This no-bake 4th of July Cheesecake recipe is so delicious, that once you taste it, you’ll want to be singing the Star-Spangled Banner from the rooftops! The fresh raspberries and blueberries whipped into this delectable, festive dessert make it the perfect red, white, and blue treat!
If you’ve been following me for a while, you already know how much I love cheesecake – like this no-bake chocolate ricotta cheesecake. While this recipe calls for the more traditional ingredient of cream cheese, you’ll also need some mascarpone – which will give this refreshing treat the perfect creamy, velvety taste.
Cheesecake, especially red, white and blue cheesecake, has always been a hugely popular treat to serve on the Fourth of July. When you make this recipe, though, you'll be able to taste for yourself just how deliciously irresistible it'll be to any sweet tooth. And you'll love hearing from your family and friends that it's the best Fourth of July Cheesecake they've ever had!
It might be the perfect recipe for the Fourth of July, but there’s no reason you should wait for a special occasion to make it! This cheesecake is super delicious, and I strongly encourage you to enjoy this sweet treat it all year long. The fresh raspberries and blueberries, along with the freshly squeezed orange juice, help give it the perfect, natural coloring without having to resort to processed gel food coloring.
There’s a lot of recipes out there that will give you similar coloring to keep on theme with the holiday festivities, but none of them will taste as good as this one! This red, white and blue cheesecake is an easy, no-bake recipe that will look absolutely beautiful and blow all of your guests away.
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🥘 Ingredients
For crust
- Graham cracker - or Petit beurre biscuits (those are more common in Europe). You can use ready-made graham cracker crumbs as well.
- Butter
- Milk
- Ground walnuts
- Corn starch
For cheesecake filling
- Mascarpone
- Cream cheese
- Whipping cream
- Icing sugar
- Blueberry
- Raspberry
- Water
- Orange juice freshly squeezed
- Sugar
Glaze
- Gelatin granules
- Water
- Whipping cream
- White chocolate
- Blueberry
- Raspberry
- And lastly, for decor, I added chocolate zebra rolls!
See the recipe card for quantities.
🔪 Instructions – How to Make 4th of July Cheesecake
Crust
Crush the biscuits and walnuts with a rolling pin once you put them in a plastic bag, or crush them using your food processor. If you can get biscuit crumbs in the market, I recommend getting those and saving yourself a step!
If you have a microwave, simply put the butter and milk on medium setting and heat until the butter is completely molten, or melt the butter on the stove on low flame. Save 2 tbsp. on the side and mix the rest of the butter and milk with the crushed biscuits and walnuts. Mix until all the crumbs are mixed well with the butter.
At the end the mix should be a bit sticky when pressed.
Put parchment paper on the bottom of the cake pan and brush it with the molten butter that we kept on the side, then sprinkle the corn starch on top of the paper. Shake the cake pan until it’s evenly covered with cornstarch, and get rid of the excess by turning it over.
Put in the refrigerator for 2–3 minutes. This way, the crust will cut better and the cut pieces will come out easily when the cake is finished.
Combine the melted butter with the ground walnuts and crushed biscuits.
Press the walnut and biscuit crumbs firmly into the springform pan.
Once the starch and butter dusting is cooled, pour the biscuit mix on top of it and tightly press it evenly till the edges of the cake pan. Once smoothly pressed, put it in the freezer for at least 15 minutes (or until you make the fillings).
Cheesecake Filling
In one large bowl, put all the mascarpone and mix it with a mixer for 3–5 minutes until it softens. While mixing, gradually add the icing sugar to the mascarpone, and after that the cream cheese. In another large bowl, mix the whipping cream into a batter that makes soft peaks on the mixer whisks.
Gradually mix the mascarpone mix and whipping cream by hand with circling movements.
After all the ingredients are well combined, separate each of the three mixtures into its own medium bowl, so you can add different flavors/colors.
With two different pans, start making the flavoring.
In one put 50 gr of the sugar, 30 ml water and 150 gr blueberries, and put on medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and mix with a spatula, so you crush the blueberries.
Make the blueberry flavoring.
Spread the blueberry cream cheese on top of the crust.
Repeat the same process in a different pan with the raspberries.
Make the raspberry flavoring.
Spread the raspberry cream cheese on top of the crust.
Once done, combine the two different flavorings in the two different mascarpone bowls. In the third bowl, combine the mascarpone mix with the orange juice.
Now you have three different flavors and you are ready to build the cheesecake. Take out the cake pan with the crust out of the freezer, and put the blueberry filling on it. Spread it evenly with a spatula, and once you make a flat surface, put back in the freezer for about 30 minutes (or until it becomes firm).
Once the blueberry filling stiffens, put the raspberry cheesecake layer on top and spread evenly again, and put in the freezer again till this layer stiffens.
Add the third, orange cream cheese layer.
After that, spread the orange cheesecake layer and freeze again till it stiffens and till it's ready to glaze.
Glaze
Start making the glaze by putting the gelatin granules in the water and leave them to hydrate for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, put the whipping cream in a microwave till it goes over 60 degrees (or 2–3 minutes on high setting).
Combine the white chocolate, whipped cream and gelatin.
Pour the glaze over the orange cheesecake layer.
After that, add the gelatin to the cream, as well as the white chocolate, and mix them till they combine well. Once combined, they are ready to pour on top of the cheesecake.
Decorate
with raspberries and blueberries.
Garnish with the rest of the blueberries and raspberries and a handful of zebra rolls if you fancy.
Put the cheese in the freezer for at least 3 hours (preferably overnight).
When the cake is hardened, use a blow torch, a gas stove flame or a lighter to release the cheesecake from the cake pan by using the flame on the outside for a short interval of time.
Remove the frozen cake from the pan.
Now the cake is ready to be unmolded, and once it’s unfrozen, it’ll be ready to serve.
🥜 Substitutions
Mascarpone can be replaced with a fat cream cheese or ricotta. Cream cheese makes the cake pop not quite as moist. Ricotta, on the other hand, makes it very moist. If you want to use ricotta, be sure to add extra confectioner's sugar during the final mixing.
If you’re not a fan of raspberries and were looking to substitute it for another berry, strawberries would also be an acceptable replacement. It'll still make you the perfect red, white and blue cheesecake. Just be sure to follow the above recommendation in the tips section of sieving them before adding it into the mascarpone mixture. Strawberries will also help you keep the beautiful Fourth of July color scheme.
🍽 Equipment
- Hand, Stand, or Electric Mixer
- Food processor
- Spatula
- Mixing bowls
- Whisk
- Microwave (optional)
- Parchment Paper
🌡 Storage & Top Tips
This cheesecake can be stored for 3–5 days – but when your guests get a taste, I doubt it’ll last nearly that long. The whole thing will probably be gone by the end of the party. In all, this recipe will make 16 - 20 servings.
For the best possible texture, you’ll want to be sure to sieve the fresh raspberries, blueberries, and freshly squeezed orange juice before folding them into their respective mascarpone mixture.
🙋🏻 FAQ
Not all cheesecakes need to be baked, but in order to get the perfect texture, you’ll need to put your no bake cheesecake in the freezer for at least three hours – but preferably overnight! If you skip this crucial step, or cut short on the time need, your cheesecake will be more like a cheesecake pudding mix.
A no-bake cheesecake recipe really means you don’t need to bake a thing! You won't need to pop anything in the oven or let things cool on a wire rack. You don’t need to buy a pre-baked crust, either. Everything can be prepped on your kitchen counter. The only thing you’ll need to do to get the perfect texture is pop it in the freezer for the right amount of time. If you can, try to refrigerate overnight.
No-bake cheesecakes typically last 4–5 days in the fridge. Because of all the fresh fruit, for this no-bake 4th of July Cheesecake, I recommend keeping it for 3–5 days.
One of the main differences between a baked cheesecake and a no-bake cheesecake – besides the fact that one of them doesn't go in the oven – is the use of eggs. A no-bake cheesecake does not use any eggs, and is dependent on getting its texture from time spent chilling in the refrigerator or freezer.
Some people argue that baked cheesecakes are superior because of their dense, fluffy texture, but I'd make the case that each sweet dessert is delicious in its own right. I'm also a big fan of no-bake cheese cakes because you don't have to wait for it to cool completely after you cook it.
If you make this recipe, let me know how you liked it by ★★★★★ star rating it and leaving a comment below. This would be awesome! You can also follow me on Pinterest or Instagram and share your creation with me. Just tag me @combinegoodflavors and hashtag #combinegoodflavors, so I don't miss it.
📖 Recipe
Fourth of July Cake
Equipment
- Hand or stand mixer
- Springform pan 12 inch // 30 cm
- Wisk
- Microwave optional
Ingredients
Crust
- 10 oz Biscuits Graham cracker or petit beurre biscuits
- 5 oz Butter
- ¼ cup Milk
- ½ cup Walnuts
- 1 tablespoon Corn starch
Cheesecake Filling
- 25 oz Mascarpone
- 15 oz Cream cheese
- 1 cup Whipping cream
- ¾ cup Icing sugar
- 1 cup Blueberries
- 1 cup Raspberries
- ¼ cup Water
- 1 Orange freshly squeezed
- ½ cup Sugar
Glaze
- ⅓ tablespoon Gelatin granules
- ⅛ cup Water
- 7 tablespoon Whipping cream
- ¼ cup White chocolate
- ¼ cup Blueberry/Raspberry
- Zebra rolls
Instructions
Crust
- Crush the biscuits and walnuts with a rolling pin once you put them in a plastic bag. If you can get biscuit crumbs in the market, go for them or use a food processor for crushing the biscuits.10 oz Biscuits, ½ cup Walnuts
- Place the butter and milk in a microwave safe bowl and melt it on medium setting until the butter is completely molten.5 oz Butter, ¼ cup Milk
- Save 2 tbsp. on the side and mix the rest of the butter and milk with the crushed biscuits and walnuts.
- Mix until all the crumbs are mixed well with the butter.
- Put parchment paper on the bottom of the cake pan and brush it with the molten butter that we kept on the side. Sprinkle the corn starch on top of the paper and shake the cake pan until it's evenly covered with corn starch, and get rid of the excess by turning it over.1 tablespoon Corn starch
- Place in the refrigerator for 2-3 minutes.
- Once the starch and butter dusting is cooled, pour the biscuit mix on top of it and tightly press it evenly till the edges of the cake pan.
- Put it in the freezer for at least 15 minutes
Cheesecake filling
- In a big mixing bowl (ideally the one of your kitchen machine) add the mascarpone and mix it with a mixer for 3–5 minutes until it softens.25 oz Mascarpone
- While mixing, gradually add the icing sugar to the mascarpone, and after that the cream cheese.15 oz Cream cheese, ¾ cup Icing sugar
- In a second bowl, mix the whipping cream till it makes soft peaks on the mixers whisks.1 cup Whipping cream
- Gradually combine the mascarpone mix and whipping cream by hand with circling movements.
- After all the ingredients are well combined, separate them equally in 3 mixing bowls, so you can create the different flavors and colors.
- With two different pans start making the flavoring.
- In one put ¼ cup (50 g) of the sugar, ⅛ cup (30 ml) water and 1 cup (150 g) blueberries, and put on medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and mix with a spatula so you crush the blueberries.1 cup Blueberries, ¼ cup Water, ½ cup Sugar
- Repeat the same process in a different pan with the raspberries.1 cup Raspberries
- Sieve the fresh raspberries/ blueberries before folding them into their respective mascarpone mixture.
- Once done, combine the two different flavorings in the two different mascarpone bowls.
- In the third bowl, combine the mascarpone mix with the orange juice.1 Orange
- Take the cake pan with the crust out of the freezer, and empty the blueberry filling on top of it.
- Spread it evenly with a spatula, and once you make a flat surface, put back in the freezer for about until it becomes firm.
- Once the blueberry filling stiffens, empty the raspberry filling on top and spread evenly again, and put in the freezer again till this layer stiffens.
- After that, spread the orange filling and freeze again till it stiffens and till it is ready for the glaze.
Glaze
- Start making the glaze by putting the gelatin granules in the water and leave them to hydrate for 5 minutes.⅓ tablespoon Gelatin granules, ⅛ cup Water
- Meanwhile, put the whipping cream in a microwave till it goes over 60 degrees (or 2-3 minutes on high setting).7 tablespoon Whipping cream
- After that, add the gelatin to the cream, as well as the white chocolate, and mix them till they combine well.¼ cup White chocolate
- Once combined, pour the glaze on top of the cheesecake.
- Garnish with the rest of the blueberries and raspberries, and add some zebra rolls if you fancy.¼ cup Blueberry/Raspberry, Zebra rolls
- Put the cheesecake in the freezer for at least 3 hours (preferably overnight).
- When the cake is hardened, remove it from the spring form.
- Once thawed, serve.
Please note that all my recipes are developed and tested in metric grams. I recommend using digital scales for more accurate results. I provided a conversion to US customary in the recipe, but please note that I haven't tested it using this method.
Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
⛑️ Food Safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
Andréa Janssen
This sounds so delicious, and also looks wonderful. And the recipe is easy to follow. I'm going to save this for upcoming 4th of July baking!
Gloria
I love cheesecake. No-bake is the best. No worries about it cracking. Always a hit at parties.
Elizabeth
Love the addition of blueberry cream cheese! Thanks for the recipe!
Mitch
Can I just say... that 4th of July cheesecake looks extravagant! The colors are beautiful!
swathi
That cheese cake looks delicious perfect for fourth of July. I love it.