No Bake Nutella Cheesecake is the perfect blending of a luscious Nutella and cream cheese filling with a crisp, gluten free Oreo hazelnut crust. This rich, chocolatey dessert comes together with minimal effort. It's the perfect cheesecake for anyone who loves the classic pairing of chocolate and hazelnuts and also wants a gluten free crust.
Nutella is a brand name for a classic hazelnut spread enhanced with cocoa. Yes, it has a lot of sugar. Let's just acknowledge that, have a moment of silence and move on. Nutella is something we can occasionally truly enjoy, but we don't have to eat it everyday. Unless, you're in Europe. Then you might just find Nutella at the continental breakfast, and you try telling a 9 year old they can't eat Nutella for breakfast. I failed that morning. In fact, here's proof of just how much I failed. My daughter also found the largest piece of bread ever made in which to put her Nutella on.
But I digress. So, have you tried roasted hazelnuts straight out their package? Roasted hazelnuts naturally have a fantastic hint of chocolate flavor, so it's really only natural that we pair hazelnuts and chocolate together. And Nutella did a great job of capturing that hazelnut flavor, enhancing it with chocolate and turning it into a spreadable form. Nutella lends itself perfectly to a no bake cheesecake.
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Ingredients for the Gluten Free Oreo Crust
- Gluten Free Oreos
- Roasted hazelnuts
- Salted butter
See recipe card for quantities.
Ingredients for the Nutella Cheesecake Filling
- Nutella
- Cream cheese
- Powdered sugar
- Heavy whipping cream
See recipe card for quantities.
Ingredients for Decorating the Nutella Cheesecake
- Nutella
- Heavy whipping cream
- Powdered sugar
- Roasted hazelnuts
- Cocoa powder
- Kinder Bueno bar (not gluten free)
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions for decorating the cheesecake
Decorating cheesecakes is easier than you think it is! Just break it down into smaller steps.
- Prep the cheesecake. Remove the sides of the springform pan. Optionally, remove the cheesecake from the bottom of the springform pan and slide it onto a serving plate or cake board.
- Add the Nutella drizzle. Heat ½ cup of Nutella in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add it to a decorator bottle or piping bag and pipe it on to the top of the cheesecake in the design of your choice.
- Add the hazelnut crumbs. Put ¼ cup roasted hazelnuts and ¼ teaspoon of cocoa powder in a food processor and blend until the hazelnuts are coated in the cocoa powder and are the size of nut crumbs. Sprinkle the nut crumbs on top of the Nutella drizzle.
- Add the whipped cream and candy pieces. Whip together one cup of heaving whipping cream, ½ cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of Nutella until stiff peaks have formed. It takes 3-5 minutes at high speed. Pipe or spoon the whipped cream on the cheesecake and top with optional Kinder Bueno bar (not gluten free) pieces.
Substitutions
- Gluten Free Oreos - you can substitute other sandwich cookies of your choice. Other sandwich cookies may have a different fat content though, so you'll want to make sure your crust is not too dry. Start by making the crust as described below with the different sandwich cookies. Once you've finished mixing the crust, pick up a handful and squeeze tight. If it mostly stays together in your hand, it's perfect. If it crumbles and won't stay together, add another tablespoon of melted butter and test again. However, we don't need a lot of butter to hold together a no bake crust.
Equipment
A hand or stand mixer is needed to make the cheesecake filling. A small food processor is helpful to grind the hazelnuts, but those can be chopped with a knife as well.
Storage
Store the no bake Nutella cheesecake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Next Level Tips
- I like to top my desserts so that the decoration gives a clue to the flavor of the dessert. Nutella cheesecake is brown similar to chocolate cheesecake. So to give the expectation of hazelnut flavor, I like to add Kinder Bueno bar pieces to the top. Kinder Bueno bars contain hazelnuts and are light and delicious. You can also use Ferrero Rocher hazelnut chocolates. I just prefer Kinder Buenos as they have a lighter texture. Kinder chocolates are everywhere these days too. A lot of grocery stores even carry Kinder Buenos with all the other candies by the cash registers. Kinder Buenos and Ferrero Rocher hazelnut chocolates are not gluten free.
- Decorating a cheesecake is easy when you think about it one step at a time. See the instructions for the Nutella cheesecake decorations above. You also don't have to complete all steps. You can stop at any step or skip some steps.
- For decorating the cheesecake in the photos, I used an Ateco 4 tip for the drizzle and a Wilton 1M tip for the Nutella whipped cream.
- We only add 1 tablespoon of Nutella for the whipped cream on top because we're mostly using it for coloring and a light flavoring, and we want the texture to be light.
FAQ
Yes, you can use other sandwich cookies, even regular Oreos that contain gluten if you want a regular crust. Just count out the same number of cookies. Not all sandwich cookies have the same fat content though, so just check to make sure your crust is not too dry. Once you've finished mixing the crust, pick up a handful and squeeze. If it mostly stays together in your hand, it's perfect. If it crumbles and won't stay together, add another tablespoon of melted butter and test again.
No, melted Nutella works great as a drizzle all by itself. There's no need to create an extra step of making a ganache. Just microwave the Nutella for about 30 seconds, just until it drips well. Then, put it in a decorator bottle or piping bag and pipe it on. You can also use a spoon to dribble on the drizzle.
I prefer 8 inch springform pans for no bake cheesecakes and 9 inch springform pans for baked cheesecakes, but you can use either.
Yes, but roasting brings out the chocolate flavor in hazelnuts. I highly recommend roasted hazelnuts.
Related
Looking for other no-bake cheesecakes? Try these:
No Bake Nutella Cheesecake with a Gluten Free Hazelnut Oreo Crust
Equipment
- 1 Stand mixer or hand mixer
- 1 Food processor optional
Ingredients
Crust
- 14 gluten free Oreos
- ½ cup chopped roasted hazelnuts
- 3 tablespoons salted butter melted
Filling
- 24 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 cup Nutella
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ cup powdered sugar
Toppings
- ¼ cup Nutella for drizzle
- ¼ cup roasted hazelnuts
- ¼ teaspoon cocoa powder
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon Nutella for whipped cream
Instructions
Make the crust
- Spray an 8 or 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray.
- Add 14 gluten free Oreos (insides included) and ½ cup hazelnuts into a food processor and grind into smaller pieces.
- Microwave 3 tablespoons of salted butter just until melted, 15-30 seconds. Mix the butter into the Oreo mixture until the butter is evenly distributed.
- Add the crust mixture to the springform pan. Even it out and then press very firmly into the pan with a flat bottom of a measuring cup.
Make the filling
- Add the room temperature cream cheese to a mixing bowl and mix on low speed until the cream cheese is light and fluffy with no lumps remaining. Approximately 2-3 minutes.
- Add 1 cup of Nutella to the mixing bowl and mix on low until the Nutella and cream cheese are fully combined.
- Add the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar to the mixing bowl and mix on medium high to high until light and fluffy. Approximately 2-3 minutes.
- Pour the cheesecake filling on top of the crust and even out the top with a spatula.
- Refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours but preferably overnight.
Decorate the cheesecake
- Run a knife around the outside of the springform pan and then remove the ring.
- If using a cardboard cake board or a serving plate, remove the cheesecake from the bottom of the springform pan with a cake lifter by gently sliding the cheesecake from the springform pan bottom on to the cake board or serving plate while supporting the underside of the cheesecake.
- Microwave ¼ cup of Nutella for 20-30 seconds, just until it will drip. Add it to a decorator bottle or piping bag (or use a spoon) and drizzle across the cheesecake. [If you would like a lot of drizzle, use ½ cup of Nutella instead.]
- In a food processor, grind ¼ cup of hazelnuts and a ¼ teaspoon of cocoa powder until the hazelnuts are coated in chocolate and the nuts are the size of a crumb. [You can also chop them with a knife.] Sprinkle across the cheesecake over the drizzle.
- Add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and Nutella to a mixing bowl. Preferably use the whisk attachment and whisk on medium high to high until medium to stiff peaks form. Be patient. It may take 3-5 minutes. [If you want a lot of Nutella whipped cream, you can double the ingredients.] Pipe or spoon on the Nutella whipped cream and top with the Kinder Bueno candy bar pieces if desired (Kinder Bueno bars are not gluten free.)
- Serve immediately or refrigerate!
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