Tasty No-Bake Tiramisu Cheesecake

This world famous dessert is from Italy and in Italian tiramisu means cheer me up. A perfect description after a bite of this yummness, right?

Tiramisu is a coffee flavoured dessert that contains mascarpone cheese, eggs, sugar, cocoa powder and how can we forget the ladyfingers. A crucial ingredient in a tiramisu.

This dessert is assembled in layers of mascarpone cheese, ladyfingers soaked in coffee, cocoa powder before starting with the mascarpone cheese layer again. It’s usually finished off with a generous dust of cocoa powder.

Tiramisu flavour has been adapted into cakes, muffins, cupcakes and other desserts.

In our house there are two favourite desserts. Cheesecake and Tiramisu. So combining them together was the perfect solution.

I Actually made this as our Christmas dessert, because to tell the truth I made it last minute. My daughter came in the kitchen on Christmas Eve asking what are you making for Dessert?

Making the best No Bake Cheesecake is easy. Just make sure your cream cheese and mascarpone are at room temperature, so that they whip up perfectly light and fluffy!

Your whipping or whole cream should be cold straight from the fridge.

So you may or may not have noticed that I love my tiramisu. I have a recipe for traditional tiramisu, tiramisu cupcakes, a brookie tiramisu, a pumpkin tiramisu layer cake and now this cheesecake. I even have a tiramisu related recipe in the cookbook! I fully intend to tiramisu all the things. 🙂 It’s just so good!

And I had a lot of fun putting this cheesecake together. Initially, I wanted it to be a fully baked cheesecake but it wasn’t turning out quite like I wanted so I switched gears and went with this almost no bake version. The small amount of baking comes in the form of the crust and while I would normally say that you could forgo the baking I really do think it’s necessary in this case.

Let’s discuss.

INGREDIENTS

CRUST

• 1 1/4 cup (167g) vanilla wafer crumbs
• 1/4 cup (56g) salted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 tbsp (20g) sugar

CHEESECAKE FILLING

• 8 oz (226g) cream cheese, room temperature
• 16 oz (452) mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 cup (52g) sugar
• 1 cup (240ml) heavy whipping cream, cold
• 1/2 cup (58g) powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

KAHLUA MIXTURE*

• 3 tbsp (45ml) warm water
• 2 tbsp (30ml) instant espresso powder
• 1 cup (240ml) Kahlua
• 12 ladyfingers

KAHLUA WHIPPED CREAM

• 1 cup (240ml) heavy whipping cream, cold
• 1/4 cup (60ml) Kahlua mixture (remaining from above), cold
• 10 tbsp (73g) powdered sugar
• Cocoa, optional

INSTRUCTIONS

CRUST

1. Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper in the bottom and grease the sides.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients until well combined and press the mixture into the bottom of the springform pan.

3. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.

FILLING

1. To make the filling, mix the cream cheese, mascarpone cheese and sugar together on medium-low speed until combined. Do not mix on high speed or overmix or the mascarpone cheese can begin to separate. Set aside.

2. In another mixing bowl, add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.

3. Slowly fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone cheese mixture. Set aside.

4. Combine the warm water and espresso powder for the Kahlua mixture in a small bowl. Add the Kahlua and stir to combine.

5. Dip the ladyfingers into the Kahlua mixture one at a time, then add to the springform pan, on top of the crust.

6. Spread the mascarpone cheese mixture evenly over the ladyfingers.

7. Set the cheesecake in the refrigerator to chill and firm, 5-6 hours or overnight. Set remaining Kahlua mixture in the fridge for later.

8. When the cheesecake is firm, make the Kahlua whipped cream. Add the heavy whipping cream, 1/4 cup of the remaining Kahlua mixture and powdered sugar to a large mixer bowl. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.

9. Carefully remove the cheesecake from the springform pan and use an offset spatula to smooth the sides, if needed.

10. Add the Kahlua whipped cream to the top of the cheesecake. You can simply spread it on top or pipe it in a similar pattern as I did. I used the Ateco 844 tip.

11. Sprinkle a little cocoa over the top of the cheesecake, if desired.

12. Refrigerate the cheesecake until ready to serve.

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