A light and creamy dessert accompanied by sweet and succulent strawberries. It is perfect for summer and marries together sweet, silky and crunchy textures to create a classic cheesecake recipe.
Serves8
CourseDessert
Prepare25 mins
Cook1 hr 30 mins
Total time1 hr 55 mins
Pluscooling and chilling
Ingredients
80g unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
200g digestive biscuits
FOR THE FILLING
650g full fat soft cheese, at room temperature
200g ricotta, at room temperature
150g soured cream, at room temperature
4 tbsp cornflour
200g caster sugar
1 lemon, zest of
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
FOR THE TOPPING
500g strawberries, hulled and halved
30g caster sugar
1 lemon, juice of
Method
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C, gas mark 6. Grease and line a 23cm round springform tin with baking parchment. Put the biscuits in a food processor and whizz into fine crumbs. Stir in the melted butter. Press firmly into the tin so you have an even, smooth base. Bake for 10 minutes until golden. Set aside to cool.
Put all the filling ingredients in a large bowl and, using electric beaters, mix until smooth. Pour the mixture onto the base and smooth out, bursting any bubbles on the surface. Bake for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 14 degrees C, gas mark 1; continue to bake for 50 minutes - 1 hour until the edges are set but the middle is still wobbly. Open the door of the oven a crack and leave to cool for a couple of hours then remove from the oven and leave to cool completely. Cover and chill overnight or until ready to serve.
For the topping, put the strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in a pan and set over a medium-low heat. Cook gently, stirring now and again, until the sugar has dissolved and the strawberries have softened and released their juices. Remove the strawberries with a slotted spoon, leaving all the juices in the pan. Turn up the heat and simmer the juices for a few minutes until thick and syrupy. Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely. When ready to serve, transfer the cheesecake to a platter, pile the strawberries up in the centre and drizzle over the syrup.
