White Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake with Sun-Dried Cherries

This is not your standard cheesecake. Not even close.

Layers of creamy white chocolate mousse cheesecake alternate with crumbled shortbread, caramel cookies, and praline pieces, all studded with chewy sun-dried cherries that pop with tart, fruity flavor.

The filling is set with gelatin rather than baked, so it stays impossibly light while the cream cheese and whipped cream do the heavy lifting on richness.

It’s the kind of dessert that feels like it came from a French patisserie, but you can pull it together in your own kitchen without ever turning on the oven.

Pro Tips

• Dissolve the gelatin completely in water before adding it to the cream cheese mixture. Any undissolved granules will create lumps in your filling.
• Make sure the melted white chocolate has cooled slightly before mixing it into the cream cheese. Hot chocolate will melt the sugar and make the texture grainy.
• Whip the cream to soft peaks only. Overwhipped cream won’t fold in smoothly and can make the mousse dense.
• Crumble the cookies into uneven pieces for the best texture. A mix of fine crumbs and larger chunks gives each slice more character.