Experimental No-Bake Orange Creamsicle Cheesecake

A few months ago, my wife made me a dessert that her late grandmother used to make. As I watched my wife fold condensed milk into lemon jello, I was appaled. That was until I tried it. That dessert had a few layers to it, one of them being this lemon "mousse" that I had watched her make. Fast forward to last night; I had this orange creamsicle no-bake cheesecake idea in mind. To set the no-bake cheesecake, I needed gelatine, which I thought we had in the cupboard. Unfortunately, we used the gelatine a few weeks ago to make a game for our son. We (I say we but this was 100% my wife) encased some of his toys in it and let him dig them out. He loved it, but I had no gelatine. We did have orange jello, though. I remembered that lemon dessert from a few months ago and went to work.

This dessert is a complete experiment, and I'll be the first to say that it needs a lot of refining. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this. Even the one big mistake I made turned out to be a happy accident. So, with that, let's take a look at my experimental no-bake orange creamsicle cheesecake.

Making the Orange Creamsicle Cheese Cake Mixture.

The first step to making this concoction is to soften the cream cheese at room temperature for about an hour then beat it until smooth and creamy. Once the cream cheese reaches the desired consistency, add in a ½ cup of cream and mix.

Jello

While the cream cheese and cream are getting to know each other, mix the package of orange jello with 1 cup of boiling water. Stir the mixture until all of the jello powder is dissolved, then let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes before adding the ice cube to help boost the cool down process.

Sweetening

While the jello is cooling, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the cream and cheese mixture along with 1 cup of icing sugar mixed in a ¼ cup at a time. I added the sugar after the jello but immediately realized I should have reversed these steps, so that is what I am suggesting you do.

Finishing the creamsicle base

The final step in making the creamsicle base is to add the orange jello mixture to the cream and cheese mixture. When I combined my jello mixture and my cheese mixture, the jello was still relatively warm, and it melted the cheese and made a very liquid mixture. This mixture took longer to set than I thought it was going to, but this also gave it a smoother texture than I was expecting. I don't recommend having the jello mixture too hot, but if you follow the process I described above, it will still be warm enough to create this great smooth texture.

Graham Cracker Base

What is a cheesecake without a graham cracker base? Probably one that has an oreo cookie base would be my guess. Anyway, I did this part kind of weird. That's saying a lot considering what this recipe is. We started sleep training our baby yesterday, and the last thing I wanted to do was make a bunch of noise blitzing graham crackers in a food processor. So, I opted for the much quieter hand-crushed method. My cracker based didn't end up very fine, but I went with it anyway.

Use about ten graham crackers (mine were gluten-free), crush them either in a food processor or by hand, then pour ⅓ cup of melted butter over them. Mix the butter into wet all of the cracker chunks. The final step here is to push the mixture into the bottom of a 6-inch springform pan lined with parchment paper.

Putting it together

The obvious last step here is to pour the cheesecake mixture over the cracker crumbs. When I did this, some of my more substantial chunks of graham crackers floated to the top of the cheese mixture. I'm not going to lie to you; it looked pretty ugly. However, when I ate the cake later, these pieces added a very welcome texture and crunch to the cake. I'm going to call it a happy accident.

Cover the cake with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least 3 hours. I think it's better to leave it in the refrigerator overnight to let it set fully, but I'll leave that up to you.

Tasting the cake

Right off the bat, let's address the elephant in the room. This cake looks like a frittata that's been laced with a jar of Cheese Wiz; I know this. However, the taste is exceptional. It tastes like an orange creamsicle, which was my goal from the beginning.

To unmold the cheesecake run a knife along the inside edge of the springform pan, then slowly release the ring of the pan and remove it. Cut the cake, serve with some whipped cream and enjoy it in all it's weird and delicious glory.

Conclusion

My original intent with this dessert was to combine fresh-squeezed orange juice and grated orange zest with cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, cream and a little gelatine to set it. That would have a more natural flavour and would be more refined than this monstrosity that I ended up making. But I've got to tell you, I didn't hate this thing. Like I said, even those crunchy cracker chunks strewn throughout the cake added a certain je ne sais quoi to the eating experience that I thoroughly enjoyed.

You can see the full recipe below. Take it, use it, refine it, and let me know how it goes. I'd love to see what you do with this.