STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE - SIMPLE & SPECIAL!

It's Mr Hubby's Birthday! And I wanted to make Cheesecake for him. I asked what topping would he like. "Strawberries" he said. And so it came to be. I 'tweaked' the Marble Cheesecake recipe to make this. it's really easy and I strongly feel that the basic cheesecake recipe is very versatile. Try it, you'll love it. Don't forget to leave the cream cheese out till room-temperature, so it's easier to whisk and that the cake will not crack when you bake it.

I need to practice more of this, especially in making sure the crust is pressed level and neat :)

You'll need
8" round springform tin (loose bottom)
Aluminium foil

I lined the inside of the tin with aluminium foil before preparing the crust because it makes cleaning so super-duper easy.

Crust:
200gm sweet biscuits (crushed)
100gm butter (melted)
1 teaspoon of honey ( I omitted this, because I ran out of honey....)

- Pour the melted butter into the crushed biscuits. Add honey if you're using. Mix well and pour into the bottom of the tin. Press firmly at the bottom and up till about 2/3 of the pan. When you're done, leave the tin in the freezer while you prepare the filling.

Filling:
500gm cream cheese
3/4 cup of castor sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream 
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup of all-purpose (plain) flour)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence/extract

1 cup of Strawberries (chopped)
1 can of ready Strawberries Pie Filling
Extra Strawberries for decoration

- Whisk the cream cheese till light and fluffy, add sugar and continue to whisk till sugar dissolves. 
- Add eggs one at a time and whisk well in between.
- Add in the sour cream, lemon juice, vanilla and flour.
- Fold in the chopped strawberries.

Preheat the oven to 180degress celcius

- Remove the crust from the freezer. Pour cheese batter on to the crust.
- Place the tin in a bigger pan filled with hot water (Baine Marie)
- Bake for about 50-55 mins. If the top browns too quickly, cover it loosely with aluminium foil.
- Leave the tin in the oven (when it's off) to cool for about 1 hr, door slightly ajar.

Sliced view of the Strwberry Cheesecake

Remove cheesecake from the oven, wrap in aluminium and chill for at least 4hrs.
After the 4 hrs, take the cheesecake out and pour the Strawberry filling on top. Continue to chill until ready to serve. Before serving, slice more strawberries for decoration.