No-Bake Layered Cheesecake

It was almost six years ago when I first tasted this cake in a friend’s house on Christmas Day. I instantly fell in LOVE with the combination of the savoury cheese crackers and sweetened cream cheese. I couldn’t resist but help myself with one serving after another. With every bite, I tried to figure what could possibly be in this cake that produce such a rich, smooth and velvety texture. That moment I was determined to begin my quest to recreate / make this cake.

In my hometown in Kuching (situated in Sarawak, a state of Malaysia on Borneo Island) there are a wide variety of layered cakes especially popular during festive. Yet most of these layered cakes require long hours of baking or steaming. A baker needs to patiently wait for one layer to cook before adding another layer. It could take me almost the whole day to bake two layered cakes at home!!! The good news is a no-bake layered cheesecake only requires 20 MINUTES to MAKE. It is indeed a tradeoff for most households (at least in my opinion) to make a layered cake that is simple, hassle free and, most of all, FOOL-PROOF.

Only FIVE INGREDIENTS are needed – salted cheese crackers, cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, fresh milk and cheddar cheese or other cheese of your choice. In Malaysia, Khong Guan’s salted cheese crackers is normally used. Since I couldn’t get hold of this crackers outside Malaysia, I substituted with other salted crackers. I picked up Keebler Club Crackers due to its rectangular shape. However, there is a slight difference in appearance and texture between Khong Guan’s and Keebler’s crackers. For Khong Guan’s, the alternate layer of the crackers and cream cheese mixture are more intact. Since Keebler’s crackers are more flaky, take extra precaution when cutting the cake so that the layers won’t separate easily. But what I really love about using Keebler Club crackers is that it melts in the mouth. If you can’t find any of these crackers, why not give other salted crackers of your choice a try?