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Who doesn’t love a good cheesecake?
We’ll, if I’m being honest with you, a lot of the time - I don't. Traditional baked cheesecakes just don’t seem to cut it for me. Sorry. I am well aware many of your will be hurling abuse at your screen right now in anger over my controversial opinion here, but please put the pitch forks down just a second whilst I try to regain your trust and prove to you that I’m not a complete monster.
So okay, I don’t much care for baked cheesecakes; something about their strange cakey texture and richness is just too sickly for me and I can never manage to finish a whole slice without feeling ill (keep your twitching hands off those pitch forks!). HOWEVER, present me with a large slice of chilled, creamy, light and silky no-bake cheesecake, and I'll inhale the plate and ask for seconds! So, I'm not a complete cheese cake adversary; stow away your pitchforks please.
(Click to Jump straight to recipe)
For me, a no-bake cheesecake is like an exquisite combination of cream cheese frosting (and who doesn't love cream cheese frosting?), a light mousse, and a whipped pudding. Yes. I MUCH prefer no-bake cheesecakes, and you will to after trying out this recipe.
This cheesecake combines 3 of my favourite flavours, Lychee, Raspberry and Pistachio, which work wonderfully well together and whose refreshing flavours complement this light textured dessert perfectly.
Pistachios are blitzed with the biscuit base to give a subtle, buttery and nutty hint to the cheesecake which is just out of this world - I struggle not to eat it straight from the bowl before pressing it into my tin!
Canned or fresh lychees are pureed and mixed with the cheesecake filling along with some chopped fresh raspberries and lychee.
This recipe calls for gelatine to help set the mixture as the pureed lychees bake the mixture quite thin. This might be confusing, given that you know I am a pescatarian, but I do in fact eat gelatine for a couple of reasons, but I wont bore you with my ethics - feel free to ask me! I am trying to develop this recipe using vege-gel, although my attempts so far have resulted in a cheesecake that never quite sets properly, as the amounts needed to substitute real gelatine are very different. Stay tuned for a veggie update!
Give this recipe a go and I can guarantee there won't be a buttery, biscuity, pistachio crumb left on your plate!
Raspberry, Lychee & Pistachio No-Bake Cheesecake
Prep time: 20 mins
Chilling time: At least 4 hours
Difficulty: Medium
Makes: 20cm diametre cheesecake
Ingredients List:
Base
140g Digestive biscuits or Graham Crackers
80g Unsalted, shelled pistachios
50g Unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbsp Golden syrup or similar
Filling
1 Can of lychees + extra for decorating
1Tbsp lemon juice
300g Cream cheese
200g Double cream
60g Icing sugar
10g Gelatine powder + 50g cold water
120g Fresh raspberries halved or quartered
Method:
In a food processor, blitz together your digestives and pistachios to a fine crumb and, in a small bowl, mix together with melted butter and 1tbsp of golden syrup until the crumbs begin to stick together. You don't want the mixture to be too wet.
Grease a 20cm spring form pan and, using a rubber spatula, the back of a spoon, or your clean hands, press the crust mixture tightly and evenly into the base of the pan. Chill in the fridge whilst you prepare the filling.
Drain your lychees and weigh out 120g into a food processor. Blitz into a puree. Mix in 1 Tbsp of lemon juice. The puree will be very thin.
Chop the remaining lychees into small chunks to add to your filling. I like to 'peel' the insides of mine by cutting out the small brown skins, although this can be quite time-consuming. The skins are completely edible so not necessary.
In a small bowl or cup, sprinkle 10g of powdered gelatine into 50g of cold water and leave to bloom
In a large bowl, use a hand held mixer to whisk together the cream cheese and icing sugar until light and creamy. Mix in the lychee puree.
In a smaller bowl, whisk 150g of the double cream until you have soft peaks.
Heat the remaining 50g of the cream in a small pan, or microwave in a bowl for 45 seconds in 15 second bursts, until just starting to simmer. Remove from the heat and stir in the bloomed gelatine until completely dissolved into the cream
Whisk the warmed cream and gelatine into the cream cheese mixture.
Fold 1/4 of the cream cheese mixture into the whipped cream to loosen, then gently fold all of the whipped cream back into the cream cheese mixture, until combined.
Fold in your chopped fruit gently
Pour the mixture into the pan, over the crust. Lightly shake and tap the pan on top of the counter to remove any large air bubbles.
Cover and chill overnight or for a minimum of 4 hours to set properly before serving or decorating
Tip: If you have a blow torch, lightly blow over the sides of the pan before removing the cake from the tin to help soften the edges and allow the cake to be removed smoothly. Otherwise, if you find your mixture has stuck to the pan, run a pallet knife or cake tester around the sides. Any rough edges can be smoothed with a wet pallet knife after the cheesecake has been removed
Decorate with fresh raspberries, lychees, blueberries or strawberries