No-bake Easter hot cross bun butternut snap cheesecake fridge cake
Combine hot cross buns with cheesecake and butternut snap biscuits, and you get this - a super quick and easy no-bake crowd-pleaser.
Made super easy by using store-bought hot cross buns. Though, you’re of course free to make your own! It’s also super customisable, so it’s sure to please everyone.
Jump to photography thought process
Regardless of whether you celebrate Easter or not, this makes for a delicious, easy treat for a get-together.
I actually initially intended for this to be a ‘use up your Easter leftovers’ kind of creation (a little like those post-Halloween cookies and slices using all the Halloween candy), but honestly making it FOR Easter is probably a more fitting idea. Although, the speckled eggs literally were Easter leftovers… from the year before (it’s fine, it’s just chocolate!).
If you don’t know what a fridge cake is, it’s just a no-bake cake that uses cookies or biscuits plus cream. The biscuits soak up the moisture from the cream overnight and basically create the ‘cake’ texture. If you’re also Australian, just a chocolate ripple cake, but not necessarily using chocolate ripple.
I used butternut snap biscuits, but you could use chocolate ripple, digestives, any cookie/ biscuit that will soak up moisture. Speculoos/ Biscoff biscuits would be amazing! Just don’t use biscuits/ cookies that are coated in chocolate as they won’t absorb moisture as easily.
I also used chocolate hot cross buns from the supermarket because I thought it matched well. However, of course feel free to use hot cross buns of your choosing. Ooooh cinnamon and apple hot cross buns with speculoos??? Count me in. What about traditional HCB with rum soaked raisins instead of chocolate in the cheesecake? Or go full chocolate with chocolate HCB and chocolate ripple?
I’d actually always wanted to try using butternut snap biscuits to make a fridge cake, but never got around to it until a co-worker brought one to work (just the usual biscuits plus cream - again, just chocolate ripple cake but butternut snap instead of choc ripple) and reignited that flame. Butternut snaps are one of my favourites - they’re basically ANZAC cookies but for all year round.
Photography thought process
I went super simple with this shoot, with minimal props, simple composition, and simple lighting. Why? It was just a low energy shoot, that’s all. Doesn’t mean there’s no thought put into it though!
Since it was shot for Easter, which brings to mind images of spring and nature (to me, at least), I went with natural colours, brown and green. The wooden board was chosen as it was a) brown and b) that natural wood texture. Plus, it added a nice bit of layering to the scene. The green also matches with the colours of the Easter eggs, which themselves create a tetradic colour combination (blue and orange/ yellow are complementary, and pink and green are also complementary i.e., opposite sides of the colour wheel). I also edited the green surface more towards yellow to look more natural.
Side light was chosen to provide a general pleasing light. I did not want to use backlight as it would have, yes, highlighted the textures on top better, but also distracted from the layers. Straight-on and 45° degree angles were chosen to highlight the layers as well as the top.
I specifically chose chocolate HCB with white crosses for the contrast. Choc HCB with choc crosses are nice and all, but don’t look as nice in photos because the cross is less visible due to the lack of contrast. I could have also easily gone for traditional HCB, but because chocolate ones are darker, they provide more contrast with the crosses.
Sprinkling the colourful bits of chocolate egg on top also helps to visually link the cake (as you cannot see the colour inside) with the food props.
Recipe
For the no-bake hot cross bun cheesecake fridge cake
Makes 1 loaf cake
INGREDIENTS:
1 bag 6-pack hot cross buns (or make your own!)
150g chocolate eggs (speckled eggs or just your chocolate of choice)
100g castor sugar
250g cream cheese
1tsp vanilla
2c thickened cream
250-310g butternut snap cookies (depending on the size of your pan. I used closer to 310g)
Chocolate sauce/ syrup (optional)
METHOD:
1. Line a 28x13x6cm loaf pan (like I did), or a pan that perfectly fits your pack of hot cross buns, with either cling wrap or baking paper and with overhanging sides. I used cling wrap for easier lifting and because baking paper can absorb moisture.
2. With the hot cross buns still connected, carefully slice the entire thing horizontally in half. You should have one layer of hot cross bun bases, and one layer of tops. Place the layer of bases into the loaf pan. If necessary, gently press into the pan or trim to size. There may be some gaps on either end of the pan - don’t worry about this. Set aside.
3. Chop the chocolate into small chunks, smaller than chocolate chips. Chop some of it a bit finer. Save roughly 20g of chocolate to decorate on top if desired. Set aside.
4. Beat the sugar and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the cream and vanilla and beat until soft peaks. Make sure not to overwhip! Gently fold in the chopped chocolate (the larger portion, if you saved some for the top).
5. Spread a layer of the cream cheese mixture onto the hot cross bun bases in the pan. Allow it to fill the sides of the pan too if your pan is too long. Place a layer of biscuits on top. Alternate layers of cream cheese mixture and biscuits until you have no more mixture. I did 3 layers of biscuit.
6. Top with the hot cross bun tops and refrigerate overnight.
7. To serve, lift it out of the pan using the overhanging sides. Slice off the ends to reveal the layers and neaten the two short sides.
8. (Optional) To decorate, drizzle with chocolate sauce and sprinkle with the remaining chopped up chocolate eggs.
That’s it!
Can be enjoyed straight from the fridge, or after being left at room temperature for several minutes.
