I’ll start off by saying sorry for the unannounced hiatus on
the blog. It has been crazy-busy at my end and although I did a fair bit of
baking last month there just has not been time to upload. But I am hoping for a
lull really soon so posts should pick up! This cheesecake is from The Hummingbirdbakery’s cake days book. They have put in to the summer afternoon tea section…I’m not sure
though that you can have anything more than a slice of this at one sitting as
it’s a very rich cheesecake. I don’t think you can go wrong though-nubbly
biscuit base, fruity creamy cheesecake topped with a velvety layer of mascarpone
cream….you really do have to try it before the summer is up…(and sorry for the not-so-great hastily taken pictures!better ones next time I promise!)
Recipe:
(Cake Days by The Hummingbird Bakery)
Serves 8-12
You need one 20cm springform cake tin
(mine is 23 cm-it was fine)
For the base:
220 g digestive biscuits
100g butter, melted
For the filling:
200g fresh strawberries (chopped)
180g castor sugar
600g cream cheese
2 eggs
Line the tin with baking parchment. Process
biscuits and butter until fine crumbs and line tin with them. Place in fridge
for 20-30 mins.
Place the strawberries in a saucepan
with 80g of the sugar and 30ml of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat
and cook until the strawberries are soft and the liquid has reduced by half
(takes about 10 mins on medium heat-do not cook for too long on strawberries
will burn-there should be some liquid left and its fine too have too much
rather than too little) Set aside until completely cold.
Preheat the oven to 160℃. Prepare the filling by beating
together the cream cheese and the remaining sugar on a medium speed until
smooth. Add the eggs one at a time. Pour in the cooked strawberries and stir in
by hand.
Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and
bake for about 30 mins or until firm with a slight wobble in the middle. Allow
the cheesecake to cool to room temperature still in the tin, then place in the
fridge to chill and set for 1-2 hours.
For the topping:
100g mascarpone
20g icing sugar
100ml double cream
Beat the mascarpone and icing sugar
on a medium speed until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the double cream
until soft peaks form. Then
fold the double cream into the mascarpone mixture.
Spread on top of the cheesecake and chill again for
1 hour. Decorate cheesecake with fresh strawberries.
