No-bake vanilla cheesecake with cherries

A light and creamy vanilla cheesecake topped with juicy cherries, on a chocolate biscuit base and finished with a layer of cherry jelly. A lovely way to make the most of cherry season! Best of all, it’s completely no-bake, making it just the thing for hot summer days when the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven ;).

Ingredients for the biscuit base:

• 200 g butter biscuits
• 30 g cocoa powder
• 60 g butter, melted

Place the biscuits, cocoa powder and melted butter in a food processor and blitz until the biscuits are finely crushed and the mixture resembles wet sand. If you don’t have a food processor, place the biscuits in a sturdy bag (a resealable one works well) and crush them thoroughly with a rolling pin or meat mallet. Then mix with the cocoa powder and melted butter.

Line the base of a 23 cm springform tin with baking paper, leaving the sides ungreased. Tip the biscuit mixture into the tin and press it firmly over the base and halfway up the sides, smoothing it with the back of a spoon.

Ingredients for the cheesecake filling:

• 1 cup Greek yoghurt, at room temperature
• 250 g full-fat or semi-fat curd cheese, passed through a meat grinder three times until smooth, at room temperature
• ½ cup icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod
• 1 cup whipping cream, chilled
• 3½ tsp (10 g) powdered gelatine + 50 ml cold water
• 300 g cherries (reserve a few for the top)

Stone the cherries and cut them in half.

Place the Greek yoghurt, curd cheese, icing sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat until smooth and creamy, with no lumps.

Sprinkle the powdered gelatine over 50 ml cold water, stir and leave to bloom for 10 minutes. Gently heat, stirring, until completely dissolved (you can also do this in the microwave). Do not allow it to boil, as this will affect its setting properties. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly. Add a tablespoon of the cheesecake mixture to the still-warm gelatine and stir thoroughly. Add another 2 tablespoons of the mixture and stir again, making sure there are no lumps. Pour the prepared gelatine mixture into the remaining cheesecake filling and immediately beat until combined. In a separate bowl, whip the chilled cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold it into the cheesecake mixture in two additions. Add the cherries (reserving some for decoration) and fold in gently.

Spoon the cheesecake filling over the biscuit base and smooth the surface with a spatula. Refrigerate until set before adding the jelly layer.

You will also need:

• ½ sachet cherry jelly crystals

Dissolve half the sachet of cherry jelly crystals in 200 ml boiling water. Leave to cool to room temperature.

Gently pour the cooled jelly over the set cheesecake and arrange the reserved cherries on top. Refrigerate until the jelly has completely set.

Store the vanilla cheesecake with cherries in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!