Strawberry Cheesecake

Cheesecake is one of my most favourite desserts of all time, and I literally have not been able to eat it for at least 6 months now, so when my boyfriend's mum came across a gluten-free lemon cheesecake recipe in the May 2011 edition of ASDA magazine, I had to give it a go! My favourite cheesecake flavour was always strawberry, especially the frozen £1 one you could get from Sainsbury's, so when making it I decided to use strawberries instead of lemons.

INGREDIENTS

Cheesecake: 

• 150g Glutafin Digestive Biscuits
• 50g Butter, melted
• 250g Mascarpone
• 250g Soft Cheese (Philadelphia)
• 100g Créme Fraíche
• 150g Caster Sugar
• ½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 Level Teaspoon of Cornflour
• 2 Medium Free-range Eggs

Topping:

• Punnet of Strawberries
• 3 or 4 Tablespoons of Caster Sugar

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 160C/140C for fan assisted/Gas mark 3.

2. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line the base with baking paper.

3. Crush the biscuits to make crumbs. The easiest way to do this is to put the biscuits in a plastic bag, seal, and bash with a rolling pin.

4. Mix the crumbs in with the melted butter making sure they are thoroughly coated, then spread evenly over the base of the tin. Press down firmly with the back of a spoon. Chill in the fridge to set while you continue with the rest of the recipe.

5. Put the Mascarpone, Soft Cheese, Créme Fraíche, Caster Sugar, Vanilla Extract, Cornflour & Eggs into a bowl and whisk thoroughly. You can do this with an electric or hand whisk. Do this until evenly blended and of a creamy texture.

6. Pour this mixture onto the base and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Don't peek! It can sometimes cause the cheesecake to crack if you do. When cooked, turn off the oven but keep the cheesecake inside for another 30 minutes as it cools.

7. To make a fruity juicy topping (strawberry in my case) take some fruit and put it in a blender with some caster sugar. I used about 12 Strawberries and roughly 3 or 4 tablespoons of caster sugar. Pass it through a fine sieve to remove any pips. You could also use chocolate sauce, or just leave it without a topping if you prefer it New York style! For lemon cheesecake like the original recipe, add lemon zest and juice at stage 6.

I find that it's best to leave the cheesecake in the fridge overnight to set and let the flavours blend together, so I'd recommend not eating it until the next day (if you can resist!)

And here is my finished result! <3

 xo