Cherry Bakewell Cheesecake!

This no-bake cherry Bakewell cheesecake transforms the iconic British teatime treat into a show-stopping dessert. Featuring a unique flaked almond and digestive biscuit crust, a velvety almond-infused filling rippled with thick cherry conserve, and a beautiful crown of fresh cherries and toasted almonds, it requires just 25 minutes of active kitchen time.

The crunchy almond biscuit base

While a standard cheesecake crust relies purely on crushed biscuits, a true Bakewell needs almond integrated into every single layer.

To achieve this, you pulse 50g of flaked almonds directly into the food processor alongside 275g of digestive biscuits. Ground almonds will not work here; they disappear into the crumbs and become greasy when mixed with butter. Flaked almonds, however, break down into varying textures that mimic a delicate pastry crunch while infusing the entire crust with a wonderful nutty aroma. Press the buttery mixture firmly into your 8″/20cm springform tin to ensure a clean, stable slice.

Ingredients notes and tips

For this specific recipe, your choice of cheese completely dictates the final flavour profile. While a classic full-fat cream cheese provides a lovely, distinct tang, Mascarpone offers a brilliant alternative.

• Cheese – you can use cream cheese, mascarpone or a 50/50 mix of both
• Sugar – I use icing sugar as it perfectly incorporates into the mixture
• Cream – double cream has the perfect high fat content (47% in the UK)
• Vanilla – classic vanilla extract works great here
• Almond – almond extract provides that tart cherry bakewell flavour
• Jam – I use cherry jam although other flavours will work too but provide a different flavour profile from a traditional cherry bakewell.

Mascarpone has a higher fat content and a naturally sweeter, milder flavour. When you pair it with the intense, punchy notes of almond extract and sweet cherry, Mascarpone provides a smooth, velvety canvas that prevents the dessert from tasting too sharp. You can choose either option based on your personal taste, or even use a 50/50 split of both to capture the best of both worlds.

Rippling the cherry conserve

To make the filling visually stunning and structurally sound, use a high-quality, thick cherry conserve or jam rather than a thin fruit syrup or coulis. Liquid syrups introduce too much moisture, which breaks the dairy emulsion and leaves you with a sloppy center. To create the signature marble effect:

• Loosen the jam: Give the cherry conserve a vigorous stir in a separate bowl to remove any dense clumps before adding it to the filling.
• The gentle fold: Drop the loosened jam directly onto your whipped cheesecake mixture and fold it through just two or three times with a spatula.

You want distinct, vibrant ribbons of deep red running through the pale almond cream. If you over-mix at this stage, you will simply turn the entire cheesecake a uniform pastel pink and lose that beautiful swirled contrast.

FAQs

Storage and freezing

This delicious cherry Bakewell cheesecake keeps beautifully in the refrigerator for up to three days. Always place the dessert under a glass cake dome or inside a deep, airtight container to prevent the fresh cream and delicate almond aromas from absorbing any ambient fridge smells. The cherry conserve ripple will remain perfectly soft and glossy when kept chilled, giving you a wonderful texture with every slice.

If you want to prepare this dessert well ahead of a gathering, you can freeze the unadorned cheesecake safely for up to three months.

Related recipes

I relatively recently posted my Cherry Bakewell Cupcakes which were a hit, and I know you bakewell lovers will love these as well. Like my Cherry Bakewell Cupcakes, you can use Glacé Cherries for the decoration if you wanted instead of fresh ones, but I love a fresh cherry. You can only ‘drizzle jam’ so much, mine is more blobs that anything but it gives it a decoration element.