Super Strawberry Cheesecake

So far I’ve baked and enjoyed a fair few cheesecakes, but had been uninspired by any strawberry cheesecake recipe I’d read. They all were vanilla cheesecakes with a strawberry topping, whereas I wanted a STRAWBERRY cheesecake.

Finally I found a great recipe from bbcgoodfood (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2442/pink-strawberry-cheesecake) and gave it a go, with my own twist of course. This is a strange recipe for me as no baking is required, but it does look great and tastes like summer in a cheesecake.

Also, although this is a great cheesecake, it may use up every bowl you have in the kitchen – so my advice would be to get someone who loves cheesecake to volunteer to do the washing up :)

Makes one 20cm square cheesecake

Ingredients:

For the base:

200g digestive biscuits
100g butter, melted
1 tbsp demerara sugar

For the filling:

3 sheets leaf gelatine
142ml carton single cream
300g full fat cream cheese
100g caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
300g strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
142ml whipping/double cream
1 medium egg white

For the sauce:

125g strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp caster sugar

Method:

1. Grease and line the base and sides of a 20x20cm square cake tin with greaseproof paper. This makes the job of removing the cheesecake from the tin at the end a lot easier.

2. Prepare the base. Put the digestive biscuits in a food processor, and whizz to fine crumbs. Alternatively, place the biscuits in two carrier bags (bags often have minute holes in, so double bagging helps prevent mess), and hit with a rolling pin.

3. Pour into a small mixing bowl and pour in the butter and demerara sugar. Stir to fully combine then pour into the cake tin. Use the back of a spoon to press the crumb mixture evenly over the base of the tin. Place in the fridge to cool.

4. In a bowl of cold water, submerge the gelatine leaves and leave to soften for five minutes.

5. In a saucepan heat the single cream until just boiling (you will see tiny bubbles at the surface of the cream). Take off the heat. Squeeze the gelatine in your fingers to remove excess water, and add to the cream. Whisk to dissolve the gelatine.

6. In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese with the caster sugar, lemon juice and zest. When lump free, add the chopped strawberries and cream/gelatine mixture.

7. In yet another bowl, whisk the double or whipping cream until it forms soft peaks. This is easiest to do with an electric whisk. Soft peaks means that when the whisk is lifted from the cream, a peak will form but the tip will flop over to one side. Fold into the cheesecake mixture.

8. In a clean, grease-free bowl, whisk the egg white until it forms stiff peaks. This means that when the whisk is lifted, a peak again forms but the tip remains rigid. Gently fold into the cheesecake mixture.

9. Pour the cheesecake mixture into the cake tin, and place in the fridge to set. This will take at least 2 – 3 hours.

10. For the sauce, blitz the remaining chopped strawberries with the caster sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Taste, and sweeten if necessary (this will depend on the variety/batch of strawberries you bought).