What To Know
- The result sits somewhere between a cheesecake filling and a parfait, and depending on how it’s flavoured, it’s being eaten as breakfast, snack, dessert — or sometimes all three.
- A Dubai-based food and lifestyle creator (@chefdurdona) shared her version of the dessert in a video that has since crossed 650,000 views.
- For Dubai residents scrolling late-night social feeds, that’s reason enough to reach for a tub of yogurt, some biscuits, and see what all the fuss is about.
Dubai has never been slow to adopt a food trend. From dalgona coffee to tissue bread (and who can forget the viral Dubai chocolate?), the city has a habit of turning Internet obsessions into everyday kitchen experiments.
The latest to enter that list is the Japanese ‘no-bake’ cheesecake, a simple, two-ingredient dessert that has taken over TikTok, Instagram, and late-night fridge raids.
Despite the name, this isn’t the jiggly, soufflé-style Japanese cheesecake that requires ovens, water baths, and more effort than most home cooks are willing to commit to. This version is far simpler and aligns with the way people actually cook (or don’t cook) at home.
What is the Viral Japanese No-Bake Cheesecake?
At its core, the trend relies on just two things: thick yogurt and biscuits.
Instead of cream cheese, eggs, and sugar, you dip whole biscuits (popular choices include Lotus Biscoff, digestives, or sablé-style cookies) straight into tubs or jars of Greek or skyr-style yogurt. The container is then sealed and refrigerated for several hours, usually overnight. During that time, the biscuits soften, absorb moisture, and essentially dissolve into the yogurt, helping it set into a rich, dense dessert.
The result sits somewhere between a cheesecake filling and a parfait, and depending on how it’s flavoured, it’s being eaten as breakfast, snack, dessert — or sometimes all three!
Where the Trend Started
The craze traces back to social media in Japan, where creators began experimenting with pressing French sablé-style cookies into yogurt tubs and chilling them overnight. As videos garnered millions of views, the dessert was labelled ‘Japanese cheesecake yogurt’ or simply ‘Japanese no-bake cheesecake.’
TikTok and Instagram have since been flooded with taste tests, meal-prep versions, and high-protein spins, turning what started as a simple hack into a full-blown Internet phenomenon.
Dubai Residents Try the Trend at Home
It was only a matter of time before Dubai residents and content creators began experimenting with the trend at home. Across social media, locals are sharing their takes on the no-bake cheesecake, documenting everything from grocery runs to late-night taste tests.
One Dubai resident admitted, “The amount of times I have seen these [viral] reels on my feed is unhealthy. Right after my office, I am here to buy these two ingredients that will help me make the Japanese cheesecake.”
For content creators, this trend is a visual delight. A Dubai-based food and lifestyle creator (@chefdurdona) shared her version of the dessert in a video that has since crossed 650,000 views.
Dubai is the perfect environment for this kind of trend: fast, flexible, and not requiring specialist equipment, appealing to busy professionals, gym-goers, and apartment kitchens where ovens aren’t always central. And in a city where viral food trends quickly become café specials, it’s easy to imagine this tub dessert appearing on local menus soon.
How to Make It at Home
There’s no strict recipe for this dessert, which is part of its charm. Here’s a simple two-ingredient version:
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Choose a tub of thick yogurt: Greek, skyr, or strained plant-based yogurt works best for a cheesecake-like texture.
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Sweeten or flavour if desired: vanilla, honey, or flavoured yogurt.
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Prepare your biscuits: Biscoff, digestive, or local favourites. Slot as many as you can vertically into the yogurt tub or pack into a jar.
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Refrigerate: Cover and refrigerate for at least a few hours, ideally overnight, so the biscuits absorb moisture, soften, and help the yogurt firm up.
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Serve: Eat straight with a spoon! Many people add toppings like fruit, chocolate, or date syrup.
Is It Really Cheesecake?
Purists may argue that cheesecake requires cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and usually baking. This trend skips all of that.
What it successfully replicates, however, are the cues people associate with cheesecake: thick creaminess, a biscuit base, and true indulgence, enough to satisfy sweet cravings.
For Dubai residents scrolling late-night social feeds, that’s reason enough to reach for a tub of yogurt, some biscuits, and see what all the fuss is about.
