Love Heart Valentine's Day Cheesecake (No Bake)

Until I started planning the recipe for this Love Heart Valentine's Day Cheesecake, I didn't know that the sweets we know as love hearts in the UK, are known as conversation hearts in the USA. If you've not heard of either before, they are little pastel coloured sweets or candies with love related phrases on them such as 'kiss me' or 'it's love'. They were the inspiration for this cheesecake, which is perfect for a Valentine's Day treat! The base is made from pink vanilla wafer biscuits, the filling is a creamy no bake vanilla cheesecake, then I coloured some white chocolate with pink food colouring to drizzle over it, and finally added whipped cream, heart sprinkles and love heart sweets of course!

Ingredient Tips & Equipment Information

• It is really important to stick to the ingredients and use full fat cream cheese and double cream (a cream with a 48% fat content), both of these ingredients are essential to ensure the no bake cheesecake sets. If you want to make a low fat version, I suggest doing this in small dessert glasses or ramekins as they will not set well enough to be sliced.
• I am based in the UK and I find that Philadelphia cream cheese is the thickest and best quality cream cheese to use for no bake cheesecakes. I have made many cheesecakes with supermarket own brand cream cheeses too, and they have worked great. If you can though, I think it is worth spending a little more for Philadelphia (and no they haven't paid me to say this!)
• If you don't want to use pink wafers for the base, you can use digestive biscuits instead and increase the butter to 135g.
• To colour the white chocolate I recommend using gel food colouring (I use a brand called Pro Gel) or powder food colouring is also great for colouring chocolate.
• You can use either butter or baking spread for the biscuit base, I find that baking spread makes the cheesecake easier to remove from the tin as it doesn't make the base set as solidly.
• You can find lots of answers to common no bake cheesecake questions on my How To Make A No Bake Cheesecake guide. If you've never made a no bake cheesecake before, I highly recommend reading through my guide first!
• Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales*. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50) .
• For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons* and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.

For the full recipe with measurements, head to the recipe card at the end of this post.

How to make Love Heart Valentine's Day Cheesecake

To make the base, crush the pink wafers and mix them with melted butter. Press them into the tin. For the filling, whisk cream cheese, vanilla extract and icing sugar together until smooth. Then add double cream and whisk it until it is thick.

Pour the filling into the tin and smooth the top. Chill in the fridge for several hours. To decorate, melt white chocolate and mix in pink food colouring. Drizzle it over the cheesecake then add heart sprinkles, whipped cream and Love Heart sweets.

How do you make sure the cheesecake sets?

When you’re mixing the filling, you want it to get to a stage where you can scoop some up with your spatula or spoon and you have to give it a tap on the side of the bowl or slight flick of the wrist to get the mixture off the spoon. If it’s sloppy and slides right off the spoon without any encouragement needed, then you need to mix it more. Always use an electric mixer for best results. It’s also very important to use full fat cream cheese and double cream (heavy cream), as any low fat versions will affect the setting of the cheesecake. I always set my cheesecake overnight in the fridge, I’d suggest a minimum of 4 hours.

How do you remove a no bake cheesecake from the tin?

To see step by step photos and a video showing you how to remove a no bake cheesecake from the tin, as well as the answers to lots of other common no bake cheesecake questions, check out my How to make a No Bake Cheesecake guide!

How long does the cheesecake last and can it be frozen?

The cheesecake should be stored in the fridge and will last for 3-4 days. You can freeze the undecorated cheesecake, however you do need to let it set in the fridge first. Setting it in the freezer will affect the texture and it won't be as nice. Once it's set in the fridge, you can remove it from the tin and put the cheesecake in a box or tupperware. You could also slice it up, and freeze in portions. Then you can easily defrost a few slices at a time depending on when you'd like some cheesecake!

Can this cheesecake be made gluten free?

Yes! To make this recipe gluten free, swap the biscuits in the biscuit base for gluten free biscuits. I would also recommend that you check the packaging of everything you're using in the recipe in case of cross contamination.

More tips for making the Love Heart Valentine's Day Cheesecake:

• If you can't get hold of Love Hearts sweets, or Conversation Hearts, you can decorate with any red or Valentine themed sweet you prefer.
• The Love Heart sweets do change colour after a while because of the moisture from the double cream, so I'd suggest adding them right before serving so the cheesecake looks its best.

Troubleshooting

If you have any questions about this recipe, or if something went wrong and you need help, please use the comment form below and I will get back to you. You can also get in touch with me on my Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. I'd love to hear from you!

Recommended Equipment and Ingredients*

• 23cm Springform tin
• Electric hand mixer
• Mixing bowls
• Angled palette knife
• Kitchen scales
• Food processor
• Love Heart sweets
• Heart sprinkles
• Pink food colouring
• Pink wafers
• Jem 1E Piping nozzle

*I earn a small amount of money if you buy the products after clicking on the links. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Thank you for supporting The Baking Explorer!

More Valentine's Day recipes...

Love Heart Valentine's Day Cheesecake (No Bake)

Creamy no bake vanilla cheesecake on a pink wafer base, with pink coloured white chocolate and whipped cream

5 from 7 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Keyword: Cheesecake

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Chilling time: 4 hours

Total Time: 4 hours 45 minutes

Servings: 16

Author: thebakingexplorer

Ingredients

For the base

• 300 g Pink wafer biscuits
• 100 g Butter of baking spread melted

For the filling

• 750 g Full fat cream cheese I used Philadelphia
• 125 g Icing sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract or any flavour of your choice!
• 300 ml Double cream

For decoration

• 50 g White chocolate
• Pink food colouring
• 200 ml Double cream
• 1 tbsp Icing sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• Heart sprinkles
• Love Heart sweets

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

• To make the base use a food processor to whizz up the pink wafers into crumbs, or bash them with a rolling pin in a bowl
• Mix in the melted butter and press the mixture into the bottom of a 23cm springform tin. Put it in the fridge for 30 minutes to set
• For the cheesecake filling use a food mixer with a whisk attachment or an electric hand whisk to mix together the cream cheese, vanilla extract and icing sugar until smooth with no lumps
• Add the double cream and whisk until it is very thick and holds it's shape
• Smooth the mixture into the tin on top of the pink wafer base, then put it in the fridge overnight, or for at least 4 hours, to set
• Remove from the tin and put on your serving plate. Smooth the sides with a butter knife to create a neater finish
• To decorate, melt the white chocolate and stir some pink food colouring into it. Then pipe or drizzle it over the cheesecake
• Whip up the double cream with the icing sugar and vanilla, and pipe it all around the edges of the cheesecake
• Decorate with heart sprinkles and Love Heart sweets
• Serve immediately, store any leftovers in the fridge and eat within 2 days

Made this recipe?Share on Instagram with me @TheBakingExplorer or tag #thebakingexplorer!

Notes

• ortant to stick to the ingredients and use full fat cream cheese and double cream (a cream with a 48% fat content), both of these ingredients are essential to ensure the no bake cheesecake sets. If you want to make a low fat version, I suggest doing this in small dessert glasses or ramekins as they will not set well enough to be sliced.
• I am based in the UK and I find that Philadelphia cream cheese is the thickest and best quality cream cheese to use for no bake cheesecakes. I have made many cheesecakes with supermarket own brand cream cheeses too, and they have worked great. If you can though, I think it is worth spending a little more for Philadelphia (and no they haven't paid me to say this!)
• If you don't want to use pink wafers for the base, you can use digestive biscuits instead and increase the butter to 135g.
• To colour the white chocolate I recommend using gel food colouring (I use a brand called Pro Gel) or powder food colouring is also great for colouring chocolate.
• You can use either butter or baking spread for the biscuit base, I find that baking spread makes the cheesecake easier to remove from the tin as it doesn't make the base set as solidly.
• You can find lots of answers to common no bake cheesecake questions on my How To Make A No Bake Cheesecake guide. If you've never made a no bake cheesecake before, I highly recommend reading through my guide first!
• Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales*. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50) .
• For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons* and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.

Nutrition

Calories: 465kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 117mg | Sodium: 336mg | Potassium: 137mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 1338IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 93mg | Iron: 1mg

If you like this, check out more of my Cheesecake recipes!