If you live basically anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, you are well aware of the unprecedented heat we’ve all been enduring at various points in summer 2022. If, like me, you are also unfortunate enough to be living in a domicile without air conditioning, you are also lamenting the inability to turn on the oven until things cool down substantially. But a whole season is too long to go without making dessert – so I’ve got a solution for you in the form of a truly no-bake dessert for when your homemade dessert cravings and an unrelenting heat wave coincide.
I love all things matcha. When we visited Japan a few summers ago, I enjoyed a matcha soft serve ice cream cone literally every day in between sight seeing and hiking. I wanted to recreate the sweet, creamy flavors of my daily treat in the form of a no-bake cheesecake – and I couldn’t resist adding sweet summer strawberries that were at their absolute peak a few weeks ago here in Seattle.
I actually am not the biggest fan of traditional baked cheesecakes because they can be so dense and heavy. Even in the winter when I am craving rich food, I find it hard to get through a whole piece. I much prefer the lightness of this no-bake cheesecake, which combines a smaller amount of cream cheese with airy whipped cream and Greek yogurt. The strawberry gelee on top, adapted from a winning creation on the Great British Bake-off, is a bit unusual in that it includes (tempered) eggs in addition to gelatin, which help to set the layer. The bright, grassy flavor of the matcha cheesecake plays beautifully off the rich, buttery almond crust and the tart strawberries. Its a perfect conclusion to a summer dinner or as a refreshing treat with your afternoon iced cofee!
Make sure to start this the day before you’d like to serve the cheesecake, because it benefits from setting overnight in the fridge.
No-Bake Matcha Cheesecake with Strawberry Gellee
Ingredients
- 90g Vanilla wafers (about 25 wafers)
- 50g butter melted and cooled slightly
- 2 tbsp (15g) almond meal or almond flour
- few drops almond extract
- 180g strawberries, washed and patted dry, then cut in half lengthwise
- 180g 3 oz cream cheese spread (6 tbsp)
- 550g Greek yogurt (3 ⅓ cup)
- 2-3 tsp powdered matcha, sifted
- 160g powdered sugar (1 ⅓ cup)
- ⅓ cup + 2 tbsp cold water
- 4 tsp + 1.5 tsp powdered gelatine
- ½ cup whipping cream (120 g)
- Juice of half small lemon
- 35g butter
- 85g sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
Directions
- (optional, but helpful for a clean edge on your cheesecake) Cut a strip of acetate that about 2-inches longer than the diameter of a 9-inch springform pan. Line the pan with the acetate.
- Make the crust. Crush the vanilla wafers in a food processor, blender, or plastic bag with a rolling pin. Add almond meal, melted butter, and almond extract and pulse to combine or mix with a spoon. Press into prepared 9-inch springform pan. Arrange cut strawberries, cut side facing out, around the edge of the pan, reserving the rest for the gelee. Place in refrigerator while you make the cheesecake.
- To make the cheesecake layer, add the cold water to 4 tsp gelatine in a small saucepan. Let bloom for 10 minutes, then heat over low on the stovetop, stirring until dissolved and smooth. Do not allow to boil. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Using an electric or handheld mixer, whisk the yogurt, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and matcha until combined. Sifting the matcha before adding should help to ensure there are minimal clumps of matcha in the cheesecake, but if you still have some, just keep whipping until they are mostly broken up.
- Add the gelatin mixture to the cream cheese mixture in 3 additions, whisking thoroughly after each addition. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Fold into the cream cheese mixture until no streaks of cream remain, but be gentle so you don’t deflate the cream.
- Spread the cheesecake into the pan with the crust and strawberries, taking care not to shift the strawberries. Place in refrigerator to set at least ours, or up to overnight.
- Make the gelee. Bloom the remaining 1.5 tsp of gelatine in the 2 tbsp cold water. Place the remaining strawberries in a pan with the lemon juice, and cook and stir over medium heat until strawberries break down, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and mash with the back of a wooden spoon. Off heat, add the butter and sugar and stir until melted, then whisk in the beaten egg.
- Return pan to heat and stir until boiling.
- Remove and stir in the bloomed gelatine. Set aside to cool. When it has begun to thicken, pour over the top of the set cheesecake.
- Allow to set in refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight.
- To serve, unclip the springform tin and gently peel away the acetate collar.
