Cynthia's Strawberry Cheesecake

I feel like I'm on a baking frenzy. I've been baking on Sunday, Monday and today too! (: It sure is a luxury to be able to bake. Somehow, even though I'm tired, I always find some source of mysterious strength when it comes to baking!

So despite the few hours of sleep last night, the long and frenzy day I had today preparing for the Parent Teacher Conference tomorrow night, the trip to ICA to collect my passport, the impromptu tea I enjoyed with Catherine and her hubby, the trip down to the banquet venue to choose our banquet invites and to do a survey of the venue, I still garnered energy to play in the kitchen.

It's always a blessing to bless others with food so I made a No bake Strawberry Cheesecake for my colleagues to enjoy tomorrow. After all, it's a really long day we're all gonna have tomorrow.

It's also my first ever Parent Teacher Conference! (:

In any case, I'd rate this recipe a difficult level 3 out of 5 and it takes about 3 hours all in all to prepare. 

Cynthia's Strawberry Cheesecake Recipe

This recipe yields a 8" cake

250g strawberry yoghurt

250g plain yoghurt

500g cream cheese, preferably room temprature

5 tbsp gelatin powder

200ml water

150g castor sugar

270g digestive biscuits

112g unsalted butter

300g strawberries (slightly less than 4 punnet)

2 tbsp water

2 tbsp lemon juice (from 1/2 a lemon)

3 tbsp castor sugar

pink wilton gel food colouring

Method

These are the digestive biscuits I used. 

Have the digestive biscuits in a thick clean plastic bag or a sturdy ziplock bag. 

Crush it till you get something like sand. I used the back of my wooden mooncake mould to 'whack' the biscuits!

Melt the butter over a double boiler or in the microwave oven on medium high heat for a minute or till melted. Allow it to cool before pouring it into the bag of biscuits.

Shake the bag to mix the butter and biscuits. You should get something like wet sand. For this cake, you'd need to use a baking tin with a removable base or a cake ring with a cake base. Springform pans are okay but I just don't like them. I feel that the first two choices creates a cleaner cake. 

Using the back of a spoon or big spoon (easier to work with), smooth out the mixture and compress it as best as you can, ensuring that the sides are well compressed. Pop into the freezer to set while you prepare the cream cheese component.

In a microwavable bowl, have the water and gelatin mixed together. Microwave on medium-high heat for a minute or till mixture is all dissolved. Allow to cool. You may choose to do this over a double boiler. 

In a mixing bowl, combine half of the cream cheese and half of the sugar. Whisk well on low speed till mixture is creamy. 

Add in half the gelatin mixture. Whisk well on low speed till well combined.

This is the yoghurt that I used.

Add the 2 packets of plain yoghurt into the mixing bowl.

Mix well on low speed till well combined.

Pour into baking tin that has the digestive biscuit layer.

In the mixing bowl, add remaining cream cheese and castor sugar. Whisk well on low speed till well combined.

Add remaining gelatin mixture, whisk well on low speed till well combined.

Add in strawberry yoghurt along with a small bit of pink wilton gel food colouring.

Whisk well on low speed till well combined.

Gently pour it into the middle of the plain cream cheese mixture. I had intended to do swirls but since this was quite pretty, I left it as it was. Pop cake into freezer (with another cake board or plate below the cake tin/cake ring for better stability) for 1 hour 30 minutes - 2 hours or till a toothpick comes out clean when poked into the middle of the cake. You should also feel some light resistance. That way, you'd know that your cake is ready. Bring down to chiller and prepare strawberries. 

Wash strawberries and slice a small part of the top to level the strawberry.

In a non stick pot/skillet, add the strawberries, water, lemon juice and castor sugar. Bring to a boil on medium-high heat.

Stir well. Crush one strawberry and mix well into mixture for better flavour.

Allow mixture to bubble.

Beautiful bubbles! Cook for another 1 - 2 minutes and remove strawberries. 

Allow strawberries to cool completely. They are meant to be slightly soft. 

Remove cake from cake tin by running the back of a small paring knife along the sides of the cake. 

Gently push the cake base up while pulling the cake 'walls' down. You may wish to prop the cake base on a taller unit like a milo tin cake and gently pull the cake 'walls' down.

For less mess, I had my cake placed on another cake base. You may opt to serve it on the cake bottom alone.

Arrange strawberries on top of cake. Serve chilled. For best results, chill over night to allow cheesecake and base to firm up real good. (:

NOTE: Some have asked me why I cooked my strawberries. I cooked them as a compote as it prevents the drying of the fruit. It also gives it a better shine which dry fruits do not have. In fact, plain strawberries will start to dry once left in the refrigerator. The compote also tastes great so that's why I choose to cook them! (: 

Here are some tips and things to note when 'baking' this cake! (:

1) Do be precise with your measurements, especially the gelatin. This is the type of baking tablespoon to use:

Image taken from http://www.bakingshop.com/bc/img/MSP-47118.jpg

2) Do warm up the gelatin. If you do not have a microwave oven, you may boil it over very low fire to warm it up. 

3) Do watch the timing when setting the cake. Remove it from the freezer after the cake is set. Store the cake in the chiller. The cake stores best in an air tight container.

4) The cake contains cream cheese and even if it doesn't melt, I do not recommend leaving this for long in room temperature.

5) Do not leave the batter out for too long when preparing the cheesecake. It will firm up. 

6) The cake should be consumed within 3 - 4 days for maximum freshness. 

Pretty work of art isn't it? I hope that you'll enjoy this recipe! (:

Check out these beautiful renditions of this cake by many of my friends and readers like yourself! (:

By Veronica Tee

By Ayanie

By Jes Lyn

By Happy Crafter - Lena

I'd love to see the bakes or stuff you've cooked using the blog's recipe! Do share photos of stuff you've baked or cooked using the blog's recipe with me either via FB message to http://facebook.com/limcynthia OR http://facebook.com/thebakingbiatch OR via email at cynthia.lim.hl@gmail.com! I look forward to hearing from you! (: