This no-bake Dulce de Leche Cheesecake with Golden Grahams cereal crust is so easy (and so delicious), an 8-year-old could make it. Actually, my 8-year old did make it!
One of our favorite activities as a family is our weekly (or mostly weekly) Family Food Wars. It started about a year ago, when Westin asked me to challenge him in the kitchen (think, “Kids Baking Championship“). He and I competed, with Ryan and Avery as judges, but it soon turned into Avery verses Westin, with Ryan as the judge and yours truly as the host and mentor (a.k.a. the one who makes sure no one sets the house on fire!).
The gist of the food competition is as follows:
- The kids have 30 minutes to make their creation
- We usually have a theme they have to stick to
- I throw in a curveball (i.e. must use cereal, or an herb, or something like that)
- Presentation counts
- Have fun and cheer each other on!
The kids have loved it and so have Ryan and I. You can catch some of the recaps on my Instagram Reels.
This past week, the challenge was a no bake dessert that had to include cereal. Westin went with Fruity Pebbles Rice Krispie Treats and Avery decided on a no-bake cheesecake. She was very concerned that Ryan wouldn’t like plain cheesecake, so I suggested adding dulce de leche.
In the end, Avery came out on top with this No-Bake Dulce de Leche Cheesecake with a Golden Graham cereal crust. We all loved it so much, we decided it deserved a spot on the blog because you need to make it!
No-Bake Dulce de Leche Cheesecake
For the cheesecake element, you’re simply whipping heavy whipping cream with powdered sugar and then folding it into a mixture of cream cheese and dulce de leche. No baking is required!
- Chill a stainless steel bowl in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the dulce de leche and cream cheese together until smooth.
- Set the cream cheese mixture to the side and whip the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar together in the chilled stainless steel bowl until stiff peaks form.
- Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture and then refrigerate until ready to use.
For the Golden Graham cereal crust, grab unsalted butter, the cereal, salt, and sugar. Again, this is a no-bake element!
- Using a food processor or blender, pulverize the cereal until you’ve created a sand-like texture.
- Stir in the sugar, salt, and butter and mix until all of the crumbs are moistened.
- Firmly press the cereal crumbs into a pie plate or cheesecake pan.
- Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture on top and refrigerate until ready to serve.
What Can I Substitute for Golden Grahams cereal?
If you can’t find Golden Grahams cereal or simply don’t want to use it, I’d recommend using the same amount of graham crackers or Biscoff cookies for the crust. You’ll do everything the same way with these substitutes.
How to Make Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce
One of the elements I added to Avery’s recipe when recreating it for this post was making my homemade salted caramel sauce and pouring it over the entire cheesecake.
Making homemade salted caramel sauce is super simple and one of the most delicious confections you’ll ever make. And trust me, when you make the homemade caramel sauce, you’ll never want store-bought again.
Follow these steps, along with the recipe in THIS POST to make your own homemade caramel.
- You’ll start by combining the sugar, water, and corn syrup (or honey) over the stove on medium heat.
- Stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves and then step back!
- Allow the mixture to boil and cook. Stirring the sugar mixture at this point will encourage crystallization and we don’t want that!
- It will take a few minutes for the mixture to change color, but once it does, stay close by.
- You’re looking for the mixture to turn a dark golden brown, amber color. Check the pictures below for guidance.
- Once you’ve reached the right color and your mixture is about 380 degrees F., you’re ready to start SLOWLY adding warm heavy whipping cream.
Can This No-Bake Cheesecake be Made Ahead of Time?
Absolutely! This is actually a perfect dessert to make a few days before a party. I would make the crust and filling, and assemble them, but wait to add the caramel sauce until it’s time to serve it.
For a little extra flavor contrast, sprinkle some coarse sea salt on top when you serve!
Other Easy Desserts You’ll Love
- No-Bake Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars
- Blueberry Delight Bars
- Tres Leches Cake
- Peanut Butter Pie
- Chocolate Dulce De Leche Cake
No Bake Dulce de Leche Cheesecake
Ingredients
- 3 cups (122 g) Golden Grahams cereal, measured and then pulverized to a crumb
- 6 tablespoons (84.75 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons (25 g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon (1.5 g) salt
- 13.4 ounces (380 g) dulce de leche, usually the size of one can
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1 cup (240 g) heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup (65 g) powdered sugar, measured then sifted
Instructions
- Spray a pie dish or cheesecake dish with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a food processor or blender, pulse the cereal to a fine crumb. Mix in melted butter, sugar, and salt until the mixture resembles wet sand.
- Pour the cereal crumbs into your dish and press firmly to create a tight crust.
- Refrigerate the crust while you make the filling.
- In a medium bowl, combine the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar. Beat on high until stiff peaks form.
- In a separate bowl, combine the dulce de leche and cream cheese. Beat until smooth.
- Fold the whipping cream into the dulce de leche mixture.
- Evenly spread the dulce de leche mixture onto the cereal crust and refrigerate for at least a couple hours before serving.
- Option: pour homemade salted caramel on top. Recipe linked in the post above.
Does that sweetwned cereal crust really need more sugar?
You can skip it.
My cake never set up for some reason. I followed directions, but it was still soupy 24th later. Do you have any thoughts?
Sorry to hear that. My guess would be that the heavy whipping cream wasn’t whipped enough. if it’s too thin, it will thin out the cream cheese instead of creating a fluffy texture.
Hi Courtney! I can’t seem to find dulce de leche do you think sweetened condensed milk would be ok?
Yes, but you have to cook it to create dulce de leche first. There are a lot of techniques online that will teach you how!
This was SO SO good. I made it for my husbands birthday last Friday and he’s been talking about it ever since! We actually preferred the leftovers after the cheesecake sat in the fridge w/caramel overnight. It didn’t seem as sweet and the flavor was better! We will be making this again!
I’m so happy to hear that!
I love trying your recipe’s eventually I will make it to the harder cakes but loving these simples ones. As I’m from the UK we don’t really have a standard Pie dish size, can you confirm what size dish this recipe is for?
Thanks!
I used an 8-inch dish.