Name: No-bake kefir cheesecake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 295 min
Ingredients: 200 g graham cracker crumbs (Crush finely; plain digestive biscuits can replace the crackers by weight.); 100 g butter (Melt before mixing with the crumbs.); 350 ml plain milk kefir (Unsweetened.); 500 g cream cheese (Two 250 g blocks of full-fat cream cheese; let them soften before mixing.); 4 tbsp honey (Taste the filling and add a little more if you like it sweeter.); 1 tbsp unflavoured gelatin powder (Use ordinary powder that needs soaking before heating; measure a level tablespoon.); 75 ml plain water (Use cold drinking water for soaking the gelatin.); 150 g blueberries (Fresh or frozen.)

By Nik, founder of 東歐嚴選｜kefir.link and former chef · Updated 2 November 2026

A buttery graham-cracker base, a pale cream cheese layer and a purple blueberry layer come together without an oven. Milk kefir, a sour, lightly fizzy drink as thick as runny yogurt, gives the filling a fresh tang. Gelatin does the oven's job, setting the cream into slices that melt on the tongue.

Prep time20 min

Total time4 h 55 min

Makes8 servings

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An American dessert that started in the icebox

Setting a dessert in the cold instead of the oven is an old American habit. Icebox pies needed no baking, so they became summer favourites, and some were set with gelatin. By the early 1960s, gelatin cookbooks were printing no-bake cheesecakes, and in 1966 a boxed mix appeared that needed only milk. The kefir version carries on that line: a cool, creamy cheesecake that sets in the fridge instead of the oven.

Why gelatin suits a kefir filling

Kefir flows like runny yogurt, and gelatin is what makes it sliceable. Gelatin binds water into a soft gel that melts at body temperature, so each slice feels creamy rather than stiff. Agar and kanten start setting at room temperature, mix poorly with cold ingredients and give cheesecake a firmer bite. Use full-fat block cream cheese, softened but not warm: cold cheese leaves lumps, warm cheese makes a runny filling, and the softer spreadable kind can need more gelatin.

Marbled, single-colour or topped with fruit

Draw a knife through the two layers for a marbled top, or stir the blueberry sauce through all the filling for a single purple cake. A spoonful of blueberry jam on each slice adds extra sweetness and fruit. Fresh strawberries or a cherry or lemon pie filling make good toppings too. Chocolate sandwich cookies give you a chocolate base, and muffin cups turn the filling into individual cakes.