Craving sweet, indulgent chocolate desserts this Valentine’s Day? In this video, we’re showing you how to make three irresistible no-bake chocolate treats that are perfect for any celebration! From a creamy, boozy cheesecake to a classic dessert with a chocolate twist, these recipes are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth.
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00:00Valentine's Day is coming up, so I'm going to be real sweet to you.
00:02I've got three chocolate desserts that involve no cooking.
00:06First off, I'm giving you a no-bake espresso martini
00:09cheesecake, followed by a no-bake chocolate eclair cake.
00:13This is the perfect one for a crowd.
00:15And then finishing it off with a no-cook chocolate mousse.
00:19In case you haven't guessed, the theme is chocolate.
00:22Starting with a no-bake chocolate
00:24espresso martini cheesecake.
00:26This gives you all the rich decadence
00:28and an easy no-bake package.
00:30In case we haven't met before, you know,
00:31I'm not a specialty baker.
00:33So when it comes to desserts, if it involves no-bake,
00:36that's my speed.
00:37That's my speed.
00:38Espresso martinis are just everywhere.
00:41They're just all the rage.
00:42A lot of times, I do like to just drink my dessert.
00:44Cheesecake being my favorite dessert,
00:46this kind of combines the two all in one.
00:48So it's going to start with a Oreo crust.
00:51I'm going to make this to serve in martini glasses,
00:54because I'm going to do it, you know, kind of for date night.
00:57But you could totally take this recipe
00:58and make it in a springform pan, just like you
01:00would a regular cheesecake.
01:02Microwave does not count as cooking.
01:04I have to melt the butter.
01:05If the microwave did count as, like, real cooking,
01:08I don't know that I would have a job.
01:10I mean, while I don't, like, love Valentine's Day,
01:13I do like the excuse to indulge for no reason.
01:17OK, I'm just going to start pulsing the Oreos,
01:19and then I'll add in the melted butter.
01:23You just want it to come together and, like,
01:25moisten those breadcrumbs so they hold together.
01:28And then I'm going to add our crust to our glasses,
01:32and then just kind of press it down in there to create a base.
01:35You don't need to go all the way up,
01:36but just, like, about halfway with crust.
01:38I mean, I love the crust.
01:40I promise we're not making dirt cake, OK?
01:42It's going to be delicious.
01:44This would make about eight to 10 martini glasses worth,
01:48or, like, one regular cheesecake.
01:50OK, so once you've kind of pressed
01:52your crust into your glasses, we're
01:53just going to chill the glasses while we make the filling.
01:55Espresso martini has to have some espresso.
01:58So just grab some instant espresso.
02:01Into the bottom of the bowl goes your espresso,
02:03just about a tablespoon.
02:04That flavor's real intense, so it's
02:06going to give you all the coffee flavor you need.
02:09And then I'm going to dissolve that
02:10with a tablespoon of hot water.
02:12And you just want to stir that around until it's all dissolved.
02:16Oh, yeah.
02:17You can smell it.
02:18That's some strong coffee.
02:19And then to that, some cocoa powder.
02:21And we're going to create a little bit of a thin paste
02:24to keep with the real espresso martini theme, a little Kahlua.
02:27If you don't want to add this, you can just add more water.
02:32Now we have our espresso martini base.
02:35Should have done this earlier, but we need
02:37to melt some dark chocolate chips.
02:39You can use, like, a dark chocolate bar or the chips.
02:42Just throw them into the microwave.
02:44You're going to go about one to two minutes,
02:45but you want to stop every, like, 15 to 20 seconds
02:48to stir it.
02:49First couple times, you'll think nothing's happening,
02:50but it is.
02:52See, it's starting to happen.
02:56All melt and come together in that final little stir.
03:00We don't want it to be really hot when we incorporate it
03:02into the cheesecake, so I'm just going to let
03:03it cool while we make the rest.
03:05OK, to our espresso paste, in goes the cream cheese,
03:10the star of the show.
03:12You definitely want your cream cheese to be softened.
03:14I'm worried it's not soft enough.
03:16Remember this whole trick?
03:17It takes, like, two minutes.
03:19OK, so I'm just going to add this to our chocolate mixture
03:21along with some sugar, and we're going to whip that
03:24up until it's well combined.
03:27You can do this with a hand mixer.
03:28You do not have to use a stand mixer.
03:30Once that's light and creamy, I'm
03:31going in with our melted chocolate that has cooled.
03:34You want to be sure that this has cooled to room temperature.
03:39All right, you want to whip that until that is good and fluffy,
03:42and you can just see how silky and beautiful that is.
03:46OK, then your favorite thing for me to add in.
03:49If you would like to whip some fresh cream,
03:51you go right ahead.
03:52We're keeping things easy around here.
03:54Just stir in your Cool Whip.
03:57Now you have espresso martini cheesecake filling.
04:01That's good.
04:02Our crust is ready.
04:04We're going to spoon in.
04:06The Cool Whip really helps it get thick and, like,
04:10stiff as if it was a cooked cheesecake filling.
04:13OK, so we're going to smooth out the cheesecake,
04:15trying not to, you know, stir in the crust.
04:19This truly is, like, a really rich and decadent dessert.
04:23So it would be, like, a little romantic thing
04:25to split, you know, like, one per couple.
04:28But you do you.
04:30If I ate this whole thing, I'd be up literally all night.
04:33Oh, you know what else you could do
04:34is make these in, like, little plastic disposable, like,
04:38wine cups or martini cups.
04:40You can make a bunch of them and have this, like,
04:42totally as an easy make-ahead dessert.
04:45Our espresso martini's done.
04:49These are going to be even better and, like, really firm
04:52up if you just leave them in the fridge, you know,
04:54for at least a couple hours.
04:55I'm going to go ahead and give you a taste test now,
04:57and then we'll do a little final reveal at the end.
05:00But why wait?
05:01You can finish it off with a little chocolate-covered
05:04espresso bean, maybe a little zhuzh of cocoa powder.
05:08And there's your no-bake chocolate
05:10espresso martini cheesecake.
05:12So you're just going to refrigerate these
05:14until ready to serve.
05:15I'm ready to serve, so I'm just going to taste it as it is.
05:18But if you let it sit for longer,
05:20it's even going to get thicker and denser
05:23like the cheesecake would.
05:25And for the perfect bite, oh, yeah.
05:27Nothing says I love you like an espresso martini cheesecake.
05:36Oh, my gosh, that's so good.
05:38If you have a chocolate lover in your family,
05:41this is the dessert for them.
05:42It is so rich but, like, light at the same time
05:45because that filling, it's just perfect.
05:48I don't know if I'm going to be able to top that.
05:50My next trick is the dessert to make
05:53when you are feeding more than one person or more
05:55than two people, OK?
05:57This is also probably the easiest of the day,
05:59so don't blink.
06:00This is the no-bake chocolate eclair cake.
06:03It's super creamy and topped with a luscious chocolate
06:06ganache.
06:07I made this over the holidays multiple times
06:10for multiple, you know, gatherings I went to.
06:13A hit.
06:14A complete hit.
06:15You can do it with all convenience products.
06:17I like to kind of split the difference here.
06:20So I'm going to first whip up a cup of heavy cream.
06:23You could use Cool Whip here is what I'm saying.
06:25But we need the heavy cream for the next step, too.
06:27So let's just whip it up.
06:30I don't know, chocolate eclairs just
06:32seem like a Valentine dessert, like an eclair.
06:36I guess because it's like French.
06:38But this cake is wearing its hat.
06:40OK.
06:42You want that to be nice and thick.
06:44Step two, convenience product.
06:46Two packs of instant vanilla pudding.
06:49And now instead of doing this into four cups of milk, which
06:54would be the box directions, I'm cutting the milk back
06:57to like three and a half cups because I want this mixture
06:59to be really thick, not like a thinner pudding, you know?
07:03So I'm going three and a half cups of cold milk.
07:05And then you just whisk in packs of pudding.
07:09Throw in just a splash of vanilla extract.
07:11This is optional.
07:12I just feel like it makes me feel
07:13like I've made it more homemade.
07:15This is going to thicken pretty fast,
07:18the instructions say five minutes.
07:20So once it kind of starts to thicken,
07:22I will fold in our whipped cream.
07:24Get yourself a 9 by 13.
07:26We're going to put a layer of graham crackers on the bottom.
07:31See, once it starts to thicken like that,
07:33I'm going to go in with the whipped cream.
07:35And I just kind of like fold that in.
07:37This is like banana pudding meets chocolate eclair.
07:40Like there's no bananas, but the concept is the same, you know?
07:43You're going to put half of your pudding mixture
07:44down on layer one.
07:47Then another layer of graham cracker.
07:51Then the rest of your pudding.
07:53Now one more layer of our graham crackers.
07:57Everyone knows like the cookie part's the best,
07:59like in a banana pudding.
08:00Like it's really all about the vanilla wafers.
08:02It's kind of the same thing here.
08:04The cake is made.
08:05We just have to make the topping.
08:07So we're going to take some more heavy cream,
08:09and you want to heat it until it's scalding.
08:11You can do that in the microwave,
08:12since this is a no-cook situation.
08:18Take a cup of chocolate chips, and then you
08:21pour the cream over, and we're making a chocolate ganache.
08:25You're just going to let the heat from the cream
08:28melt the chocolate, and then we'll stir it all together.
08:30I also like to add in a pinch of salt to balance the sweet.
08:35Chocolate silk right over the top.
08:40Smooth it out.
08:43That is just sexy.
08:46The easiest dessert of the day.
08:48I mean, not only is it no-bake, but it only
08:50has like five ingredients.
08:52So this goes into the fridge.
08:53Now this one does have to set.
08:54So you know, until the chocolate hardens,
08:56that pudding's going to thicken.
08:57So at least a couple hours, but this
08:59is one that you could make the morning of,
09:02and then enjoy it that evening.
09:04Probably could have done better in my layering process,
09:07but it'll still be delicious.
09:09For my final trick, a no-cook chocolate mousse.
09:12This chocolate mousse is so easy, no cooking,
09:15and just a few ingredients.
09:16Mocha mousse happens to be the Pantone color of the year,
09:19but it sounds like the perfect dessert for this time of year.
09:22Typically, you've got to like whisk egg yolks,
09:25and temper things, and you know, melt chocolate,
09:27and all this stuff.
09:28Not today.
09:29Ain't nobody got time for that.
09:31This is just that simple, after-dinner,
09:34perfect dessert, in my opinion.
09:36So I'm going to start out just by whipping up
09:37some heavy cream.
09:38You want to make sure everything's cold.
09:39That's going to give you the best results.
09:41As that whips, I'm going to incorporate cocoa powder
09:45with the powdered sugar as it whips,
09:47and then you're going to whip that until it soft peaks,
09:49which is where we're at.
09:51Oh, that looks good.
09:54I might want a little hint of sweet.
09:56The only difference in this mousse versus, you know,
09:58the classic way, the classic way is going to just be
10:01slightly denser than this.
10:03Even though it's supposed to be light,
10:04it has like a little bit more of a richness.
10:07I'm going to finish it off with a little vanilla,
10:09and then just like the tiniest amount of almond extract.
10:13One final whip.
10:19Break out your glasses, like the cheesecake,
10:22and then you're ready to whip it up.
10:24Like the cheesecake, you can make this one
10:27totally in advance.
10:28Go ahead and spoon it into your serving dishes,
10:30and then just keep it refrigerated,
10:32and then I like to serve this with just some fresh berries.
10:36See how light and airy it is?
10:38You can just see those little pockets of air in there.
10:40That's a good thing.
10:41The problem with this dessert
10:43is that because it is so light,
10:45you tend to want to just feed yourself a little more.
10:49I mean, it is Valentine's Day.
10:50I guess you do what you want,
10:51but do remember that the only ingredient is heavy cream.
10:54Alternatively, you could also throw this into a plastic bag
10:58and then pipe it into your serving dish.
11:01That might get you a little bit of a fancier presentation,
11:04but I like kind of like the rustic,
11:07little light, fluffy air bubbles.
11:09So cute, so easy.
11:10Just refrigerate these until you're ready to serve,
11:12and then when it comes time to serve,
11:14what I would do is take a little whip
11:17and then a piece of dark red Valentine's fruit.
11:21Somehow the cutest thing.
11:23I think I need to give you one final taste,
11:25you know, just to be sure.
11:25I wouldn't want to steer you wrong.
11:27Perfect bite.
11:30Mm.
11:33Little bite of fruit.
11:36The simplest things might be the best.
11:39It just like floats down your throat.
11:42It's like you're not even eating anything.
11:44We have done it, three desserts,
11:46and we never had to turn on the oven.
11:48It's a successful day.
11:50We have to taste that eclair cake.
11:53The longer this sits,
11:54those graham crackers will get, you know, soft a little bit.
11:59It's like a chocolate lasagna.
12:02I probably should have let this sit up
12:04for a little bit longer to absorb into those crackers,
12:06but perfect bite.
12:09You got creamy, you got crunchy, you got chocolate.
12:12Oh, this is good.
12:13Mm.
12:15With that chocolate ganache,
12:16this makes this like an extra special version
12:19of a banana pudding, minus the bananas, of course.
12:22And this is only gonna get better.
12:23I would probably recommend you make it
12:25the morning of, or even the day before.
12:28And that cream lightens it up, so it's like sweet,
12:31but not too sweet.
12:32I'll also be having this for breakfast tomorrow.
12:34I think we nailed it.
12:36For every end of the chocolate spectrum,
12:38there's something for everybody.
12:39You've got your light and very sweet,
12:42your light and fluffy, your crowd pleaser,
12:46and your absolute chocolate lover's delight.
12:48So forget the flowers, forget the jewelry.
12:51With one of these no-bake chocolate desserts,
12:53it'll be love at first bite.
12:55Guaranteed.