Mind you this is not about baking the most seductive and perfect cheesecake. It’s about learning to make one and having a luscious dessert you’ll be delighted to eat and thrilled to share with your family and friends. How’s that?
You can expect a rich and creamy cheesecake but not heavy and dense. The lemon zest in the filling adds freshness to it, and the strawberry sauce topping – which is both sweet and tart – takes your cheesecake over the top. Well, you can choose not to have the strawberry topping and still enjoy a great-tasting cheesecake, so that’s up to you.
Let’s have a chat about the three things that make up this chic dessert: crust, filling, and topping.
CHEESECAKE CRUST
You only need two ingredients: biscuits and melted unsalted butter.
Choose your biscuits among many options. I’ve tried Graham and Griffin’s Milk Arrowroot, and both worked great. Other plain biscuits such as Arnott’s Marie crackers or Nice, or digestives would work, too.
If you love butter, like me, then you’ll be in for a treat with its delicious buttery crust. And you’ll have enough biscuit mixture to press into the base and up to the sides of the prepared pan, yay!
And to make things easier, I have ditched the water bath. You will notice there’s a small crack on my cheesecake, but I don’t think it has altered the taste at all. Of course, who doesn’t want to have a perfect-looking cheesecake? But for now – I’m going for the taste.
FILLING
Use the cream cheese block and not the spreadable one. You only need 500 g of cream cheese for this recipe and make sure you bring it to room temperature before you use it. You want to combine it well with the other ingredients without beating the cream cheese mixture too long.
Why you might ask? The batter becomes very aerated when you beat it for too long. In a situation like that, the cake might rise higher than it should during baking and sink as it cools down.
You also need the eggs to be at room temperature.
The flour gives stability to the cheesecake, while the sour cream makes it light to the taste. And the rest of the filling ingredients – sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla – are added for great flavour.
STRAWBERRY SAUCE TOPPING
You will need 500 g of fresh strawberries, which you will have to divide prior to cooking. Half of it will be chopped while the other half will be sliced in halves.
To make the sauce, you also need ½ cup sugar, 2 tbsp lemon juice, ½ tsp vanilla extract, and 1 1/2 tsp cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp water.
The sauce will thicken as it cools. You can stir in 1 tbsp of water if you want to thin it out, one at a time, until you’re happy with the consistency.
How do I describe the strawberry sauce? It’s tart and slightly sweet at the same time with chunks of softened strawberries. It’s the kind of sauce you want to eat on its own. You can say I’m guilty of that, lol.
I’ve tried many cheesecake recipes before, but I’ve chosen the one from RecipeTinEats because it’s worth giving a shot.
For other cheesecake recipes, check out:
* Cheesecake Bars
* Basque Burnt Cheesecake
How To Make Cheesecake with Strawberry Sauce
Cheesecake with Strawberry Sauce
Ingredients
Cheesecake Crust
- 200 g (7oz) Griffin's Milk Arrowroot or Graham Cracker or other plain biscuit
- 120 g (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted
Cheesecake Filling
- 500 g cream cheese at room temperature
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
- zest of 1 lemon
- 3 eggs at room temperature
Strawberry Sauce
- 500 g fresh strawberries
- 2 tbsp lemon juice or water
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tsp cornflour/cornstarch
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
- Get an 8-inch or 20 cm springform cake pan. Turn the base upside down and grease with butter Note 1. Place baking paper on the base and clip into the springform pan. Grease the side with butter and line with baking paper. See photo.
- Preheat oven to 160 C (320 F). Blitz the biscuits in the food processor or crush into fine crumbs and combine with melted unsalted butter. It should look like wet sand. Then, press it firmly onto the bottom and sides of the prepared pan using a spoon or the bottom of a measuring cup Note 2. No need to bake the crust at this point.
- Use a stand mixer or handheld beater to beat the cream cheese until just smooth, about 20 seconds on speed 4.
- Add flour and beat for 5 sec until incorporated. Add vanilla, sour cream, sugar and lemon zest. Beat until just combined about 10 sec. Add eggs one at a time. Beat until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared crust.
- Bake for 50-55 mins until filling is set. The cake should slightly jiggle in the centre when you move the pan. It will continue to cook as it cools. Let the cake cool in the pan and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight, preferably.
Strawberry Sauce
- In a saucepan, stir together chopped strawberries, vanilla extract, sugar, and lemon juice. Turn on the fire over medium heat and bring the sauce mixture to simmer until strawberries break down, about 10 mins.
- Mix cornflour with water and stir into the sauce mixture.
- Add halved strawberries and cook until softened, about 1 min. Remove from heat and cool. The sauce will get thick as it cools. Thin it out with a tiny splash of water to achieve a 'pourable' consistency.
- Gently cover top of the cheesecake with sauce. Make it look great by forming a single layer of halved strawberries facing down. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.