Gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake recipe – no-bake and super easy to make! I made this using Aero peppermint bubbles for the ultimate mint chocolate experience.
Gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake recipe – that’s the six words that entered my head when I found out that Aero peppermint bubbles were gluten free. And here we are. I created this recipe to celebrate reaching 80k followers on Instagram (woo!)
Is it pretty crazy to say that this is the FIRST EVER mint chocolate flavour combo I’ve ever posted on the blog? I’ve been really hammering the chocolate orange recipes recently, but mint chocolate is actually one of my fave combos too!
I mean… think After Eights, Mint Aeros AND Fry’s Peppermint Cream bars. My Mum wouldn’t forgive me for not mentioning Fry’s – they were her childhood favourite apparently ?
But that all changes now! And boy am I starting my journey into mint chocolate with a bang. I mean, c’mon, look at it. It’s bloody bright green!! If whoever you make this for isn’t impressed, then they might actually be beyond help.
My gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake recipe is incredibly easy to make and because it’s no-bake, you don’t even need an oven. But what does it taste like?
For starters, it has a gluten free bourbon biscuit base to make sure it’s suuuuper chocolatey. After all, without chocolate, the taste of mint just reminds me of toothpaste!!
Then, it’s topped with an insanely creamy, soft and fluffy mascarpone mint cheesecake filling, crammed with smashed up Aero peppermint bubbles. Oh and I couldn’t resist throwing a few on top too. Job done!
And yes, Aero peppermint bubbles AND Aero peppermint mini eggs are both gluten free in the UK at the time of writing (January 2020). But don’t just take my word for it, go check the ingredients for yourself too!
Every bite is an intense hit of mint chocolate, bringing back all those mint Aero, After Eight vibes that I feel like I haven’t had in AGES. Trust me, you will love my gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake recipe!
Oh and here’s what you’ll need for my gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake recipe. It’s actually really simple – you only need 8 ingredients! For recommendations on what green food colouring to use, read the FAQ below.
Ingredients for my gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake recipe
For the base
- 300g – 320g gluten free bourbon biscuits
- 130g butter, melted
For the filling
- 560g full fat cream cheese (I use Mascarpone for this one)
- 100g icing sugar
- 2 tsp peppermint extract (I use Nielsen-Massey)
- green food colouring (I always use Sugarflair colouring)
- 300ml double cream
- 175g mint chocolate aero (chopped up bars, bubbles or eggs)
For the topping
- mint chocolate areo bubbles / eggs
If you’re looking for the method, keep scrolling down this post until you see the recipe card ?? See you down there!
Oh and here’s a few tips and frequently asked questions to make sure you make the perfect gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake every time:
Can I make this recipe gluten free? Is it suitable for Coeliacs?
It is gluten free, though nobody would know just by tasting it – trust me!
And yes, if you use gluten free biscuits for the base, check all your products for ‘may contain’ warnings/gluten-containing ingredients AND safely prepare your cooking area/equipment correctly – it is suitable for Coeliacs.
Bear in mind that minimising cross-contamination is hugely important if you’re Coeliac or making this for someone who is. Here’s some tips from Coeliac UK on minimising the risk of cross contamination:
- Wipe down all cooking surfaces
- Thoroughly clean your pots and pans with soap and water
- Standard washing up liquids are fine to use or using your dishwasher will remove gluten
- You do not need to use separate cloths or sponges to clean utensils and cookware
- Use separate chopping boards to keep gluten free food and gluten food separate
- Use a separate toaster or toaster bags for toasting any bread
- Use clean oil or a separate fryer if you’re frying gluten free food
- Use separate utensils and dishes for condiments, jams and spreads. Never ‘double dip’ your utensils if spreading onto food containing gluten!
Make sure that all ingredients used don’t have any gluten-containing ingredients. Then make that that they also don’t have a ‘may contain’ warning for gluten, wheat, rye, barley, oats (which aren’t gf), spelt and khorasan wheat (aka Kamut).
Here’s some more info from Coeliac UK on identifying safe gluten free products.
Can I make your gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake recipe dairy free?
Most of my recipes are really easy to make dairy free with a few simple swaps, but unfortunately, it’s not so simple with cheesecakes.
The cheesecake filling is purely made up of dairy – double cream AND mascarpone cheese. And though dairy free versions are available, they just don’t set like whipped dairy does.
I am working on a few dairy free cheesecake alternatives in my kitchen at all the time, but I just want them to be perfect before I share them, so stay tuned!
Can I make your gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake recipe vegan?
Though there’s no eggs in this recipe, read above for the same reasons why this can’t be made vegan.
Like I said, if I make a dairy free cheesecake in the near future, you can bet that it’ll be vegan too so keep an eye on my Instagram for when I finally post it.
Is your gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake recipe nut free?
Yep, this is a nut-free recipe as far as ingredients go, BUT make sure you check the ingredients label on ALL the products you use to bake this cake just to be safe.
Even if the products don’t contain nuts, they may have a ‘may contain nuts’ warning due to being produced in a factory that handles nuts. Aero bubbles and mini eggs currently don’t have any nuts listed in the ingredients and no ‘may contain nuts’ warning at the time of writing.
But you can never be too careful so always read the labels on everything for yourself first.
Is your gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake recipe low FODMAP?
Sadly, because of the high dairy content, this recipe isn’t suitable for the elimination phase of the low FODMAP diet.
However, if you’ve successfully reintroduced dairy during the reintroduction phase then this might still be a suitable option for you later in the diet.
Can I make your gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake in a food processor or standing mixer?
Of course you can! I actually use both in this recipe just to speed up things. I use my food processor to blitz the biscuit base (don’t over-do them, you want them to be nice and chunky!) and my standing mixer to mix the cheesecake filling.
If you only have a food processor, you can happily use it to mix both separately. However, if you only have a standing mixer, you’ll have to bash the biscuits in a plastic bag using a rolling pin.
Just remember to keep scraping down the side of the mixing bowl when making the cheesecake filling – this applies to both a food processor AND standing mixer.
Oh and remember NOT to over-mix the cheesecake filling, otherwise it can split. Once it’s nice and thick and creamy, stop.
Can I make your gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake without any kind of electric mixer/appliance at all?
You can, of course, bake this without any assistance from any appliance – just a good ol’ fashioned wooden spoon or spatula will do.
But you will need a lot of elbow grease to get the biscuits bashed and the filling mixed. Just make sure you give it a lot of welly, otherwise your mixture won’t be consistent!
So yeah, if you’re making my gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake by hand, make sure you mix everything really, really well before adding the next ingredients to the bowl.
Remember, an under-mixed cheesecake filling won’t set! And you’re much more likely to under-mix than over-mix if you’re doing it by hand.
Do I need any special equipment to make your gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake recipe?
You won’t need anything in particular apart from a deep, loose bottom tin – here’s the one I use. It’s important to use a deep one as this is a tall cheesecake!
It’s 20cm (8 inch) in diameter, so remember if your tin is wider than mine, your cheesecake will end up looking a lot flatter!
A springform tin is fine too – here’s the one I sometimes use. I don’t use it all the time because it’s next to impossible to get the entire cheesecake off the base at once.
And ideally, I don’t want to be serving the cheesecake and slicing it on my springform base because it’ll get all scratched. So I much prefer to use a loose bottom tin.
But definitely don’t make this in a normal cake tin without a loose bottom/springform mechanism. You won’t be able to get the cheesecake out or cut it!
Can I make this recipe without xanthan gum?
There’s no xanthan gum in any of my cheesecake recipes, this one included.
You’ll see xanthan gum in a lot of my recipes as it’s an essential ingredient in gluten free baking – in cakes and biscuits, it helps to replace gluten by binding the texture together.
Otherwise you can end up with a very crumbly bake. Fortunately, that doesn’t apply here!
What cream cheese should I use for the filling?
I often use Philadelphia cream cheese for my cheesecakes, but for this one, I’ve chosen to use mascarpone cheese. You can easily find it in the cheese aisle of any supermarket.
Both are fine, but I tend to use mascarpone for cheesecakes if I can because it makes my cheesecakes set to be a little firmer than when using Philadelphia.
You can happily try this with Philadelphia, but I know from experience that it will be a much softer cheesecake which won’t hold its shape out of the fridge for too long. I’d say try both at some point and see which you prefer!
Can I make your gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake using light cream cheese or reduced fat mascarpone?
Definitely, no! Using light cream cheese or reduced fat mascarpone is a very quick way to ensure that your cheesecake is an instant disaster.
As the fat content is much lower, your cheesecake won’t ever have a hope of setting in the fridge. It’s fall-fat or nothing, I’m afraid!
What gluten free biscuits should I use for the base?
As I wanted the base to be really chocolatey, I used gluten free bourbon biscuits from the free from aisle like these. I wouldn’t recommend using plain digestives for this, as you really need some chocolatey taste to balance out the mint flavour.
What green food colouring should I use?
I wouldn’t recommend using colour gels that you can find in supermarkets but they simply aren’t concentrated enough. By the time you add enough to make your cheesecake filling green, the mixture will be too wet.
I use Sugarflair’s party green colour, which you can pick up from Amazon for about £3. You end up using so little of it, that it doesn’t affect the consistency of the mixture and it works out being cheaper, because it lasts a lot longer.
What peppermint extract should I use?
I’ve always used Nielsen-Massey peppermint extract from Sainsbury’s but any minty extract will do for this one.
Do I need weighing scales to make your gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake?
In short… yes, yes and yes! And I wouldn’t advise attempting any my recipes without them. One of the worst things you can do in any recipe is alter the quantities by mistake or on purpose.
(unless you know what you’re doing of course)
Why? Well, you’re sort of just gambling with the recipe and praying that it turns out ok, don’t you think? And I’ve generally already done the hard work there for you, so you don’t have to do the guesswork with measurements!
A lot of work went into fine tuning ratios and quantities so I wouldn’t mess around with them unless you really know your stuff.
I’d recommending using digital cooking scales like these so you know you’re getting an accurate measurement and replicating my recipe as accurately as poss.
Can I make your gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake without sugar?
I can understand the need to reduce sugar in our foods, but this recipe is one where I wouldn’t recommend it!
The sugar in the cheesecake filling helps to balance out the rich cheese flavour from the mascarpone. That makes it taste more like a dessert than an actual cake made of cheese if you know what I mean ?
So yeah, remove the sugar at your own risk!
Can I use other sugar apart from icing sugar in this recipe?
I’ve chosen to use icing sugar in this recipe because it’s nice and light, powdery and almost vanishes into the cheesecake filling. Other sugars just wouldn’t work the same.
By using other granulated sugars (like caster sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar etc), you’ll end up with an almost gritty-like texture in your cheesecake filling which is far from good!
That’s because this is a no-bake recipe. That means there’s no heat to break the sugar down and dissolve it, so it’ll just be all grainy in the filling.
So yeah, icing sugar is the only way to go!
How long can I keep your gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake for?
Obviously keep this in the fridge at all times (it’s cheese after all!) and it should last around 4-5 days – keep it in an airtight container, or covered with clingfilm.
Watch out for any signs of mold after that point onwards – it is cheese after all!
Can I freeze my gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake?
Yep! You can freeze it for up to 2-3 months without a problem – just make sure you put it in an airtight plastic container. It’s probably a good idea to slice it first so you can defrost a slice at a time.
If you want to defrost the entire cheesecake, leave it at room temperature to thaw for around 12 hours. A single slice will probably only take about 5 hours to thaw, so get it out ahead of time!
Can I bake my gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake in the oven?
No, please don’t! This is a no-bake cheesecake, meaning that it’s made to be chilled in the fridge and that’s it.
I can guarantee that if you try and bake this in the oven, you’ll just end up with a big mess to clear up ?
A baked cheesecake will usually have eggs in the filling which will help it to set when heated – this isn’t one of those recipes!
Troubleshooting
My cheesecake filling mixture split – what happened?
That means you probably over-mixed it, which you must be careful not to do! This will definitely cause the entire mixture to split.
You can avoid this happening by not using the highest setting on your mixer whilst making this. Also, don’t leave the filling in the mixer for any more than it needs to! Once it’s whipped up nicely to a nice, thick consistency, stop.
My cheesecake filling became really thin. What happened?
That’s what happens when you over-mix your cheesecake filling too. Try to avoid mixing once the cheesecake filling is thick and combined/consistent.
If it all goes wrong, still try giving it a chance to set in the fridge anyway – it might set, you never know! And if it doesn’t, just pop it in the freezer and serve it up slightly more frozen!
My cheesecake filling spilt out everywhere when I removed it from the tin. What did I do wrong?
That could be a case of not waiting long enough for your cheesecake to set.
A cheesecake really does need a good 12 hours to set – after all, we’re not baking anything in this recipe at all! So you’ve got to give it a lot of time to chill in the fridge and set. Patience is important.
If you did allow your cheesecake an adequate time to set and this happened, then it’ll be down to two other reasons. Firstly, you might have over-mixed your mixture and it either split, or became really thin.
Secondly, you could have under-mixed it. The cheesecake filling shouldn’t be of a ‘pourable’ consistency, it should whip up to a nice thickness that you can spoon into your loose-bottom tin. That’s how to tell when to stop mixing!
My cheesecake filling was a bit lumpy instead of being smooth. What happened?
Sounds like you didn’t mix your cheesecake filling well enough. Adding in the ingredients gradually (not all at once!) can help prevent this massively.
My cheesecake isn’t as tall as yours – how come?
That means you probably used a cake tin that’s bigger than mine (mine is 20cm/8 inches).
I mean, don’t go rushing out to buy a new one if you have one that’s 10 inches wide – but your cheesecake will look flatter!
Can I print your gluten free mint chocolate cheesecake recipe?
Of course! Just hit the print button located on the recipe below ?? (otherwise you might end up printing this entire post which would probably make your printer go into early retirement)
Gluten Free Mint Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
For the base
- 300 g - 320g gluten free bourbon biscuits
- 130 g butter melted
For the filling
- 560 g full fat cream cheese I use Mascarpone for this one
- 100 g icing sugar
- 2 tsp peppermint extract I use Nielsen-Massey - linked above
- green food colouring I always use Sugarflair party green colouring - linked above
- 300 ml double cream
- 175 g mint chocolate Aero bubbles or mini eggs chopped up bars, bubbles or eggs
For the topping
- mint chocolate Aero bubbles / eggs
Instructions
- Crush your gluten free bourbons. I place mine in a sandwich bag and hit them with a rolling pin. You can make them quite small or have some chunkier bits. Alternatively you can place them in a food processor and blitz, but don't over blitz them into a fine dust!
- Melt your butter - I do this in the microwave on a medium power (600W) for around 30 seconds to 1 minute. But if it melts before this time, stop - it's done!
- Pour your melted butter into your crushed biscuits and mix together in a bowl.
- Press your biscuit mixture into the tin you are going to be making your cheesecake in. Press it down nice and firmly. I use a 20cm loose bottom tin (linked above and below).
- Place it in the fridge to chill whilst you make your cheesecake top. (I leave mine in the fridge for at least 30 minutes)
- To make your cheesecake filling, mix together your mascarpone, icing sugar and peppermint extract. I use my standing mixer to do this on a low/medium setting for only about 10-20 seconds. You could use an electric hand mixer too.
- Add in the double cream and keep mixing until it firms up a little. (I had the KitchenAid on a medium setting for just under 2 minutes for this - try not to over mix though... don't let it split!) It should end up being a nice, fairly thick mixture you can spoon - NOT a pourable consistency. Towards the end of the 2 minutes mixing, add your green food colouring. I add the tiniest amount at a time and allow it to mix before adding more. Get it to your desired light green minty colour!
- Make sure it's mixed throughout, so your mixture at the bottom of the bowl is green like the top probably will be. If it isn't, very briefly and gently fold it until it is nice and consistently green.
- Fold in your mint chocolate Aero bubbles or mini eggs.
- Spread your mixture on top of the biscuit base and place in the fridge to chill overnight.
- Remove from the tin and decorate with more mint chocolate Aero. Keep refrigerated until serving, or if you have any leftovers. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Any questions about the recipe? Please do let me know by following me on Instagram and leaving me a comment on a recent photo!
Thanks for reading,
Becky xxx
Oh and don’t forget to pin this for later!
