Chocolate Lasagna

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Featuring an Oreo base with layers of creamy cheesecake, silky chocolate diplomat cream, and a light Chantilly whipped topping, this no-bake chocolate lasagna is 100% homemade and strikes the perfect balance between rich and airy.

Prep Time1

Chilling time5

Total Time6

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 804kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Oreo Crust Base

400 g Oreo cookies crushed
114 g Unsalted butter melted but not hot
Pinch of salt

Cheesecake Layer

460 g Cream Cheese full fat (33%+) eg. Philadelphia, use it cold
150 g Heavy cream min 36% fat, use it cold
60 g Powdered sugar sifted
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

Chocolate Diplomat Cream

480 g Whole milk 3% fat
100 g Granulated sugar
80 g Egg yolk approx. yolk of 4-5 eggs at room temperature
25 g Corn starch
25 g Cocoa powder unsweetened, dutch processed
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
55 g Unsalted butter 82% fat, room temperature soft butter
125 g Semi-sweet chocolate high quality chocolate chips or chocolate bar cut into smaller chunks
115 g Heavy cream 36% fat, use it very cold

Whipped Chantilly Cream

460 g Heavy cream min 36% fat, use it cold
150 g Mascarpone 41% fat, use it cold
60 g Powdered sugar sifted

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Chocolate Diplomat Cream

Start by making a chocolate pastry cream. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks for 1–2 minutes, until the mixture is slightly fluffy. Add the cornstarch, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Whisk until completely smooth and lump-free.
Heat the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove it just as it begins to simmer; do not let it boil.
Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly as you pour.
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly and scraping the bottom and sides of the pan. Continue until the mixture thickens, usually about 1 minute after the first boil. The cream may look lumpy at first—keep whisking, and it will become smooth and glossy.
For an extra-smooth texture, strain the cream through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl to remove any lumps or cooked egg bits.
Add softened butter in 2–3 stages, mixing well after each addition until fully incorporated. Then, pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Let it sit 1–2 minutes to melt the chocolate, then fold gently with a rubber spatula until fully combined.
Transfer the cream to a shallow bowl or container. Cover the surface directly with plastic wrap to prevent skin from forming. Let it cool to room temperature.

Oreo Crust Base

Melt the butter in the microwave on low heat, then let it cool slightly while you make the crumbs.
Make the Oreo crumbs by either pulsing the cookies in a food processor or by putting them in a zip bag and beating them with a rolling pin. Make sure that the crumbs are fine and that there are no visible big chunks left.
Mix the crumbs with the warm butter and a pinch of salt until the mixture comes together and the crumbs are evenly coated in butter. If the mixture is too runny, place it into the fridge for a few minutes.
Spread the cookie mixture evenly and tightly in your pan. You can use your fingers for this step, or a flat-bottom glass or the back of a spoon.
Refrigerate while preparing the cheesecake layer.

Cheesecake layer

Place the very cold cream cheese and heavy cream into a bowl along with the sifted powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Use an electric hand mixer to whip the mixture for about 2-3 minutes until fluffy.
Spread the cheesecake layer over the crust, smooth the top, then refrigerate while preparing the next layer.

Chocolate Diplomat Cream continue

Start with your cooled chocolate pastry cream at room temperature.
In a separate bowl, whip very cold heavy cream for a few minutes until it reaches soft to medium peaks. Avoid whipping until stiff peaks form.
Give the chocolate pastry cream a few gentle whisks to loosen it and make it easier to fold. Then, using a rubber spatula, gently fold the whipped cream into the chocolate pastry cream. Do this carefully, just until the mixture is smooth and evenly combined, do not overmix.
Spread the chocolate diplomat cream over the cheesecake layer, smooth the top, then refrigerate while preparing the next layer.

Whipped Chantilly Cream

Place very cold heavy cream and mascarpone into a mixing bowl, along with the sifted powdered sugar. Use an electric hand mixer to whip the mixture for about 2-3 minutes until fluffy.
To finish, pipe or spread this whipped cream layer on top of the chocolate diplomat cream layer.
Refrigerate for at least four hours or overnight. For the cleanest cut, freeze it for 30 minutes before cutting. However, the dessert is best served chilled, not frozen. Decorate with chocolate shavings.
Any leftovers can be stored refrigerated in an airtight container for 2 days. This chocolate lasagna does not freeze well because of its creamy layers.

Notes

Ingredient notes:

Measure your ingredients with a digital scale for accuracy.
It is very important that the dairy products (mascarpone, heavy cream, cream cheese) are high in fat. The low-fat versions won't whip up correctly because they contain more water.
Unsweetened, Dutch-processed cocoa powder and high-quality semi-sweet chocolate are the heart of making this pastry cream.

Technique notes:

For the crust, the butter acts as a binding agent in this recipe. Once it is cooled in the fridge, it will set. You may have had a bad experience with Oreo crust in the past, where it was too crumbly and didn't hold its shape. This was likely due to not using enough butter in the recipe.
All these layers, using real dairy products as opposed to Cool Whip, can be easily overwhipped. When whipping, stop as soon as the mixture has reached a fluffy consistency (this will take 2-3 minutes) and form early stiff peaks. It won't get stiffer after this point. In fact, if you overbeat it, it will only get runnier and then break.
You will need to chill the dessert in between building up the layers. While placing layers one by one, do so carefully so they don't mix.
Make sure to chill the dessert at the end as well! Let it sit in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours for the layers to set.
For a clean cut, cut with a knife that has been run under hot water.
Don’t let the dessert sit out too long (more than 30 minutes), or it might start to get too soft.

Nutrition