No-bake cakes: Want to make a cake but don’t have an oven? Indian chefs share easy recipes for the festive season

You know how almost every person loves eating cake around Christmas and New Year? It's a ritual that is hard to ignore not only among the Catholic community but people of all faiths. The richness of a delicious plum cake is undeniable and so is that of a blissful mixed fruit cake, along with carrot cake, among many other different kinds of cakes. With the cakes so tempting, one may often want to make their own cakes, especially if you love cooking, but since most cakes need an oven, it may be difficult to make them, if you are an occasional baker or first-time baker.

Indian chefs say that shouldn't dissuade you from not enjoying cakes this season because you can make many without an oven. With Christmas and New Year around the corner, the festive season is only going to get better because it is the best time to gorge on sweets and eating cake is never a problem because people even give up cheat days. While not having an oven is one reason for not baking cakes, if you have always felt intimidated by the idea of making your own cakes because you don't know how to start, then start small, and make the most of the best time of the year.

Start with no-bake cakes because chefs tell mid-day.com there is a lot to experiment with it. They share recipes for cheesecakes, which may not be classified as cakes but are still celebratory during this time of the year. They also dive deeper with seasonal ingredients that are heady with some rum, as well as sweet with some cranberries and earthy with cinnamon too.

Mango Cheesecake
While a cheesecake isn't technically defined as a cake, one can't deny that every bite is heavenly. After all, can one really deny a slice of (cheese) cake? Chef Aditi Handa, who is the co-founder and head chef at The Baker's Dozen says you can make a cheesecake this festive season because it is a no-fuss option. Handa explains, "The mango cheesecake is a simple no-bake cake made with butter crunch cookies, melted butter, cream cheese and fresh mango pulp. It's very easy and quick to make. This mango cheesecake is a perfect delight for your sweet tooth."

Ingredients:
Butter crunch cookies 1 pack
Butter 5 tbsp
Cream cheese 2 cups
Icing sugar 1 cup
Mango pulp 1 cup
Whipped cream 2 cups
Mangoes, sliced 2 pieces

Method:
1. Crush the butter crunch cookies to a grainy powder and add melted butter in it. Set it in the round tray and keep in the refrigerator to further let it set.
2. In a bowl, add cream cheese, icing sugar and mango pulp. Whisk all this together until creamy and smooth.
3. Now whip cream in another bowl and add that to the cream cheese mix. Fold the mixture gently.
4. Add the cheesecake mixture on top of the set butter crunch cookies base. Let it set in the refrigerator overnight.
5. Garnish with fresh mango slices and enjoy it.

No-bake biscoff cake
If you don't want to indulge in some cheesecake, then there are quite a few other options, and Veeraj Shenoy, who is the chief officer of food and beverage at Imagicaa, which is by the Malpani Group, says you can make a no-bake biscoff cake. He shares, "It is a simple no-bake biscuit cake recipe that makes a delicious and decadent dessert. Classic biscuit cake features your favourite biscoffs soaked in coffee and layered with a homemade chocolate ganache."

Ingredients:
Biscoff biscuits or other sturdy cookies or crackers you prefer 250 gm (8 ounces)
Compound dark chocolate 80 gm (roughly 3 ounces)
Milk 1/2 cup
Instant coffee 1/2 tbsp
Water 1/3 cup

Method:
1. Line a cakepan, or a loaf pan with parchment paper, butter paper or aluminium foil.
2. You can use any medium-sized cake pan or a tray.
3. For coffee solution, add water to a small saucepan and heat slightly over a low flame. The water shouldn't be simmering; it should be warm to slightly warm. Now pour the warm water into a medium bowl.
4. Now, add instant coffee. Simply replace the coffee in this biscuit cake recipe with drinking chocolate, hot cocoa powder, ordinary cocoa powder, or ground cacao if you'd rather not use any. Mix very well. Set aside.
5. For chocolate sauce, pour the milk into the same pot, add the roughly chopped compound chocolate. Mix very well with a wired whisk until the sauce is smooth without any lumps. Place the pan on stove top and turn the heat to low. Whisk this cocoa mixture often while gradually bringing it to a mild boil. Set aside and keep warm.
6. For the biscuit cake, dip each cookie into the coffee solution. After a brief dip, remove the biscuit immediately and set it in the pan that has been lined with parchment paper.
7. After dipping each biscuit once more in the coffee syrup, arrange the biscuits in a single layer on the pan.
8. To create a second layer of dipped biscuits, stack on top. You can build two or three layers, depending on the size of the pan.
9. Using a spatula, spread the chocolate sauce evenly and gently over the layers of biscuits after adding half of it.
10. To ensure that the chocolate sauce covers the entire biscuit layer, tilt the pan slightly.
11. Make a third layer of cookies soaked in coffee solution. Now create the fourth layer.
12. Finally, pour in the remaining chocolate sauce and spread it evenly.
13. Close the pot with a lid or cover with foil.
14. Place in the refrigerator to harden the cookie cake for at least 4-5 hours.
15. You can also store it in the refrigerator overnight.
16. To serve, carefully lift the sides of the parchment paper and place the cookie cake on a cutting board or tray.
17. Carefully slice the no-bake cake. Looks as beautiful as it tastes.
18. Serve sponge cake as an after-dinner dessert or with tea or coffee. It can also be enjoyed as a sweet snack at any time of the day.

No-bake Christmas cheesecake
Just like Handa, even chef Mozanne Karbhari, junior sous chef at the ITC Grand Central wants you to make a cheesecake for Christmas and New Year but this one is personal. She explains, "It is always good to try something new to prepare and even to taste. Cakes that are not baked are something I learnt as a kid and today I am sharing with you a recipe very dear to me as taught by my mother."

Ingredients:
Milk 1 litre
Custard powder 70 gm
Whipped cream 400 gm
Mascarpone 400 gm
Gelatine 30 gm
Sugar 50 gm
Soaked fruits 300 gm
Crushed biscuits 300 gm
Butter 70 gm

Method:
1. Crush the biscuits and mix with softened butter for it to bind. Press it down into a mould or a cake ring. This will be the base.
2. Bloom the gelatine in water and keep aside.
3. Whip mascarpone and cream together and keep aside.
4. Boil milk and sugar together, add the dissolved custard powder and keep whisking till it starts to thicken.
5. Add the bloomed gelatine, whisk and take off the flame.
6. Keep whisking till the mixture cools down. Now fold it in with the whipped cream and mascarpone mix.
7. Add the soaked fruits to this mousse mix.
8. Pour the batter onto the biscuit base and let it set in the refrigerator overnight. Next day cut and eat it.

No bake Christmas wreath cake
At JW Marriot Mumbai Juhu, Nicholas Fernandes, who is the executive pastry chef at the five-star property, wants you to take it up a notch. The city chef wants you to make a no-bake Christmas wreath cake, bringing all the festive cheer to the table. He explains, "This no-bake Christmas wreath cake is my edible interpretation of holiday joy - a circle of flavours, a wreath of delight and a sweet celebration on every plate." The cake, Fernandes says, is a delightful blend of pistachios, crushed biscuits and dried cranberries bound together with condensed milk and rum. Shaped into a wreath and covered in decadent white chocolate, it is a festive treat adorned with the colours of the season - rosemary or cranberries.

Ingredients:
Rum liquor 120 ml
Dried cranberries 80 gm
Petit Beurre biscuits 400 gm
Melted white chocolate 100 gm
Pistachios 80 gm
Condensed milk 400 gm
Fresh rosemary for decoration

Method:
1. Toast pistachios until you smell a rich aroma and then, let them cool.
2. Use a food processor to finely grind all the biscuits.
3. Combine the crushed biscuits, pistachios and dried cranberries in a bowl.
4. Now, add in the condensed milk and rum and use your hands to make a sticky mixture.
5. Shape the mixture into a cylinder, closing the edges to craft a circle. Set it aside.
6. Cover the circle with melted white chocolate.
7. Decorate it with some rosemary.
8. Allow the chocolate to solidify before slicing through the dessert.

Rum-soaked cranberry, raisin and cinnamon cheesecake
If you love rum and cheesecakes, then Gunjit Chawla, corporate chef with Independence Brewing Company in Mumbai, says you can easily make a no-bake rum-soaked cranberry, raisin and cinnamon cheese cake. With a rich combination of rum, rum-soaked cranberries, raisins and cinnamon, it is a burst of flavours on the palate. It gets even better because you don't need an oven to bake it.

Ingredients:
Cream cheese 100 gm
Egg yolk 1 no​
Sugar 25 gm
Cream rich 88 gm
Gelatin 5 gm
Cranberry 10gm
Raisin 10 gm
Biscuit 50 gm
Honey 5 ml
Butter 20 ml
Rum 30 ml
Cinnamon 1 gm

Method:
1. Soak the raisins and cranberries in rum and beer for a day. Let the raisins and cranberries soak in it completely. (The longer you soak the more flavourful the fruits will be)
2. Take a marigold biscuit and add the melted butter and honey and mix it.
3. Soak the gelatine in 10 ml of water.
4. Whip the cream cheese with sugar and egg yolk, after this add the warm gelatine, add in the whipped cream to the above cream cheese mixture.
5. Fold in the soaked chopped cranberries and raisins and 10 ml of rum left over from the soaked fruits.
6. Set it in a mould and chill it for 6- 8 hours.
7. Demould it and cut into desired shape and garnish with cranberries, raisins.