Stracciatella Cheesecake; light and creamy no-bake cheesecake with Italian-style biscuit base and shards of bittersweet dark chocolate.
Alongside an excuse for outdoor beers, sunburn, and all-day BBQs, heatwave weather is a prime excuse for cold desserts.
If your chocolate bars are quickly becoming liquid, and the thought of another ice lolly is just a bit too much for your sensitive teeth, this might be a recipe for you. All the rich satisfaction of a chocolate dessert with all the refreshing lightness of ice cream.
Love that cream and chocolate combination? Try out my Stracciatella Semifreddo!
Stracciatella, not to be confused with the soft cheese of the same name, is an Italian gelato flavour that’s hugely popular in the summer months. It combines that world-beating milky gelato with shards of dark chocolate. A perfect pairing of the strong and the mellow. The combination celebrates and accentuates the delicious creamy Italian milk flavour without covering it too much. Small chocolate shards punctuate every mouthful, adding just the slightest hint of crisp texture throughout the cold gelato.
After having made this iconic flavour into both cupcakes and a semifreddo over the years, it seemed crazy that I’d never tried it in a cheesecake. So, Stracciatella Cheesecake in hand, here we are.
Buttery, slightly salted, biscuit base. Creamy just-sweet cheesecake, smattered with tiny shards of addictively bittersweet 80% dark chocolate. It’s the taste of Mediterranean gelato in your own kitchen, with half the effort. No fancy equipment or expensive ingredients needed for this Stracciatella Cheesecake, just a springform tin and a bit of patience!
Prefer a recipe video rather than reading? Click here!
Because this Stracciatella Cheesecake is made with a no-bake recipe, it’s even easier. You’ll need to wait a few hours while it sets in the fridge, but no need to turn that oven on when the sun is screaming down outside! Simply mix, add to tin, and relax.
Following the tradition of both the stracciatella flavour, and Italian desserts in general, this recipe isn’t too sweet. Just a couple of spoonfuls of sugar will be enough to sweeten your cheesecake mixture, keeping it light and refreshing. That said, if you find a super-dark chocolate like 80% a bit too much, feel free to use one with less cocoa solids. Anything about 60% solids should have just the right balance without making this creamy dessert too sickly sweet.
Whether you’re off to a BBQ in someone’s garden, to a dinner party, or just want something nice in the fridge for when you’re finished slathering on the aftersun, I hope you’ll love this. We’ve enjoyed this Stracciatella Cheesecake as a dessert, a snack, and as a breakfast on those warm mornings.
Want to save this Stracciatella Cheesecake for later? You can pin the image below!
To make this Stracciatella Cheesecake, simply follow the recipe below:
Ingredients
For the biscuit base:
- 100g (3 ½ oz) savoiardi biscuits, or other plain sweet biscuits
- 50g (3 tbsp) salted butter, melted
For the stracciatella cheesecake:
- 200g (7 oz) cream cheese
- 200g (7 oz) mascarpone
- 2 rounded tbsp icing sugar
- 150ml (½ cup) double or whipping cream
- 30g (1 oz) dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solids), plus extra for decoration
Instructions
For the biscuit base:
- Look out a springform tin (18cm or 7in) and line it with a circle of greaseproof paper.
- If using a food processor, blitz your biscuits into crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, simply place your biscuits into a freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin until you reach a coarse crumb consistency.
- Add the melted butter to your crumbs and mix together until you have a clumpy wet-sand texture.
- Tip this mixture into your springform tin and press it down into a neat, flat circle. Pop this in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up while you prepare your cheesecake mix.
For the stracciatella cheesecake:
- In a mixing bowl, beat together your cream cheese, mascarpone, and sugar until smooth.
- Whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks and then fold it gently into the cheese mixture until combined.
- Chop your chocolate into little shards, as small as you have the patience for. The tinier the better!
- Fold the chocolate shards through your cheesecake mixture.
- Remove your tin from the fridge and top your biscuit base with the cheesecake mixture, smooth it out as neatly as you can.
- Pop the cheesecake in the fridge for at least 3 hours to firm up.
- Once chilled, top the stracciatella cheesecake with more chopped chocolate or some extra whipped cream.
- Enjoy!
BE A MAVERICK: why not try making the biscuit base with dark chocolate biscuits instead?
This Stracciatella Cheesecake will keep well in the fridge for up to 3 days but is best enjoyed fresh!
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