Chunky Strawberry Cheese Cake

If my memory serves right I had my very first strawberry cheese cake about 28 years ago in Singapore. Of course I had no idea then what a cheese cake was. Fast forward about 15 years later I got re-introduced to this delectable dessert via the Cheese Cake Factory in Phoenix, AZ. That is when I learnt that no matter how much dinner you eat - you got to save room for dessert. The creamy, cheesy, slightly tangy and a bite of crunchy cheese cake - well if you haven't tried one - here's how you can make it yourselves. I researched quite a few recipes across the web some baked some non-baked. Each one had something that I liked and I didn't like. So here's a version with all the aspects that I liked from a few recipes. 

Ingredients:

1. Cream Cheese - 250 gms
2. Strawberries - 250 gms
3. Biscuits 250 gms (Any sweetish biscuit will do - even though some recommend grahams crakers)
4. Sweetened Condensed milk 
5. Butter - 125 gms
6. Egg - 1
7. Sugar - few tablespoons
8. Vanilla essence - 2 tea spoons
9. Lemon juice - from 1 lemon
10. Corn starch - 1 tea spoon
11. Red Food Colour - absolutely optional

The Method

Strawberry Cheese Cake has 4 phases which can be done almost in parallel while one of them is cooking.

The Base

1) Crush the biscuits until they are crumbed. You can use a blender or just put the biscuits in a ziplog bag and give a good whack using a rolling pin.

2) Melt the butter and mix it with the biscuit crumbs until evenly mixed.

3) Take a circular spring form baking pan and grease the sides with butter.

4) Pour the biscuit crumbs into it and pat it around nice and gently until it is evenly spread and a little bit goes into the sides.

5) Refrigerate this base for about 30 minutes (at least).

While the base is chilling out you can start on the next phase - the batter.

The Batter

1) Whip the cream cheese (which is pre-softened to room temperature) for a minute or using a hand blender or any other mechanical device that suits you.

2) Add the condensed milk, vanilla essence, lemon juice and mix it until well blended.

3) Crack an egg into this mix and blend it well

4) Add a few drops of red food colour to get the pinkish strawberryish look and blend.

5) Finally add a few tablespoons of chopped strawberries and fold it in with a spatula until evenly mixed.

6) Pour the batter into the base and sypread it around evenly with a spatula.

7) Bake the mix in an oven at 150 degrees celsius (approximately 300 deg F) for about 40 minutes. Here, again I would say go with your nose and eyes and not necessarily the time. Stop baking as soon as you smell the buttery cake aroma and the top layer starts to show signs of brown. You can also refer to some handy tips provided by the cream cheese product.

The Topping / Sauce

1) Take a couple of strawberries, diced them up roughly and blend it with about half a cup of water.

2) Filter this blend in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil.

3) Add a few tablespoons of sugar and mix it well.

4) Add 2 tablespoons of corn starch water to thicken the sauce.

5) Set the sauce aside to cool to room temperature and then refrigerate.

6) Slice a few strawberries thinly 

The Finale

1) Arrange the sliced strawberries in a circular fashion on the baked cake while it is still within the spring pan. Arrange the tapered end of the slice facing outwards.

2) Pour the sauce over the strawberries and gently rotate it around so the sauce is spread evenly and slow drip over the corners.

3) Refrigerate (at least) for a few hours before relishing.

Happy Baking !!

C