Creamy no-bake cheesecake is the perfect easy, cooling dessert for summer, no cooking or oven required!
This post is sponsored by Imperial Sugar! I’ve used Imperial Sugar for years and I am thrilled to be partnering with them. Thank you for supporting the partners that keep the bake offs coming!
Too hot to bake this summer? No-bake cheesecake is the perfect creamy treat that can be made without turning on your oven at all! I love the simplicity of no-bake cheesecake. Essentially, all you need is some cream cheese, sour cream, a stabilizer, butter and graham cracker crumbs and you’re well on your way!
But given how many recipe permutations there are, I had to test 9 popular no-bake cheesecake recipes side by side in one day to find the best. After more than 30 tasters gave their feedback, I’m happy to say we found some solid crowd favorites. (Though if you want a traditional cheesecake, I compared 9 New York cheesecake recipes here.) Let’s dive in!
PARTNER NOTE: I’m delighted to be partnering with Imperial Sugar on this bake off as I’ve consistently used their consistent, high-quality pure cane sugar products throughout my bake offs. Imperial Sugar is non-GMO verified, allergen free and gluten-free!
Here are the ratings as voted by raters (who rated each cheesecake on a scale of 1-10 for flavor, texture and overall). As always, I always recommend reading through the entire blog post to understand the profile of each recipe and decide which sounds best to you. My favorites in each bake off don’t always match the top-rated recipes (see bottom of the post for my picks).
There are always taster preferences that affect the rankings–such as a preference against honey. In this bake off, it was quite clear that a different sweetener (specifically the honey in Southern Living’s recipe) did not fare well against the other sugar-sweetened cheesecakes.
Lastly, please always take the results with a grain of salt as any issues could be my own baker error rather than the fault of the recipe. I do truly believe all of these recipes are worth trying and would be delicious standalone!
As I chose the recipes for this bake off, I tried to select recipes that used different techniques and ingredients. Below I’ll discuss how I think each factor affect the results!
In a no-bake cheesecake, there are three typical ways that you create structure: folding in stiffly whipped heavy cream, folding in an alternative stabilizer like Cool Whip, or gelatin. I was surprised to find that most recipes use heavy cream–fewer recipes use Cool Whip and I found even fewer popular recipes that use gelatin. After the bake off, it was clear why–the gelatin-based cheesecake had a distinct Jello-like texture that didn’t feel much like cheesecake.
Texturally, the difference between heavy cream and Cool Whip was quite minimal. Both yield a creamy, light texture–Cool Whip did seem slightly more stable and will yield more consistent results since it doesn’t rely on the baker determining the right level of stiff peaks. As someone who likes baking from scratch, heavy cream will be my go-to, but Cool Whip is a great option for a shortcut!
The grand majority of the cheesecakes were made simply with cream cheese, but I added Natasha’s Kitchen into the test for its use of mascarpone. Unfortunately, the distinctly buttery, slightly funky flavor of mascarpone generally stood out in a negative way to tasters in contrast to the other cheesecakes.
While I think this cheesecake would be greatly enjoyed on its own, I think this shows that you don’t need to splurge on two types of cheese for a superior no-bake cheesecake. (Unless you REALLY love the taste of mascarpone.)
Virtually all cheesecakes used either granulated or powdered sugar–only Southern Living omitted sugar in favor of reduced honey. This of course lent a very strong honey flavor to the cheesecake and also gave it quite a soft texture that most didn’t love. Preppy Kitchen adds 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk, which gives a nice rounded complexity to the sweetness and contrasted the sour cream.
When it comes to the question of powdered sugar vs. granulated sugar, there were too many confounding factors to tell whether this made a difference. The cornstarch in powdered sugar should help firm up the filling slightly, but the real determiner of texture lies in the technique. (More on technique in the FAQ.)
I had a feeling Bravetart would take top marks based on its Biscoff crust and taster feedback would reinforce this hypothesis! The caramelized flavor of Biscoff was a crowd pleaser, and I highly recommend using them in lieu of graham crackers.
I would also pay attention to the ratio of graham cracker crumbs to butter. Preppy Kitchen’s ratio felt too dry while Natasha’s Kitchen felt quite wet. I think Southern Living or Sally’s Baking Addiction’s ratio of 2 cups (240g) graham crumbs to 1 stick of butter with 1/4-1/3 cup sugar is about right.
Around half the recipes used sour cream, and they generally ended up in the top half of the recipes. Bravetart (the winning recipe) was the exception, but I think that’s due in part to how popular the crust was. In general, most tasters seemed to enjoy the tang and additional flavor that sour cream adds.
Use Cream Cheese and Heavy Cream To thicken your no-bake cheesecake filling, make sure you’re using a full-fat cream cheese. Low-fat or fat-free cream cheese won’t give you the same results. Adding heavy cream can also help to thicken the filling and give it a smoother texture.
Analysis of the Best No-Bake Cheesecake Recipes
While I teetered between including this recipe for days, I ultimately decided to include it for something a little different. This cheesecake calls for reducing honey until dark golden and caramelized, which serves as the main sweetener in lieu of any sugar. The cream cheese base is stabilized with whipped cream and flavored with just a little sour cream and lemon juice. This was the only crust to use cinnamon graham crackers!
As someone who admittedly doesn’t *love* cheesecake or cream cheese, I really enjoyed this because the honey flavor masks the pure dairy flavor. I think this would be absolutely delicious styled as a baklava cheesecake with pistachios, more honey and maybe a phyllo garnish. The texture was quite soft and creamy, though it held its structure fairly well. Unfortunately, the honey flavor was quite jarring against the other cheesecakes, so this was not a crowd favorite. I think if this was served standalone at a party and people were told that it was a honey cheesecake, it would be received far more positively!
Taster comments:
- Feels like taking a spoonful of honey!!! It’s so overwhelming, even when you like honey. The cream is airy and crust has the right bite. The crust to cream ratio is the best of all
- Love the touch of honey! Wish the texture was a bit firmer
- Unique honey flavor but not quite my jam, doesn’t taste like cheesecake. I like the touch of cinnamon in the crust
- I am not a fan of the texture as it’s too sticky and heavy. The filling tastes so strongly of honey that it’s more similar to a yogurt with honey than any cheesecake I’ve had before. The flavor and texture of the cheesecake is not very memorable as all I can focus on is the honey flavor.
Divas Can Cook: a close cousin to key lime pie with a slightly runny texture
Divas Can Cook was one of two recipes to use sweetened condensed milk. This is an extremely simple recipe–just cream cheese, condensed milk, lemon juice and vanilla in a prepared pie crust! Monique uses the same technique used in many key lime pies. The acid in the lemon juice reacts with the milk proteins in both the cream cheese and condensed milk to thicken the mixture. Interestingly, Monique notes that she cut down on her original measurement of 1/3 cup lemon juice to just 2 tablespoons.
Unfortunately, the filling was extremely soft and gooey–not exactly what I would call sliceable. This could be baker’s error because my cream cheese was EXTREMELY soft (Monique specifies room temp cream cheese). I think making this with cold cream cheese would result in a more sliceable, firmer texture. This was one of my favorites in terms of flavor–if you like key lime pie, this one doesn’t taste very far off! Bland pre-made crust aside, tasters generally seemed to love the flavor. Most thought the texture was too runny, which is a very fixable issue. I’d happily make this again.
Taster comments:
- The filling is very creamy and there’s a nice tartness. It is recognizably a cheesecake flavor. The crust tastes strongly of graham cracker with maybe a bit of cinnamon. It noticeably has less caramel flavor than samples 1-4, which I missed when eating the cheesecake filling in the same bite as the crust.
- I like the lemon zesty coupled with buttery crust. The texture feels like heavy ish cream
- Mousse more than cheesecake. Nice tang
- This is more loose/liquid and flavor is more citrus or tangy I think. It’s good but different and not what i was expecting.
- Felt too lemony and more like a lemon custard tart or a key lime pie
- Favor of the filling is good but it’s too creamy. The crust is thin and somewhat tasteless.
- Melted really fast. The flavor might be there but couldn’t get past the texture being so wet
Amazing No Bake Cheesecake Recipe
FAQ
How do you fix a runny no-bake cheesecake?
How do you keep a no-bake cheesecake firm?
Why is my no-bake cheesecake not firm?
How do you make cheesecake less watery?
What should I do if my cheesecake is runny?
If you notice that your cheesecake is still runny, even after appropriate refrigeration time, you will need to think about what you should add to the cheesecake based on the type of cake you are making. A non-baked cheesecake will require some gelatin to help keep it firm and thick.
Is cheesecake a healthy food?
Vegan cheesecake has healthy ingredients and can be adjusted according to food preferences. A recipe with rice milk and seeds is a great suggestion.
Can you save a runny cheesecake?
You should also consider potential ways that you can salvage a runny cheesecake in the off chance that you cannot save the recipe. By knowing what to do in this kind of situation, you can rest assured knowing that you will have a handle on just about anything that goes wrong with your cheesecake during the baking process.
Can you put cheesecake in the fridge if it is runny?
This means that there isn’t much you can do after it is out of the oven and you will simply have to try again later. However, if your cheesecake is runny because it hasn’t been in the fridge, then the best solution for you would be to make space in a fridge for you to set your cheesecake.