Recipe: Strawberries and Cream Cheesecake
Strawberries and Cream Cheesecake by Mercy Fenton.
"A last nod toward summer, this cheesecake is creamy yet light and delicate," says Mercy Fenton in her weekly column.
"Perfectly pink strawberry cheesecake sits on luxurious vanilla cream. Slice and serve - nothing else is needed, although a few fresh strawberries will never go amiss. I was tempted to use chocolate digestives in the base but saved it for another day, if you fancy that, give it a go"
270gr digestive biscuits
90gr melted butter
- Line the base of a 10 inch spring form tin with a disk of parchment.
- Prepare the biscuit base.
- Crush the biscuits in a bag with a rolling pin or use a food processor.
- Mix with the melted butter and press firmly into the base of the tin.
- Refrigerate until required.
- Allow 230-250gr of frozen strawberries to defrost then puree with a blender.
- through a fine sieve to remove some of the pips. You should have a little more than you need, you can sweeten the extra amount and drizzle through the vanilla layer.
- Set the remainder aside.
100ml cream
100ml milk
25gr sugar
3 egg yolks
½ tsp vanilla
1½ leaves gelatin (3.75gr)
125gr whipped cream
- Put the milk, cream and vanilla in a small pot and bring just to the boil.
- Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until pale and the sugar is slightly dissolved.
- Put the leaf gelatin in cold water to soak.
- Prepare a sieve over a clean bowl and sit the clean bowl into another with cold or iced water (this is to help cool the custard quickly so it doesn’t curdle.)
- Carefully, a little at a time, add the scalded milk and cream to the egg yolk mixture.
- Pour into a clean pot and cook gently over a low heat, stirring all the time until the mixture thickens.
- Once the mixture coats the back of a spoon, remove from the heat, quickly lift the softened gelatin from the water squeeze to remove excess water and add to the hot custard.
- Stir until the gelatin is dissolved, strain through a sieve into the clean bowl.
- As it cools, it will begin to set, once it is fully cool and thickening fold in the whipped cream.
- Scrape into the prepared tin and level carefully.
- If you have extra strawberry puree, drizzle over vanilla layer now and mix in gently with a cocktail stick.
- Place in the fridge.
225gr cream cheese
165gr strawberry puree
1½ tbsp lemon juice
115gr sugar
50ml strawberry puree
3½ leaf gelatin
120gr egg white
85gr caster Sugar
40gr water (just enough to wet the sugar)
170gr cream, whipped
- Put the cream on to beat to stiff peaks then chill in the fridge.
- Using spade, beat the cream cheese and sugar; don’t over-mix, it just needs to be smooth.
- Add the 165gr strawberry puree slowly so the mix stays smooth, then add the lemon juice.
- Soak the gelatin in cold water, once soft lift out the gelatin from cold water and squeeze to remove excess water.
- Heat the extra 50gr strawberry puree (the microwave is fine for this).
- Dissolve the gelatin in the hot strawberry puree.
- Add dissolved gelatin to the cream cheese mix.
- Place in the fridge to start the setting process while you prepare the egg white.
- Check occasionally and gently whisk to ensure it cools and sets evenly.
- In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Heat over low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
- Once the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat to medium-high and allow the syrup to come to a boil.
- In the meantime, add the egg whites to a medium-sized, heatproof bowl and mix (with a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment) until foamy and the whites are almost able to hold soft peaks.
- Once the syrup is boiling, cook until it reaches 116C (use a sugar thermometer), then take the pan off the heat and slowly drizzle the hot syrup into the bowl with the foamy egg whites, mixing continuously to prevent the eggs from scrambling.
- Once all the syrup has been added, keep whisking until the bottom of the bowl feels cool to the touch and the meringue has cooled down to body temperature.
- Fold the egg white into the slightly set cream cheese, once evenly distributed with no lumps, fold in the cream.
- Pour into the prepared tin, on top of the bavarois, spread evenly then return to the fridge to chill and set.
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