No Bake Lime Cheesecake with Greek Yogurt and Mascarpone, a simple, delicious dessert perfect for the hot summer months. You are going to love the silky smooth texture combined with the freshness and the slight tang from the lime.
Song of the day: The Heat is On - Glenn Frey
Very few are the summer days that I find extremely hot to prevent me from baking. I am a "die-hard" home baker, let me tell you...
There are days, though, when the scorching heat outside makes me rethink my plans and baking doesn't seem a great idea. Days where the air is thick and heavy and there is no breeze to alleviate the sultriness. Days when you still need a dessert, because you invited people over, or just because you spoiled your family to have something sweet at the end of a meal. In those days, a no-bake dessert is your best friend.
Flipping through an Italian cookbook I brought back from my last Roman stay, I found a lime cheesecake that looks like the perfect answer to our summer sweet cravings. This cheesecake has, of course, an Italian twist and I already know we are all going to love its texture and flavor.
Being a cheesecake, it has to have some kind of cheese or dairy product, and in this case, we have three: Greek yogurt, mascarpone, and cream cheese. Can you imagine how creamy, and silky smooth it is going to be?
Digestive cookies are my preferred cookies to make the base. Here I added butter, of course, and a grated of lime zest, just to reiterate that it's going to be a Lime Cheesecake. Love to press the cookie crumbs in the pan, and also love how well their lovely buttery crunch combines with the silky topping in your mouth...
This cheesecake is a no bake, so there are no eggs to add structure. Here comes the gelatin to the rescue. I used powdered gelatin, you feel free to use gelatin sheets or agar agar. I bought a whole bag of agar agar but haven't tried using it yet. Would love to hear how you substitute it if you use it.
With the powder gelatin, all you have to do is “bloom” it in some lukewarm water by mixing them together and waiting for the gelatin to swell. Then, you need to melt the mixture in the microwave or over a double boiler, let it cool, then add it to your cream cheese mixture.
The Greek yogurt/mascarpone/cream cheese mixture in this recipe makes for a silky smooth cheesecake with a slight tang. There’s even less than ½ cup of raw cane sugar in the whole recipe, so it’s delightfully not sweet. Just how I like it.
I love the look of this cheesecake, look at those inviting zests of lime telling you that there are going to be incredible hits of lime flavor and so nicely balanced with that velvety trio.
Loreto is loving this cheesecake. Forkful after forkful I hear that appreciative moan as he takes me through his flavor journey. The yogurt, mascarpone, cream cheese with that little bit of sugar is perfect. He says it is delightful to the tongue and brings this happy feeling inside of him from the freshness it exudes. Those hits of lime zest are just enough to hit the palate and that buttery nutty crust so delicious as it provides a nice textural change to the mix. All together in Loreto's eyes a true winner on a hot smoldering sunny summer day as he licks his fork clean and I see that beautiful grin from ear to ear that makes me feel I have done my job well.
If you are looking for a great dessert for that summer backyard meal, one that will tantalize the taste buds but also will soothe the heatwaves, try our No Bake Lime Cheese Cake with Greek Yogurt and Mascarpone!
Enjoy!
Song of the day: The Heat is On - Glenn Frey
No Bake Lime Cheesecake with Greek Yogurt and Mascarpone
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 servings 1x
Description
No Bake Lime Cheesecake with Greek Yogurt and Mascarpone, a simple, delicious dessert perfect for the hot summer months. You are going to love the silky smooth texture combined with the freshness and a slight tang from the lime.
Ingredients
- 200 g Greek yogurt
- 100 g mascarpone
- 100 g cream cheese
- 130 g Digestive cookies
- 50 g unsalted butter, melted
- 80 g raw sugar cane
- 5 g powder gelatin
- ¼ cup lukewarm water
- 1 lime, juice and zest
Instructions
- In a food processor, crumble the digestive cookies.
- In a medium-size bowl, mix the cookie crumbs, the melted butter, and a grated of lime zest until well-combined. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a greased 20 cm springform pan. Set aside.
- In a small, heat-safe bowl, place the water and sprinkle the gelatin evenly on top. Mix to combine well, and allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes until the gelatin swells. Heat the mixture in a double boiler over low heat or in the microwave for about 20 seconds or until the gelatin is dissolved and the mixture has liquefied. Set the gelatin mixture aside to cool until no longer hot to the touch.
- In a large bowl, place the yogurt, mascarpone, and cream cheese, and beat with a handheld mixer until light and fluffy. Add the gelatin mixture and mix again until smooth. Add the sugar, vanilla bean seeds, lime juice and zest, and beat until very smooth. Pour the mixture into the prepared cookie crust and spread into an even layer. Place the pan in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
- Remove the pan from the refrigerator, unmold it, sprinkle more lime zest on top, then slice it and serve cold.
Notes
The prep time includes the 2 hours in the fridge.
If you do not have mascarpone, you can substitute it with the same amount of cream cheese.
If you cannot find Digestive cookies you can opt for Graham crackers.
If you want a taller cheesecake, use a smaller springform pan.
- Category: Dessert, Cakes
- Method: No-bake
- Cuisine: Fusion
I love that you used greek yogurt in this recipe! And that it's no-bake. Perfect for my lime cravings right now!
★★★★★
Thank you! Such a wonderful texture for this cheesecake! We are all in love.
Love no bake in the summer! Any substitute for gelatin?
Hi Alexa, yes, so light and fresh in the summer. Like I wrote in the post, agar agar powder is a substitute but we haven't figured out the ratio yet...seems to be a little tricky.
I love a good no bake dessert! and cheesecake is my favorite. I definitely need to try and make it myself one of these days you made it look and sound so easy!
★★★★★
Thanks! It was pretty easy, the longest part, to wait for it to set in the fridge 🙂 .
This is the perfect summer dessert. First, NO BAKE.....YUP!! No need to heat up the kitchen. Second, that citrus flavour is so refreshing on a hot summer day. I think this would make a great celebration dessert...and the PERFECT BBQ party dessert too.
★★★★★
Thanks, Gloria! Yes, I think it would be a good dessert to bring to a BBq party. And the lime is so refreshing!
This lime cheesecake looks amazing and it is so easy to make! Perfect summer treat for when it is too hot to turn on the oven. I would like a piece right now 😉
Yes, very easy to make, and also light and with a wonderful texture. Thank you!!
Ah cheesecake you said! Yes! anytime! I can eat this dessert for breakfast,lunch and dinner.Lime is so refreshing in Summer.Lovely recipe
Thank you! This version was the lightest we ever had!
No bake cheesecake is the best for a summer dessert! I'm a huge lime fan so this is going on the must make list for sure!
They are the best, although I am guilty of still turning on the oven at summer 😉 . Thank you!
I love lime desserts! And I definitely love NOT turning on our oven right now. We've had temps between 90 and 100 lately! Can't wait to try this!
★★★★★
Wow, that's hot! So this recipe is perfect 🙂 . Thanks!
This cheesecake sounds delicious! And I love that it's no bake, so it's perfect for the summer when you don't want to heat up the whole house with the oven
Perfect no-bake summer dessert, plus it's so good! 🙂 Thanks!
This looks really good but I am not a greek yogurt fan. What could I use in place of that? Cream cheese maybe?
★★★★★
Hi Sara, the Greek yogurt is the ones that give that lighter, creamier texture, but you can surely replace with the same amount of cream cheese. It will get closer to a regular cheesecake that way.
I am obsessed with mascarpone so this is all for me!! Ha, I had to google Digestive cookies to see what they were ????
★★★★★
Ah ah, Lorie, sorry, I bet Digestive cookies are more of a European thing for cheesecakes. For me, there is no comparison between Digestive and Graham crackers. Digestive all the time!
This looks and sounds amazing! I'm in the United States so when you say digestive cookies...what would I use here? Is there a substitute you recommend? I hear you about it being too hot to bake. I'm in AZ and it's crazy hot so this no bake dessert recipe is perfect!
★★★★★
Thanks, Amanda! You are the second one asking me about Digestive cookies, so I guess they are not popular in the US, but more of a European thing (although in Canada we have them too). You can for sure substitute them with Graham crackers, but in my humble opinion, they are way better 😉 .
Cheese cake with Greek yogurt - sing me up please! Looks absolutely delicious`
Glad you liked this one. Thank you!
I made the cake, used lemon instead of lime. This is delicious! The amount of sugar is just perfect! I'm going to try more of your recipes! Thank you 🙂
★★★★★
Yay! So happy you loved it! Almost all my desserts are not too sweet, that is my preference, glad to hear you find it right. Thank you so much for the feedback, greatly appreciated.
Made it, loved it, but was wondering about a substitute for raw sugar cane. It's really hard to get hold of in Spain. I used caster sugar instead, but might have got the ratio a bit wrong. It was a tad too sweet.
★★★★★
Hi! So happy you made it and loved it! I did not know caster sugar and I had to translate it, which I think is icing/powdered/confectioners sugar. If it is that, yes, way too sweet and you need definitely less for the cheesecake 🙂 . You could use regular white sugar (granulated sugar), or demerara, or a light brown sugar. Thank you so much for your feedback!
Hi. Love this recipe. Thank you. Caster sugar is just a finer form of granulated sugar in Europe. It is not at all confectionery sugar, or powdered sugar. You’re correct in that Demerara sugar is the substitute and closest to raw sugar. Pretty much the same thing here. Thanks again for sharing a beautiful recipe.
Thanks so much for letting me know! I am happy you love the recipe!
Sounds delicious and I look forward to making it! There are only two of us and I would like to know if this would freeze well?
Thanks
Hi June, thank you for wanting to make this cheesecake! I have to be honest, I hardly freeze anything, so when I bake I usually deliver some to neighbors and family. So, I am not sure it freezes well since I haven't tried, but I was reading that people freeze no-bake cheesecakes, wrapped in plastic and then foil. I would try and see.