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This Chocolate Orange Cheesecake is a no-bake dessert of dreams, with a buttery gluten free biscuit based and whipped cream cheese topping flavoured with chocolate and orange. It’s sweet and zesty, only needs 8 ingredients and is great for making ahead of time.
Notes On This Free Choc Orange Cheesecake Recipe
- So Easy: A no-bake cheesecake is always a great dessert if you either don’t have oven space, or want something easy to make. The biscuit base and chocolate orange topping can both be made in a matter of minutes! Plus it’s the perfect flavour combination for an easy gluten free Christmas dessert.
- Gluten Free: Using gluten free biscuits for the base makes this chocolate orange cheesecake completely coeliac-safe, but nobody would even know!
- Make Ahead: I recommend making this no bake chocolate orange cheesecake the day before serving, so it has maximum time to chill.
- Top Tip: Terry’s Chocolate Orange is sadly not gluten free, but if you want to decorate this cheesecake with choc orange segments, you can make your own using a mould – or Asda has some gluten and dairy free ones at Christmas-time.
Table of Contents
Ingredients and Substitutions
There’s a printable recipe card below for this no bake chocolate orange cheese with the full quantities. But here are the main ingredients and ideas for any swaps:
- Gluten Free Digestive Biscuits: You can usually find these in the free from aisle, or alternative use gluten free shortbread or even a gluten free chocolate biscuit.
- Butter
- Chocolate: Always double check the brand you are using is gluten free. I use a mixture of milk and dark chocolate, but you could use one or the other if you prefer.
- Full-Fat Cream Cheese: It’s essential you use full fat cream cheese in this recipe. Using a low fat version just won’t work! Any brand works but I recommend Philadelphia for the best quality. Mascarpone is a good alternative.
- Orange: I use a mixture of orange extract and orange zest for the flavouring.
- Icing Sugar: Use powdered sugar/confectioner’s sugar in the US.
- Double Cream: In the US use whipping cream or heavy cream.
How to Make a Chocolate Orange Cheesecake
There’s a printable recipe card below with the method. But here are some step-by-step photos to show you how easy this no bake chocolate orange cheesecake recipe is to make.
Storing, Freezing and Making Ahead
TO MAKE AHEAD OF TIME: You can easily make this cheesecake recipe up to 24 hours in advance and then keep it in the fridge. I wouldn’t recommend making it much further ahead than this, or the cheesecake base may start to soften.
TO STORE: Any leftovers can be kept in the fridge for a few days. Any longer than 2-3 days, it’ll still be edible but you may find the base starts to soften a little.
TO FREEZE: You can freeze this cheesecake, I recommend freezing any leftovers in slices between sheets of parchment paper so you can defrost as needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some FAQs about this chocolate orange cheesecake recipe. If you can’t find the answer to your question here or in the post above, please comment and I’ll try answer!
You could, in theory, use a plant-based cream cheese like Violife, a plant based cream like Elmlea Plant and a vegan butter. And of course dairy free chocolate. However I haven’t tested this myself so I don’t know if the quantities will convert exactly with vegan ingredients. If you try it, please let me know!
This could be for a number of reasons. Most likely is that the cream was not whipped enough (it should be thick like the photo above) or that the cream cheese did not have a high enough fat content.
I always recommend using Philadelphia full fat cream cheese, as I’ve tested this multiple times and it always works really well. A low-fat cream cheese will definitely not work. Worst case, you can always serve it in bowls and call it a Chocolate Orange Eton Mess!
You may have seen lots of chocolate orange cheesecake recipes online made using Terry’s Chocolate Orange, but sadly this is not gluten free! It has a ‘may contain’ warning, which makes it unsafe for people with coeliac disease (see my guide to gluten free Christmas chocolates for more!). But this recipe uses chocolate and orange zest, making it completely gluten free!
Chocolate Orange Cheesecake Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
For the base:
- 350 g gluten free digestive biscuits
- 100 g unsalted butter
For the cheesecake topping
- 600 g full-fat cream cheese
- 100 g icing sugar
- 300 ml double cream
- 100 g dark chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
- 100 g milk chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
- 2-3 tsp orange extract, depending how strong you like it!
- Zest of 1 orange
To decorate:
- Orange zest
- Dark chocolate shavings
Instructions
For the biscuit base:
- Line the bottom of a deep, 20cm springform tin with baking paper. Melt the butter either in a pan over a low heat or in 10-second bursts in the microwave.
- Blitz the gluten free biscuits in a food processor until they form a fine crumb. Add the melted butter and blitz again to combine. Pour out the biscuit mix into the lined tin and press firmly into the base until it is level. You can pop this in the fridge while you make the topping.
For the cheesecake topping:
- Add the cream cheese and icing sugar to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk until smooth.
- Pour in the double cream and whisk again, starting on a slower speed and bringing the mixer up a speed every 20-30 seconds. Continue to whisk until the mixture becomes very thick.
- Pour in the melted and cooled chocolate and add the orange extract and orange zest. Whisk for another 30 seconds-or-so until combined.
- Spoon the mixture onto the biscuit base and spread it evenly using a spatula, ensuring there are no air bubbles.
- Set in the fridge for at least 8-10 hours – preferable overnight. Carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin and serve chilled from the fridge, decorated with grated dark chocolate and extra orange zest.
Notes
- Top Tip: Make sure you give this cheesecake plenty of time to set – 8-10 hours is a minimum, ideally I make this around 24 hours before serving.
- Freezing: You can freeze this cheesecake and then defrost in the fridge overnight.
Nutrition
More Gluten Free Cheesecake Recipes
If you like this No Bake Chocolate Orange Cheesecake then make sure you check out these other gluten free cheesecake recipes too…
- Gluten Free Oreo Cheesecake
- White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
- Bailey’s Cheesecake
- Gluten Free Biscoff Cheesecake
- Lemon Cheesecake
- Gluten Free Bueno Cheesecake
- Strawberry Cheesecake
- Twix Cheesecake
- White Choc Raspberry Cheesecake Pots
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Really delicious and easy to make
Hi do you have to chill until firm and then freeze or can it go straight into the freezer?
Incredibly easy and delicious cheesecake! I swapped to lactose free cream cheese and it worked beautifully. Definitely will feed a crowd, so will half quantities for next time. Thank you for such an easy but tasty recipe!