This creamy, baked eggless cheesecake is a straight swap of the “regular” Vanilla Cheesecake here on LinsFood. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to know that cheesecakes are extremely easy to convert into eggless recipes.
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Table of contents
- Cheesecakes, Tequila and an Island
- Eggless Cheesecake
- Ingredients We’ll Need
- Equipment
- Eggless Cheesecake Recipe
- What Cheese to use for our No-Egg Cheesecake?
- Cheesecake Topping or Sauce
- Water Bath for Baked Cheesecakes
- Can we use Half Fat Cream Cheese?
- Bake the Best Eggless Cheesecake!
- How long will it Keep?
- FAQs
- Images by LinsFoodies
Cheesecakes, Tequila and an Island
Ask my close friends what I’d want if I were to ever be stranded on a deserted island. They’d tell you a cheesecake and a bottle of tequila. Personal pirate, optional.
What can I say? I love the stuff!
All the cheesecakes on LInsFood are eggless, apart from 2. If you’ve been following me a while, you’ll know that’s because my girls have an egg allergy.
So, want to know how to make a cheesecake without eggs? Keep reading!
Eggless Cheesecake
All I did, was replace the eggs with buttermilk (or use yoghurt), and left it in the oven for slightly longer. So, so easy. And what we have is a dreamy no egg cheesecake with the creamiest texture. You’ll be licking all the crumbs!
In fact, it’s so easy, that I gave Sapphire, who’s 15, the instructions, and she did everything herself.
If you’ve been following me a while, you’ll know that 2 of my kids are allergic to eggs. Because of that, over the years, we’ve slowly been converting a few favourite recipes into eggless ones.
So do you have to put eggs in cheesecake? Absolutely not! Cheesecakes are perfectly fine without eggs and some of the easiest recipes to convert.
Ingredients We’ll Need
So we’ve got 2 parts to the recipe: the base and the filling. Full recipe is at the end of this post, but let’s take a look briefly.
The Base
- digestive biscuits – if digestives are not to your taste, you can use other types of biscuits too, ginger ones are a favourite of mine. And I know that many love a Graham cracker crust!
- salted butter – I’m a fan of the flavour that salted butter gives me in all my baking and cooking, instead of adding a pinch of salt.
The Filling
- full fat cream cheese (low fat works too)
- caster sugar (slightly finer than granulated)
- buttermilk (or natural yoghurt or soured cream)
- evaporated milk
- plain flour (all purpose)
- cornflour (cornstarch in the US)
- vanilla paste or vanilla extract
- fresh lemon juice
Equipment
The best cake pan for cheesecakes are springform pans. This is so there is no sliding and messing up your cheesecake when it’s time to get it out. This is what I use and you can get it on Amazon (affiliate link).
I love using a stand mixer, it makes baking such a joy. I have a big titanium one that I treated myself to many Christmases ago. This is very similar to what I have (mine’s no longer in production).
However, if you don’t have the budget, nor the space in your kitchen for it, a handheld electric mixer does the job perfectly well. In fact, I use it a lot for small jobs.
Besides that, you’ll need the usual suspects: bowls, mixing bowl, spatula, teaspoons and tablespoons (if needed), measuring cups and most definitely, a weighing scale.
Eggless Cheesecake Recipe
As mentioned above, this is the eggless version of what my friends call,
the best cheesecake they’ve ever eaten!
Do you know why? Because we don’t skimp on the cheese. You won’t find heavy cream or whipping cream here, it’s just cheese, cheese and more cheese!
Cheesecakes are generally, easy recipes, and today’s egg free cheesecake is no different. This is what we’ll be doing:
- First, we make the biscuit base layer (10 minute baking time).
- Then we make the cheese filling.
- Pour the cheesecake into the cake pan and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes.
- Leave to cool in the oven, for another hour.
- Then the eggless cheesecake goes in the refrigerator for overnight chilling.
Easy, right?
What Cheese to use for our No-Egg Cheesecake?
This particular eggless vanilla cheesecake recipe calls for good old cream cheese. I guess the most well known brand is Philadelphia, but I just tend to use the local supermarket own brand version, which is always cheaper, but exactly the same.
Cheesecake Topping or Sauce
You can do almost anything when it comes to topping a vanilla cheesecake. Use fresh fruit like strawberries, raspberries or even fruit from a can like canned peaches in syrup.
However, my favourite way is to top it with a simple fruit sauce or compote like this strawberry sauce.
Another of my favourite ways of serving this eggless New York cheesecake? With dulce de leche. Or caramel sauce, salted or otherwise!
Flavour Variations
One of the joys of cheesecakes is that you can make them in so many different flavours. Using this recipe as a template, you’ll find a few other flavours on this site, all eggless. Like:
- Mango Cheesecake
- Blueberry Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Baileys Chocolate Cheesecake (with alcohol free option)
- Christmas Pudding Cheesecake
Don’t say I don’t spoil you!
Water Bath for Baked Cheesecakes
What happens if you don’t use a water bath when baking cheesecakes? Apart from cracks on the surface, not a whole lot. I’ve seen some food sites saying that your cheesecake may overcook or even curdle, I haven’t had that unfortunate experience ever.
Call me lazy but half the time, I can’t be bothered with water baths when baking cheesecakes, unless I’m baking them for clients. The odd crack on the surface doesn’t bother me, if the cake is for the family. When you think about it, most cheesecakes are covered with a topping, no?
However, if you prefer a pristine smooth eggless cheesecake top, by all means, bake your cheesecake with an oven proof dish like a baking tray filled with water, on the lowest shelf.
Then, when the egg free cheesecake is done, leave the water in the oven as the cake cools down with the door ajar.
Can we use Half Fat Cream Cheese?
Absolutely! And the good news is, you don’t have to compensate for the reduction in fat by adding anything else.
Your eggless cheesecake will be just as delicious, with much less fat!
Bake the Best Eggless Cheesecake!
- Think ahead! Cheesecakes want to be made ahead, whether you are making a baked cheesecake or a no-bake cheesecake. The actual hands on and baking time isn’t all that long. But after that, the cheesecake needs to cool down to room temperature, then it needs to chill in the fridge, preferably overnight.
- Take all your cheesecake ingredients out about 30 minutes before you start. This is because you want them all to be at room temperature.
- Do not overbeat your ingredients; always use a low speed when mixing cheesecake ingredients. This can encourage cracks upon baking by creating too many air pockets. Which is why you’ll see me giving you 20 -3- seconds whisking times.
- If you have too many air bubbles in your cheesecake mixture, just give your cake pan a few gentle taps on your kitchen counter to release them.
- To avoid cracks, we also don’t want to overbake our cheesecake. The middle half wants to have a wobble. It will continue baking slightly as it cools down, and of course, we’ll be placing it in the fridge to harden.
- Cutting your cheesecake – we don’t want to spoil our work of art with messy cheesecake slices, do we? So this is what we do. When it’s time to slice your cheesecake, have a bowl or a tall steady glass filled with very hot water, at hand. Then, dip your thin and sharp knife in for a few seconds the first time around, to heat it. Dry your knife with kitchen paper, then slice your cheesecake. Wipe your knife before slicing again. Then dip your knife, wipe and slice. Dip your knife every couple of slices to heat but wipe after every slice.
How long will it Keep?
This eggless vanilla cheesecake will last in the fridge for up to 4 days.
It also freezes very well. Just wrap your cold cheesecake in aluminium foil and place in the freezer and consume within 1 month.
What I do is freeze the individual slices, either in foil or plastic wrap. That way, I can defrost what I need.
FAQs
Absolutely! In fact, unlike standard cakes, cheesecakes are so easy to make eggless.
There are so many options, like the usual suspects of condensed milk, apple sauce, bananas and so on. But to me, the best egg substitute in cheesecakes is buttermilk or yoghurt. Because many cheesecake recipes already have soured cream or yoghurt as an ingredient. So, it’s a no brainer.
That way, you’re not incorporating unnecessary flavours.
Nope, you absolutely do not!
Right then, who’s up for some cheesecake? You know what I always say, time to get those aprons on!
Images by LinsFoodies
If you like the recipe, don’t forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! Thank you!
And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor.
Lin xx
Eggless Cheesecake Recipe (aka Eggless New York Cheesecake)
Equipment
- tabletop mixer or handheld beaters and bowl
- 9" (23cm) springform cake pan
Ingredients
The Base
- 200 g (7 oz) plain digestive biscuits (you can use your favourite biscuits here too. Ginger ones are always nice)
- 100 g (3.5 oz) butter, melted
The Filling
- 900 g full fat cream cheese
- 250 g caster sugar (slightly finer than granulated)
- 250 ml buttermilk (or plain yoghurt)
- 60 ml full fat evaporated milk
- 3 Tbsp plain flour
- 3 Tbsp cornflour cornstarch in the US
- 2 tsp vanilla paste or extract
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
You must bake your cheesecake the day before you are planning to serve it.
- Preheat oven to 200˚C (390˚F/180˚C Fan).
- Grease, line and grease again, a 9 inch/23cm springform tin, including the sides.
The Base
- I like to do this in a food processor as it’s so much easier and quicker. Place the biscuits in the food processor and pulse to get fine crumbs.
- Add the melted butter (through the feed tube if you have one) and pulse until it’s all thoroughly mixed. You’ll end up with a mixture that looks like dark wet sand.
- Carefully press this biscuit mix onto the bottom of your greased pan, patting it and packing it flat with your palm.
- Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. When done, I like to keep it out to cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack (set the timer if you might forget!), then straight in the fridge while I get the cheesecake done.
The Filling
- In a tabletop mixer (or large bowl with handheld whisk), beat the cream cheese on medium-low until creamy for 1 minute. Add the sugar gradually during this minute in 2 additions.
- Next, add the two flours, scraping down the sides if you have to.
- Add vanilla, lemon juice and then the yoghurt, whisking for only about 30 seconds.
- Finally, add the evaporated milk and whisk till just mixed, about 20 seconds. Don’t over beat. Check for lumps, squash the bigger ones with a wooden spoon but don’t worry about it too much.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared tin gently.
- Double wrap the base of your cake pan in aluminium foil. This helps if your pan is not perfectly sealed, and if you do use a water bath, it also helps stop water sneaking in and making the crust soggy.
- Bake at the initial high temperature for 20 minutes. This aids the rise.
- Reduce the temperature to 110˚C (230˚F/90˚C Fan) and bake for another hour. When done, the cake should still have a wobble in the middle.The outer edge should look set, but the centre should still have a slight wobble. If the middle still looks sloshy, it needs a little longer.
- Let it cool in the oven with the door slightly ajar for 1 hour.
- Then cool completely at room temperature on your kitchen counter.
- Finally, cover loosely with foil and refrigerate overnight.
The Next Day
- Carefully loosen the sides of your springform cake pan.
- Then very gently lift the cake off the base. Slide a butter knife very carefully under the baking paper on one side. You'll find the cake comes away very easily after that.
- Place on your serving dish or cake stand and top as you fancy.
Have you seen my latest Eggless Cheesecake Recipe?
Notes
- The total time does not take into account the total chilling time.
- When cutting cheesecakes, it’s a good idea to warm the knife in hot water, dry, then cut. Wipe between each slice. This will make your slices neat and clean looking.
I tried the cheesecake with condensed milk and it came out really good…if I place it in the middle rack do I keep the upper heating rod of my OTG off and bake with only the lower heating rod on?
Hi Rachana, glad to hear that. Yes, definitely only the bottom heat. The top heat will brown your cheesecake, and you don’t want that.
Hi Azlin, awesome recipe…. can I substitute more cream instead of yogurt/buttermilk, if yes, then how much quantity?
Thanks
It’s just that it’s night 2am where I live and I didn’t realize that I forgot to pick yogurt for this recipe.. so was wandering what can I substitute it with? Thanks a lot
You can, but your cake will be missing the slight sour flavour from synonymous with cheesecakes, although we do have lemon juice. Use the same amount as what you are using.
Azlin.. can I use buttermilk substitute which is milk with 1 tbsp lemon.. it’s curdled and buttermilk consistency now. That’s what google showed as an option. Thank you for an early reply
Yes, definitely. I was going to suggest that, as we often make our own. But wasn’t sure if you’d be up for it. 🙂
Thanks.. well I did that, will update you when it’s ready and served. Thanks a lot
It came out awesome.. thank you so much
A pleasure, I’m so pleased to hear that!
Do you bake them in the middle rack or bottom rack in the oven? How do you know when it’s done. Thank you for the great recipe.
You’re welcome, Ekta, bake the cheesecake on the middle shelf.
If you bake it for the time given above, your cake will be done. Don’t forget to leave it in the warm oven AFTER you have turned the oven off.
When the cake is done, the edges of the cake will look firm, and slightly golden, and will have just started to come away from the cake pan. However, as you get to the middle of the cake, it will still be a little wobbly. This will firm up further as it cools, first in the oven with the door open, then in the fridge overnight.
Cheesecakes aren’t as easy to tell as regular cakes. The more you bake them, the easier it’ll get!
I hope that helps.
Thank you. This cheese cake bakes without water bath underneath right?
Yes, but you can add a waterbath, if you like, if you’re concerned that the top may crack. I don’t bother with any of my cheesecakes, which is why I haven’t written it in the instructions.
Hi Lin,
This looks heavenly!
I am going to try this today . I want to make mango cheese cake , can I add mango pulp to the cream cheese filling? Could u help with the proportions that I should use for the filling when adding mango pulp ?
Thanks .
Hi Rutu, I’m a bit reluctant to give an answer to this because I haven’t made it with mango yet. I’m concerned that it won’t be firm enough.
But I’m going to make a guess, and this is what I would do if I wanted to make a mango cheesecake using this recipe.
1. I would start with using the pulp of 3 mangoes (just puree the flesh).
2. Leave out the evaporated milk completely.
3. Increase the cornflour to 3 tablespoons.
If the end result isn’t mango-ey enough, you can always top the cheesecake with more mango, whether puree or slices.
Let me know how it goes. I’ll try and make it myself in the next week or so and do a post on it.
Hi Lin,
Thanks for the wonderful recipe! Looking forward to trying it out.
Is it possible to replace the evaporated milk with normal full cream milk?
Thanks,
Shen
A pleasure Shen. You can, but reduce the amount to 80ml, as regular milk is much lighter than evaporated. Let me know how you get on.
Hey, I’m looking to make this tomorrow. Can I use greek style yogurt instead of plain yogurt? Or should it be plain yogurt or buttermilk only? Thanks,
Hi Sophia, yes you can, exactly the same amount. If your Greek yoghurt is extra thick, just lighten it with 1 tablespoon of milk (any kind). Total amount should be the same as in the recipe.
Great thanks! The yogurt I have is in a tub which has the quantity in grams only. How would I convert the 250ml required for this recipe? Thanks
Funnily enough, yoghurt’s volume equates its weight. So you want 250g of the Greek yoghurt.
Hi Azlin, so I made it yesterday and had a slice this morning. It tasted great! Only thing is the biscuit base was soft, any idea why?
I’m pleased to hear you liked it. Soft base – that’s a new one for me. Usually, it’s too hard from using too much butter, or has been packed in too much.
A couple of things come to mind, assuming the amount of ingredients you used were as the recipe calls for:
1. Were the biscuit crumbs small enough? If the biscuits you used were not pulsed to as small sand like stage, they may not stick together too well.
2. Did you melt the butter completely? Or was it just soft butter? The butter needs to be completely melted, for the same reason above.
Hi . What can u use instead of evaporated milk ??
Hi Sonali, you can substitute the evaporated milk with soured cream, yoghurt, more buttermilk or just plain fresh cream.
Can I use condensed milk instead of evaporated milk? If yes, do I need to add the caster sugar?
Hi Rachana, I don’t usually like baking with condensed milk because of its sweetness, so have not made a cheesecake with it.
I suppose you could replace the evaporated milk with it in this recipe, and use 100g (1/2 cup) of sugar.
So then can I use 25%fat cream instead of the condensed milk or do I need to use full fat cream?
25% cream is fine, although evaporated milk should be easily found in shops in most countries, I would think. Evaporated milk also only has 8-9% fat. But if you can’t find it, then yes, just replace it with the cream, OR just use buttermilk or yoghurt completely (so a total of 375ml of buttermilk OR yoghurt). And leave out the lemon juice as you don’t want the cheesecake to be too sour.
Thank you for the quick responses..will try the recipe soon.
A pleasure, let me know how it goes.
I just tried this recipe !! I can’t tell you how amazing this recipe is!
My sister said this was the best cheese cake she had ever eaten . I made a small cake , so I took only 200 gms of cream cheese, And took all the other ingredients proportionately .
We ate it before even chilling it over night . It looked so tempting the whole time that it was baking ! Thank you so much ! ♥️♥️
Hi Subhadra, I am really pleased to hear that, and it is a real pleasure. We do love this one too. Thank you for taking the time to leave me a comment.
Can I halve the recipe and pls suggest baking tin for the same
Hi there, yes you can. I suggest baking it in a 5″ cake pan if you can get it. Otherwise, a 6″ one will do too. Once you’ve lowered the temperature to 110 C (step 7), bake it for 45 minutes, and check if it’s done.
Just wondering whether vanilla extract can be used instead of vanilla paste? If so, how much vanilla extract to use? Thank you
Hi Denielle, yes you can use them interchangeably, exactly the same amount. I’ll edit the post and add that.
Thank you 🙂