No bake Millionaires Cheesecake – Perfect for the weekend!
I decided I needed a decadent dessert as the snow has started falling again in Scotland. Something to curl up in front of the fire with and enjoy all the day’s calories in one happy go, not necessarily the healthiest way to go but a happy one none the less. And this No Bake Luxury Millionaires Cheesecake answers all those questions perfectly.
In Scotland, I have noticed millionaires shortcake is really popular, I can see why it’s delicious, all that caramel and chocolate is always going to make this a snack worth having. But I wanted something more dessert-like and I love cheesecake. So I decided to try and combine the two, millionaire’s shortbread and cheesecake. So I came up with the idea of millionaire’s cheesecake.
Now this is a no-bake cheesecake, I have nothing against baked cheesecake, I like it a lot but I wanted something a little richer and this old no-bake cheesecake mix was going to be perfect for this. It really is just so decedent as its full of lightly whipped double (heavy) cream, full-fat cream cheese with dark chocolate sprinkles and a dark chocolate heart to top it off. Which is not strictly necessary but I thought it was a nice touch after all I was in full self-indulgence mode!
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You could use milk or even white chocolate but as this dessert is so sweet I decided a high cocoa dark chocolate was called for. I used an 85% cocoa dark chocolate, which is a bit bitter for some so use what you are happy with.
Also, this dessert was an excuse to use this edible 24-carat gold leaf transfer I bought ages ago. It wasn’t super cheap but when I saw it I just couldn’t resist, real gold that was edible! Again this step is not essential, it’s just a bit of fun to bling your food up.
Though I have to admit it wasn’t the easiest of things to use but still fun none the less. It’s not the quickest dessert to make but it really is worth the wait, right on to the recipe before I bore you to death 🙂
Recipe:
Millionaires Cheesecake
Ingredients
Ingredients For Shortbread
- 50 grams Icing sugar (Confectioners sugar, (1/2 cup))
- 100 grams Plain flour (All Purpose, (7/8 cup))
- 50 grams cornflour ((6 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon))
- 100 grams Unsalted butter - very soft ((3/4 stick and 1 tablespoon))
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste - vanilla extract will work here as well
For The Caramel
- 75 grams soft dark brown sugar ((3/8 cup))
- 75 grams Unsalted butter ((1/3 cup))
- 198 grams canned condensed - half a normal sized can milk ((2/3 cup))
- 1 teaspoon sea salt - optional
For Cheesecake filling
- 115 grams full fat soft cream cheese - at room temperature ((1/2 cup))
- 10 grams caster sugar ((2 and 1/2 teaspoons))
- 300 millilitres double / heavy cream - lightly whipped ((1 and 1/4 cups))
For The Garnish
- 50 grams 85% dark chocolate ((1/3 cup))
- 1 sheet edible gold leaf - optional
Instructions
Directions for the shortbread
- Preheat your oven to 320 F / 160 C / Gas mark 3
- In a medium sized mixing bowl sieve the icing sugar, plain flour, cornflour together.
- Add the butter and vanilla bean paste. Vanilla extract makes a good substitution. And mix it all together until a dough ball has formed. I just used my hands to mix it all together but a food mixer will do the job also.
- Once fully mixed roll out the mixture on a very lightly dusted surface with icing sugar until its about 1 inch thick. I used a 58 millimetre (2 1/4 inch) round cutter. The reason for being so picky with the size cutter is because I was going to be using food rings to stack up the dessert but you could do it free style if you wish and have bigger shortbread biscuits.
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until they are a light golden colour. You don’t want to over bake these as they will become harder and therefore harder to eat.
- Once baked place them on a cooling rack to fully cool down. Now I had to do a quick reshaping when they came out of the oven as they had spread a little while cooking. Whilst still warm I just used my cutter on them to keep the size I needed.
Directions for the caramel
- Whilst the shortbreads are cooling, its time to crack on with the caramel this is the quickest easiest caramel in the world to make and it stays relatively soft which is what you need.
- Place the sugar and butter in a medium sized pan and mix over a medium heat until all is nicely melted.
- Then add the condensed milk and bring to a rapid boil while continually stirring for 1-2 minutes until it has thickened.
- Take off the heat and add the teaspoon of salt, this step is optional I just like the sweet and salty combination.
- Leave this to cool down for about 5 minutes; you don’t want this fully cooled down, as you still need it to be easy to work with.
- Place your shortbreads into food rings and put a good dollop of caramel on top. Place into the fridge to set.
Directions for the cheesecake filling
- Place the cream cheese and caster sugar in a medium sized bowl and mix them together.
- Lightly whip the double (heavy) cream and gently fold it into the cream cheese mix.
- Remove the food rings from the fridge and make sure the shortbreads and caramel can be removed from the rings, this will make life so much easier once the cheesecake filling is on top.
- Now fill the rings to the top with the cheesecake mixture and place back into the fridge for about an hour or longer if you have the time.
Directions for the chocolate hearts
- Draw 6 hearts onto a piece of parchment paper and turn it over, so you can use it like tracing paper but get no ink on your food.
- Take your dark chocolate and place it in a zip lock bag and microwave it for 30 seconds at a time until the chocolate is fully melted.
- Snip the very end of the bag off; honestly you only need to take the very tip off. And follow the outline of your hearts with the chocolate.
- Leave them to harden, about 5 minutes.
- Take your cheesecakes out of the fridge and carefully lift the food rings and plate them up. Gently peel the heats off the baking parchment and place on top. Add a few extra sprinkles of chocolate as well.
- Now if you are using gold leaf follow the instructions carefully, cut the shape you want out and very gently place it down on top and press softly and leave if for at least a minute.
- The backing paper will darken and this indicates its ready to be peeled off. Lift the backing with a pair of tweezers and there you go you have real gold leaf on your dessert.
- Now serve and enjoy!
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Is the 1″ thickness for the shortbread correct? It doesn’t look like it’s that thick. Also, if I don’t have food rings, could I make the whole recipie in an 8X8 pan? Or a 9 X 9″ pan?
Thanks!
Hi Rae, yep 1 inch is correct to give it a proper crunch. There is no reason you can’t make it in a bigger pan. It will still taste just as good 🙂
Eeeeeek! These are the absolute sweetest! And such a good idea too! Two of my favorite things: millionaire’s short bread & cheesecake! You’re a legend! These have been pinned to my “Food Glorious Food” Pinterest board!
Thank you I’m glad you liked them, they do taste amazing. A bit fiddly to make but so worth the effort so rich and indulgent! Just what a dessert should be 🙂
This looks so good. Really neat and pretty – bet it tastes fabulous too!
Hi thank you for your lovely comments. And yes it tasted lovely very rich but worth it 😉