Last Saturday we had a get together with some of our friends and I wanted to take some sort of a dessert. I didn’t feel like baking and every recipe online required something I didn’t have on hand so I improvised once again.

I went through my pantry to see what I have and what I could throw together fairly easy. I found some lady fingers and gelatin from the pantry. So there I was trying to figure out what to make. I was in a mood for a cheesecake but didn’t want to bake for hours so I decide to make a no bake cheesecake.

Its pretty simple. Time consuming but simple. The crust is lady fingers on the bottom and sides of the spring pan. Mine is a 10 inch spring pan and it took the whole package of 24 lady fingers to fill. Make sure you add a cookie sheet pan underneath the spring pan. Some of the filling may run out. The Mango puree topping leaked on my spring pan but the cheesecake part was fine.

The NO bake cheesecake has 3 layers with the ladyfinger crust. The middle layer is the cheesecake which is only 4 ingredients. I put the room temperature cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk into the food processor with a teaspoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice and let it blend until smooth and creamy. Then melted a packet of no flavor gelatin in half a cup of water and added that to the mix. Pored the entire mixture on top of the lady fingers and let it sit in the fridge for about an hour. After the fact I would probably add 2 packets of gelatin so the cheesecake would be firm like jello. This ends up being like a  cheesecake jello. Yummy.

The final layer is the raw mango puree. Here in Florida we have mango season during the summer so I freeze gallons and gallons of mango to use throughout the year. The mangos ripen on the tree so they are extremely sweet and flavorful. I pulled one of the bags from the freezer. Let it thaw few hours and then blended the mango with a splash of fresh lemon juice to brighten the flavor a bit. Also you need 2 more packets of no flavor gelatin for the mango puree. You want to melt the 2 packets in 2 cups of water. Once the gelatin is melted completely add 2 cups of mango puree to it and whisk it. Pore the mixture over the set cheesecake you had in the fridge for about an hour and let it sit another 2-3 hours. Mine was set within about 1.5 hours.

To loosen the cake from the spring pan run a knife along the edge before you remove the side of the pan so the lady fingers would not stick.

I have to say I was hesitant to take the cake thinking it may not be good since I just threw few random ingredients together. My husband encouraged me to take it. It looked so pretty and let me tell you it was a big hit. There was not a piece left by the time we went home. People kept on asking what was in it and how did I make it. I think people liked this random cake more than some of my nicer actual cakes. It is a perfect cake for a summer picnic or a Sunday lunch. It is cool, sweet and tart all at the same time.

I used a 10 inch spring pan. Ingredient prep time is about 30 minutes but the complete time is 3-4 hours for the gelatin to set. These are the exact ingredients used for the cake:

Crust:

1 packet-24 lady finger cookies (crispy ones from the grocery store cookie aisle)

Cheesecake middle layer:

2-8oz packets of cream cheese

1-14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tbsp Rumchata liquor (optional) I added

Top mango layer:

2 cups of raw mango puree

1/4 tsp fresh lemon juice

2 cups of hot water

2 packets of gelatin

Please comment if you try to make it and let me know what you though of it. I would love photos 🙂 ENJOY!

Love Kat