Since travelling to Italy some ten years ago I’ve been enjoying the summertime drink “Aperol Spritz”, and of course in recent years it has gained huge popularity worldwide. So on hearing about the idea of an Aperol Spritz cheesecake, I fashioned my recipe around a number of existing favourites for a fabulous show-stopping dessert.

Aperol Spritz Cheesecake – no bake!
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Prep Time: 50mins
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Cook Time: 5 hour (this is chilling time only)
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Total Time: 5 hours 50 minutes
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Yield: 12 1x
Description
This is a bit of a show stopping dessert for those special occasions and who can resist an “Aperol Spritz” at Christmas time.
Ingredients
For Base:
- 300gm shortbread
- 1/4 cup cocoa
- 80gm butter melted
For Cheesecake:
- 500gm cream cheese
- 250ml condensed milk
- 400ml sour cream
- 2 tspns of finely grated orange rind
- 5 gelatine leaves
For the orange jelly (middle layer):
- 3 gelatine leaves
- 250ml prosecco
- 1.5 tbspns caster sugar
- 75ml aperol
- 120ml orange or mandarin juice
For the top jelly layer
- 3 gelatine leaves
- 250ml prosecco
- 1.5 tbspns caster sugar
- 75ml aperol
To serve:
whipped cream, prosecco soaked orange segments
Instructions
- Line the base of a 20cm springform cake tin with baking paper.
- Place shortbread and cocoa into a food processor and blitz until fine breadcrumbs, add melted butter and pulse through.
- Press mixture into baking paper and chill in fridge
- For the filling soak 5 gelatine leaves cold water for 5 minutes
- Place cream cheese, condensed milk and orange rind in food processor and blend until smooth
- Heat through the sour cream in a saucepan, when it is close to boiling point take off the heat. Squeeze gelatine leaves of excess water and stir into sour cream until dissolved, allow to cool slightly.
- Pour sour cream mixture into the rest of the cream cheese and mix again.
- Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the biscuit base and allow to set in fridge for at least 3-4 hours
- For the orange jelly, cover 3 sheets of gelatine with cold water and set aside. Pour 50ml of the prosecco into a saucepan on low heat along with the sugar, stirring until it dissolves and becomes a little more like syrup. Remove from heat, squeeze out the gelatine leaves and stir through until dissolved. Add the aperol and orange/mandarin juice. Keep this in a jug and move to the fridge for around 30 minutes (it will be much thicker and starting to set). Lastly whisk in the remaining prosecco until very smooth – this gives the jelly some bubbles. Pour over set cheesecake base. Chill in fridge again for a further hour.
- For the final jelly layer repeat step 9 ommitting orange/mandarin juice and stir all the prosecco and aperol in after the gelatine has dissolved without chilling it first. Allow it to sit for a while so the liquid is beautifully clear and without bubbles. Pour this final jelly over the last layer.
- Chill again for another 2 hours.
- Serve with whipped cream & soaked prosecco orange slices if you like
Notes
Tip: When slicing the cheesecake use a sharp knife dipped in hot water to ensure a clean blade.