No-Bake Cheesecakes

Dawn “Deedee” Davis created a line of no-bake mixes for her company Deedee Desserts. “I took the concept of a time-saving, easy no-bake cheesecake and wanted to make a more creative and better tasting application to the already existing idea,” says Davis. “It took about nine months of trial and error, redoing recipe after recipe. At about the seven-month month mark, I knew I had something special.”

Donna Shull, who works with Davis to distribute and market the product, agrees that saving time is the mixes’ biggest benefit. “Five minutes. That’s it,” says Shull. “Everyone has different, busy lifestyles. {Cheesecake} takes two to three hours the old-fashioned way with someone having to tend to it. The mixes take one hour in the fridge—if it makes it. The spoons usually start in on it before then.”

Shull, who is based in Syracuse but distributes her product all over Central New York, first got involved with marketing the product after she saw it two years ago in a trade show in Lakeview, in Nassau County, where Davis is located. From there, Shull contacted Davis, whom Shull calls the “creative genius,” asking if she could help market the product.

“I think {Davis} wanted to create something easy and affordable that tastes good but isn’t one of the Jell-O box mixes. I knew it was a real good product, and I wanted to get it distributed even more,” notes Shull. “I knew the product would go far.”

Hunter & Hilsberg, a company managed out of Syracuse, also carries a line of no-bake cheesecake mixes. The company has another location in Berlin, Germany, so their American gourmet foods are distributed to Europe and Canada.

“Our all-natural cheesecake mixes we developed sometime in 2003 for our company in Europe, where American-style cheesecakes were just beginning to be all the rage and no easy-to-make, authentic mixes existed in that market,” says Hilary Hunter, who started the company with her husband Kay Hilsberg in 1995. “We are known {in Europe} for introducing upscale, ‘new’ products from the States. However, when we started selling our American gourmet foods here in the States sometime after 2005, we included the cheesecake mixes. To our pleasant surprise, they did exceptionally well here—even better than in Europe.”

She attributes the cheesecake mixes’ success to the fact that the Hunter & Hilsberg versions require the same ingredients used in making the time-consuming version, and the mixes come with instructions on how to attain the best possible results. “As an amateur cook myself, I have learned over the years that making a good cheesecake requires certain steps in order to have it come out with the right texture,” says Hunter. “And let’s face it, with cheesecake it’s not only the rich flavor you are looking for but that creamy, full-bodied texture.”

Creatively flavored cheesecakes are yet another trend. The Deedee Desserts no-bake mixes come in 20 flavors including vanilla, banana strawberry and cherry almond. Although Shull and Davis agree the hands-down favorite for customers is chocolate mousse, Davis prefers amaretto and Shull’s favorite is peanut praline.

“I chose my flavors by using my imagination along with the much-appreciated feedback from family, friends and customers,” says Davis, who has begun work on no-bake cookie mixes. “Every flavor is inspired by someone who suggested it.”

A new flavor is grasshopper, which tastes like a thin mint cookie; cinnamon apple arrived just in time for fall. Also, Shull says Davis is working on sugar-free mixes in the amaretto, chocolate mousse, key lime and vanilla flavors.

As for the Hunter & Hilsberg mixes, Hunter contends that the “Original New York” cheesecake mix is an “across the board” best seller. Although the raspberry and blueberry mixes are also popular, Hunter says the New York state fall favorite is maple.

“The maple is excellent when served with a strawberry or apple slice, and perhaps a drizzle of real maple syrup,” suggests Hunter, a self-professed “chocoholic” who loves the chocolate praline mix. “{The chocolate praline} is a nice basic chocolate cheesecake that is easily dressed up with pecans, hazelnuts, strawberries or raspberries, chocolate or white chocolate shavings—the works.”

Another plus to the mixes is that they can be used to create more than just a cheesecake dessert. “You could frost a cake with this stuff, or fill cannolis,” explains Shull. “We put it on bagels for breakfast.” Another suggestion is to place the mix between two cookies and freeze for homemade ice cream sandwiches. Try doing all that with your basic gelatin dessert mix.

For those who aren’t baking inclined, the mixes are pretty much no fail. Each Deedee Dessert no-bake mix requires two packages of cream cheese, one eight-ounce container of frozen whipped topping and a prepared nine-inch graham cracker crust. The Hunter & Hilsberg mixes require only cream cheese and an egg. If you have a mixer and know how to use it, you can make this cheesecake.

For those who want to get creative, Shull’s Web site, www.donnathedessertlady.com , features recipes like “deluxe peanut butter pie,” and the Hunter & Hilsberg site, www.hunterhilsberg.com, offers suggestions on how to “dress up” any of their cheesecakes using fruit, nuts or chocolate. The mixes can be purchased online as well.

Although the Deedee Dessert no-bake cheesecake is a lighter, fluffier version of the original, what it lacks in thickness, it makes up in taste. If you are looking for a mix that isn’t overly sweet, give the chocolate mousse a try. Heck, at $5 each, try them all, and then move on to the Hunter & Hilsberg mixes, ranging from $4.99 to $11.99, which Hunter touts as being just as thick as a regular cheesecake. Whichever mix you try, the hour-long wait will be brutal, but in the end, it’s worth it to allow the cheesecake to reach its full potential before digging in.

Shull is used to the positive feedback. “I have been doing this for 1½ years now,” she notes, “and people still go ‘Wow!’ when they try it.”