Love After Eights? You need to try this indulgent no bake After Eight Cheesecake! A chocolate biscuit base, a creamy mint cheesecake filling with dark chocolate and chopped After eights, then decorated with fresh cream swirls and more After Eights! It’s the perfect cheesecake for Christmas or New Year’s Eve.
Whenever I need a dessert for a gathering or special event, I often turn to a no bake cheesecake. They are easy to prepare, quick to make and the flavour options are endless.
I have recipes for no bake white chocolate raspberry cheesecake, no bake Baileys Irish cream cheesecake and Terry’s chocolate orange cheesecake, but I was missing a mint chocolate cheesecake recipe on this website! I thought it was about time I fixed that.
no bake after eight cheesecake recipe
Mint chocolate has always been one of my favourite flavour combinations and I have a particular fondness for After Eights. This After Eight cheesecake is a must try if you share my love of mint chocolate. It makes a perfect festive dessert!
Do you love mint chocolate? Try this chocolate mint cake with chocolate mint frosting or these After Eight chocolate muffins!
why you’ll love this recipe
- easy to make
- can be made in advance – prepare the cheesecake and chill for up to two days. Decorate on the day you intend to eat it.
- Full of mint chocolate flavour
- perfect for making for Christmas Day dessert or a New Year’s party
The cheesecake base
While many of my cheesecake recipes use a digestive biscuit (graham cracker) base, I’ve chosen a chocolate base for this mint chocolate cheesecake.
I used crushed-up Bourbon biscuits, but you could also use chocolate chip cookies such as Maryland. Plain chocolate digestives would also work well.
I finely crushed the biscuits up in my food processor and poured melted butter through the funnel. Then I pressed this biscuit crumb mixture into a greased and lined 20cm springform cake tin.
The cheesecake filling
Please use full fat cream cheese for the best results. Low fat cream cheeses aren’t great for making cheesecake . The cream cheese must have a fat content of 48% for it to set properly.
I prefer to use Philadelphia cheese for making cheesecake. I’ve used supermarket brands in the past and while most of them are ok, Philadelphia is by far the best.
I’ve used peppermint extract and chopped After Eights in the filling. I also added some finely chopped dark chocolate – you can omit this and just use the After Eights if you like, but I love the texture of the finely chopped chocolate shards in the creamy cheesecake filling.
The decoration
Once the cheesecake was set, I decorated it with a ring of whipped cream around the edge. I used the Wilton number 32 open star piping tip to do this. For a final flourish, I topped the cheesecake with After Eights and the After Eight limited edition London design fondants.
As soon as I spotted these gorgeous fondants I knew I had to make a dessert with them – aren’t they cute? I think they would also look amazing pressed on top of a chocolate cookie! Of course, if you can’t find them you could just use more After Eights.
recipe tips for after eight cheesecake
- When I first made this cheesecake I added a layer of After Eights in the middle of the filling. I didn’t chop them up – I just laid the whole mints flat on top of the filling, then I added the remaining cream cheese mixture. While this was still delicious, I wouldn’t recommend this as it makes the cheesecake harder to cut. It’s much better to chop up some After Eights and fold them into the cheesecake filling.
- The cheesecake takes at least six hours to set – I usually make them in the evening so they can set in the fridge overnight.
- If at all possible, it’s better to hold off on decorating the cheesecake with the whipped cream and chocolates until the day you’re going to serve it. If you decorate and store it in the fridge for longer than a day, it won’t look quite as pretty.
- If you like, you could drizzle melted dark chocolate over the cheesecake just before serving.
Yes! Prepare the cheesecake and keep it in the fridge for up to two days. Add the whipped cream and chocolate decorations on the same day you intend to serve it.
Yes you can – but Mascarpone will give the cheesecake a richer, heavier texture. You could use a 50/50 mixture of cream cheese and mascarpone for a slightly lighter result.
Yes, you can easily add some green food colouring to the cheesecake filling if you like. I would recommend using a gel or paste – not the liquid food colouring. Add a tiny bit at a time until you’re happy with the colour.
It could have needed longer setting time in the fridge, or sometimes using a lower quality cream cheese can cause the cheesecake to not set properly. Use a good quality full fat cream cheese for best results. Whipping the cream in a separate bowl then adding to the cream cheese also helps. I always do this and I’ve never had an issue with the cheesecake not setting.
more delicious cheesecake recipes
- burnt Basque cheesecake
- blood orange cheesecake
- no bake mini biscoff cheesecakes
- no bake strawberry cheesecake
No bake After Eight Cheesecake
A no bake After Eight cheesecake with a chocolate biscuit base, a light and creamy cheesecake filling with finely chopped chocolate and After Eights! The ultimate dessert for mint chocolate fans.
Ingredients
- FOR THE BASE
- 150g unsalted butter
- 300g Bourbon biscuits or chocolate cookies
- FOR THE CHEESECAKE FILLING
- 650g full fat cream cheese
- 150g icing (powdered) sugar
- 1 1/2-2 teaspoons peppermint extract
- 100g finely chopped or grated dark chocolate
- 100g finely chopped After Eights
- 250ml double (heavy) cream
- FOR THE DECORATION
- 150ml double cream
- 1/2 tablespoon icing (powdered) sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- After Eight mints and chocolate fondants
Instructions
- To make the base, melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat. Crush the biscuits in a food processor or place them in a large bowl and crush them with a rolling pin. You could also place the biscuits in an extra large food storage bag (ideally with a ziplock), close the zip and bash the biscuits with a rolling pin.
- Stir the melted butter and crushed biscuits together, then spoon into a lightly buttered and base lined 20cm springform cake tin, pressing the crumbs down firmly. Place the tin in the fridge while you make the filling.
- Using a food mixer with a whisk attachment or an electric hand mixer, mix together the cream cheese, icing sugar and peppermint extract until smooth and lump free.
- Fold in the finely chopped dark chocolate and the chopped After Eights.
- In a separate medium sized bowl, whip the double cream to soft peaks. Fold the cream into the cheesecake mixture.
- Pour the cheesecake filling over the cheesecake base. Use a small palette knife to beaten the top. Place in the fridge and chill for at least 6 hours, or overnight to set.
- Remove the cheesecake from the fridge and let it sit out for about 30 minutes (if you remove the cheesecake from the tin while it is very cold it is liable to crack) before unclipping the tin and carefully unmoulding. I left the cheesecake on the base, but if you would rather remove it I recommend sliding a long palette knife between the base of the tin and the biscuit base, making sure you go all around the cheesecake. Do this a few times until the base of the tin falls off. Simple but effective!
- Place the cheesecake on a serving plate. To decorate, whip the double cream with the vanilla and icing sugar until firm. Pipe swirls all around the edge of the cheesecake. I used a Wilton no 32 open star tip. Decorate with After Eight chocolates.
- Use a sharp knife to cut slices of the cheesecake. Place any leftover cheesecake in the fridge.
Notes
Storage: The cheesecake will keep in the fridge for up to three days.
Freezing: Although you can freeze no bake cheesecake, I prefer not to as the texture can turn a bit strange on defrosting.
Make in advance: No bake cheesecakes can be made up to two days in advance. However, it's best to decorate it with the whipped cream and chocolates on the day you serve it.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 14 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 506Total Fat: 39gSaturated Fat: 21gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 90mgSodium: 274mgCarbohydrates: 35gFiber: 1gSugar: 24gProtein: 5g
Calories and nutritional information are provided by a third party application and should be viewed as indicative figures only.
OMG I need this in my life…… Looks like Christmas day pudding sorted