Cheesecakes Revisted.....

For someone who very much likes to be organised sometimes the details do tend to fall by the way side.

Like for example, it's Mr B's birthday in 5 days time so I spent today making a start on the cake and in my head I was thinking right I'll make breakfast in bed, give him some presents, we might go to the movies, maybe have a picnic, come home, more presents, cake, dinner outside if the weather is nice......totally sorted yes?

No.

It struck me today that whilst I may have it all 'planned' I actually don't because I have no idea what I'm making for breakfast or what's on at the movies, if the weather will be nice enough for a picnic or even what we will eat and you can bet I don't know what we're having for dinner.....

All minor details of course.

So excuse me whilst I spend the next 4 days in a panic trying to figure it out.

I have the same issue with recipes some times.

For example, I use the same standard recipe for my cheesecake fillings and just add fresh fruit, Baileys or some crushed up Oreo's to create the variations. The only problem is that when I wrote out the original posts for these recipes I thought I was doing you (and me) a favour by removing some of the steps I thought were 'unnecessary.'

My original recipe said 'beat the cream cheese and sugar, then add the gelatin, cream and baileys / strawberries / oreos.....'

In theory there is nothing wrong with that recipe, I mean you still end up with a good cheesecake.....

....But in reality you want a great cheesecake and in order to do that, you need to pay attention to the details.

You need to whip the cream and fold it into the mixture after you have mixed through the gelatin and your choice of flavours, and personally I'm thinking the Baileys, strawberries and Oreo's is worth a try!! It might seem like a minor detail but it makes ALL the difference and the end result is a light as air mousse like cheesecake.

In light of this I have updated the recipes for my Cookies and Cream Cheesecake and my Irish Cream Cheesecake and today I'm going to give you the recipe for a Strawberry Cheesecake.

The cheesecake in the photo below is an Irish Cream Cheesecake that we made recently and looking back at the original post it's easy to see how far my food presentation and photography skills have come since starting this blog 3 years ago. I'm also slowly gaining an understanding of how different ingredients work together and their impact on the final product.

Strawberry Cheesecake
1 x 250g pkt of plain sweet biscuits
75g butter, melted
500g cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar, plus 1/4 cup extra
3 tspn gelatin, dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water
200g punnet of strawberries, hulled and halved.
1 cup thickened cream

Place biscuits in a food processor and process until they are down to fine crumbs.

Combine the strawberries and extra sugar in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 8-10 mins or until strawberries have broken down slightly. You still want some chunks in there though! Set aside to cool completely. 

Whip the cream and set aside. 

Using an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the strawberries and gelatin and beat until combined. Gently fold through the whipped cream.

Pour the filling into the prepared crust and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until set.

Add the melted butter and mix well. Press the mixture into the base of a lined 24cm springform pan and place in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Mrs B xx