Eggless No-bake Blueberry Cheesecake

If you have been looking for an eggless cheesecake recipe, you can heave a huge sigh of relief. Why? Simply b’cos your quest has just ended. Right here. Right now. What’s more, it’s a no-bake cheesecake to boot. This is something I put together sometime back. Every once in a while, I get into ‘recipe development mode’ and this is one of the recent successful experiments churned out from my bubbling lab. If you’re having someone over, this makes for a perfect make-ahead dessert. Assemble. Allow to set. Forget all about it, atleast until it’s time for dessert. Want to know the icing on the cake? It takes less than 30 minutes to put it all together. Now, isn’t that reason enough to make it asap as possible (no, that’s not a typo; that’s twice as fast as ‘asap’!!)

Preparation Time: Under 30 minutes
Setting Time: 2-3 hours
Yield: One 9-inch round cake

Ingredients
For the crust

• Marie Biscuits/Crackers – 1 packet/roughly 20-22 biscuits
• Butter – 1/2 cup, melted (measured and then melted)

For the Filling

• Set curd – 800 ml, hung overnight in the refrigerator (I used 2 packs of Nestle set curd)
• Whipping cream – 200 ml
• Blueberry Crush/Blueberry sauce – 1/3 cup (refer note)
• Icing Sugar – 1/4 cup
• Blueberry Emulsion (optional) – 1 tsp (just to get that nice colour for the filling)
• Gelatin – 2 tbsps
• Water – 1/4 cup
• Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Note: 1) I used bottled blueberry crush. If using fresh blueberries, I would suggest making a sauce with the blueberries, a little ahead of time. Take a big handful of blueberries, 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of sugar in a pan. Cook together on a medium flame till the berries burst and turn slightly mushy. They will come together as a nice saucy concoction after a few minutes. Remove from flame and set aside to cool.

2) Some people don’t like using gelatin. If you’re one of them, you could use china-grass/ agar-agar in place of gelatin. Personally I haven’t tried working with agar-agar yet. If you do, please come back and tell me how it turned out for you.

Procedure

• Put the biscuits in a ziplock bag and crush with a rolling-pin. This is where you can take out your frustration on that poor bag of biscuits. Beat them up all you like; they’re not going to complain.
• Mix in the melted butter and press mixture onto the base of a greased 9-inch spring-form pan (I used my loose-bottomed 9-inch fluted pie-pan). I like my biscuit case to extend even to the sides of the pan. That way, it makes a perfect ‘casing’ for the filling.
• Once you’ve pressed the mixture onto the pan, use the back of a spoon or a spatula and give the biscuit case a little coaxing in firm yet gentle motions so it sits in well.
• Set aside in the freezer to set, about 15 minutes.
• Sprinkle the gelatin on 1/4 cup water and leave in another bowl of hot water (not mentioned in ingredients) till it melts and becomes a clear liquid, about 5-6 minutes. Keep stirring the gelatin mixture every couple of minutes just to make sure it doesn’t get lumpy.
• Meanwhile, whip the whipping cream till it forms medium peaks. Set aside.
• Whip together the hung curd, blueberry crush/sauce, icing sugar, blueberry emulsion and vanilla till smooth.
• Add the melted gelatin and process for a few seconds till incorporated.
• Fold in the whipped cream gently, using a balloon whisk/spatula.
• Pour over biscuit case and smooth the edges with the filling using a rubber spatula. (This will cover any small gaps in the biscuit case on the sides. Once the cheesecake has set, no one can see the deft patch-work).
• Allow to set in the fridge for 2-3 hours until set or firm to touch. What I like to do is zap up the process. I stick it in the freezer for an hour and once the filling has set, I move the cheesecake to the fridge compartment so it is nice and fluffy when you dig in to it.
• Decorate the top of the cheesecake the way you like or just cut into wedges and serve. If you have some of the blueberry sauce left, it wouldn’t hurt to pour some of that on your wedge before you dig in.

I made this cheesecake for a potluck party at Amma’s and I shot all the pictures at her place with whatever little time off from the chitty-chat I could manage. I couldn’t carry any props with me except for a sheet for the picture backgrounds, so please excuse the pretty ordinary pictures here. In fact, I had a hard time shooting these pictures thanks to the cute brat at Amma’s place. Her name’s Ginger and she’s a big foodie. She simply loves anything sweet, and the minute I set things up for my photo shoot, she got all curious and came to see what I was up to. She didn’t bother me much till I got out the cheesecake. Once the cake was out, she sat right at my feet, begging me for some. I finally had to barricade myself and the cake with chairs all around, to prevent her from giving the cheesecake a friendly pat with her paws!! There she is, with that signature ‘please give me some?’ look of her’s. Isn’t she adorable? She’s such a cuddly-wuddly-whoo-choo I tell you. I love the darling. 

So until next time, adios. I have some rave reviews coming up, so stay tuned!