Your sweet tooth is going to love this decedent dulce de leche no-bake cheesecake. Featuring a graham cracker crust lined with a layer of dulce de leche. And a no-bake filling made with a few simple ingredients that comes together in minutes. It’s a perfect dessert for any occasion.
Sometimes you make something new for the first time and you just have to sit back and cry a little. Why? Because it’s depressing knowing that you’ve gone your entire life never experiencing it before. Ok, maybe that’s a bit overdramatic, but that’s pretty much how I felt the first time I made this dulce de leche cheesecake tart.
It was that good!
And I know you folks are going to have a similar reaction.
What is a No-Bake Cheesecake?
You are going to love today’s recipe for dulce de leche cheesecake tart because it’s a no-bake cheesecake. You see, unlike regular cheesecakes, no-bake cheesecakes are incredibly easy to make. All you really have to do is beat together a couple of ingredients in a bowl, pour those ingredients into a pan, and place it in your fridge to set.
That’s literally it!
And better yet it’s a foolproof method for making cheesecake. Since there’s no baking involved you don’t have to worry about overcooking or undercooking anything. As long as you stick with the amounts for each ingredient and follow our instructions in the recipe you can’t mess it up.
The Difference Between Caramel and Dulce de Leche
While caramel and dulce de leche are very similar ingredients that can often be used in similar fashions, they are definitely not the same.
You see, caramel is simply sugar that has been caramelized. Which is just a fancy scientific term for slowly heating sugar until the molecules break down and re-form into, well, caramel. Because of this caramel often has a more simple, and in my opinion sweeter flavor than dulce de leche.
Dulce de leche on the other hand is made by caramelizing both sugar and milk together. And is often done at a much lower temperature over a longer period. This allows the natural sugars in the milk, lactose, to become browned and caramelized. Which results in a thicker substance that is both mellower in flavor, and more rich and complex than regular caramel.
Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
- Make the crackers super fine: You will want to make sure that the graham crackers are crumbled super fine, almost like the consistency of sand. And to do this you have two options. The first, and easiest method is to blitz the crackers in a food processor. The second option is to place the crackers into a plastic bag and crumble them with something heavy like a rolling pin.
- Tart pan: While it’s not necessary I highly recommend that you use a tart pan with removable sides to make this dish. It will just make presenting and serving the cheesecake so much easier.
- Make it beforehand: You can easily make this dessert ahead of time. It will keep well in your fridge for at least 3 days and even stay good in a freezer for a week or two.
Other desserts you might enjoy
Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Tart (No-Bake) Recipe
Prep time: 20 minutes
Rest time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 8
Ingredients
For the crust:
1½ Cups of finely crumbled graham crackers, should take roughly 10 to 11 sheets
4 Tablespoons of butter, melted
For the Cheesecake filling:
8 oz. of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
½ Cup of powdered sugar
1 Teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 Cup of whipped cream
13.4 oz. Can of dulce de leche
Instructions
- Form the crust: Combine the crumbled graham crackers and melted butter in a mixing bowl. Transfer this to an 11-inch sized tart pan and use either your hands or something flat like a glass cup to push the crust mixture into the bottom and sides of the pan.
Make sure it’s in their firm and is relatively smooth. Place this in either your fridge or freezer for 30 to 40 minutes so that the crust sets.
- Make the cheesecake filling: Use either a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl + hand mixer and beat the softened cream cheese for 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and roughly half of the dulce de leche to the cream cheese. Continue to beat all of these ingredients together for another 2 minutes or until thoroughly incorporated.
Finally, add the cup of whipped cream and use a spatula to gently fold it into the beaten ingredients until everything is combined.
- Assemble the cheesecake: Once the crust has set you can take it out of your fridge or freezer. Then pour the remaining dulce de leche over the crust and gently spread it to form a smooth layer.
Finally pour the cheesecake filling over the dulce de leche layer and use a spatula to smooth out the top.
- Let the cheesecake sit in your fridge for at least 4 hours so that sets up and becomes firm.
- Slice up the dulce de leche cheesecake tart and enjoy!
Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Tart (No-Bake) Recipe
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1½ Cups of finely crumbled graham crackers should take roughly 10 to 11 sheets
- 4 Tablespoons of butter melted
For the Cheesecake filling:
- 8 oz. of cream cheese softened to room temperature
- ½ Cup of powdered sugar
- 1 Teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 Cup of whipped cream
- 13.4 oz. Can of dulce de leche
Instructions
- Form the crust: Combine the crumbled graham crackers and melted butter in a mixing bowl. Transfer this to an 11-inch sized tart pan and use either your hands or something flat like a glass cup to push the crust mixture into the bottom and sides of the pan. Make sure it’s in their firm and is relatively smooth. Place this in either your fridge or freezer for 30 to 40 minutes so that the crust sets.
- Make the cheesecake filling: Use either a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl + hand mixer and beat the softened cream cheese for 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and roughly half of the dulce de leche to the cream cheese. Continue to beat all of these ingredients together for another 2 minutes or until thoroughly incorporated. Finally, add the cup of whipped cream and use a spatula to gently fold it into the beaten ingredients until everything is combined.
- Assemble the cheesecake: Once the crust has set you can take it out of your fridge or freezer. Then pour the remaining dulce de leche over the crust and gently spread it to form a smooth layer. Finally pour the cheesecake filling over the dulce de leche layer and use a spatula to smooth out the top.
- Let the cheesecake sit in your fridge for at least 4 hours so that sets up and becomes firm.
- Slice up the dulce de leche cheesecake tart and enjoy!
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