cook for crowds
Eat | Drink | Enjoy

Strawberry Cheesecake


follow us:

Strawberry Cheesecake
4th June, 2017

My Mum made the world’s greatest cheesecake so I’ve been spoilt as a child and as such I never, ever order cheesecake in restaurants as I know I’m going to be disappointed.

This is NOT her recipe (family secret; going to the grave with me; not sorry) but it’s very close to her original and is very tasty.

Ingredients

  • For the base
  • 85g butter melted, plus extra for tin
  • 140g digestive biscuit, made into fine crumbs
  • For the cheesecake filling
  • 3 x 300g/ pack Philadelphia cheese
  • 250g golden caster sugar
  • 3 tbsp plain flour
  • 1½ tsp vanilla extract
  • finely grated zest of 1 lemon (about 2 tsp)
  • 1½ tsp lemon juice
  • 3 large eggs, plus 1 yolk
  • 200ml soured cream
  • For the topping
  • 450 g strawberries
  • 150 g sugar
  • 2 tbs sugar
  • 2 tbs lemon juice
  • 1 tbs cornflour

    Method

    Preheat the oven to fan 180C.

    Line the base of a 20cm springform cake tin with parchment paper.

    For the crust, melt the butter in a medium pan and stir in the biscuit crumbs until the biscuit is covered.

    Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan and bake for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack

    Increase the oven temperature to 200C

    With a hand blender, beat the soft cheese until creamy and then gradually add the sugar, then the flour and a pinch of salt, scraping down the sides of the bowl when needed.

    Whisk in the vanilla, lemon zest and juice. Then add the eggs and yolk one at a time. Add the 200ml of soured cream until batter should is smooth and airy.

    Brush the sides of the springform tin with melted butter and put on a baking sheet. Pour in the filling and pop into the oven on the middle shelf.

    Bake for 10 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature 110C and bake for a further 25 minutes more

    Test by gently shaking the tin and look for a slight wobble in the filling. If still too wet, bake for longer

    Turn off the oven and open the oven door slightly and let it cool in the oven for 2 hours. The cheesecake may get a slight crack on top as it cools.

    Whilst baking the cheesecake, put all the topping ingredients into a saucepan and cook until the berries breakdown at which point take off the heat and allow to cool.

    With the cheesecake still in the pan (and cooled), pour over the topping and put the cheesecake in the fridge.

    Just before service, run a warmed knife around the edge of the springform tin to loosen, remove from the tin, remove the base and pop onto a cake plate