible to ensure that my cakes don’t break for added security.

Please check out my Shop for a curated collection of some of my favourite baking equipment. The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.

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RECIPE TIPS

Room temperature ingredients – to ensure that the ingredients blend together smoothly and are easier to work with, I highly recommend removing the cream cheese and cream from the fridge a couple of hours prior to using them.

Chilling the cheesecake – Chill the completed cake for at least 4 hours or longer, if possible. This allows all the layers to firm up.

Cutting – Remove the chilled cake from the springform pan. I like to heat a large sharp 24-26cm knife in hot water and then wipe it dry/clean with a paper towel before cutting through the cake. This will give you nice clean-cut edges.

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