Summer layered strawberry cheesecakes

Name: Summer layered strawberry cheesecakes
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 300 ml double cream; 250 g Essential Soft Cheese; 180 g pack Cooks’ Ingredients Belgian White Chocolate, roughly chopped; ¼ tsp vanilla bean paste; 150 g Essential Shortcake Biscuits; 30 g Urban Forest Gently Baked Strawberries, finely chopped or blitzed in a blender; 400 g pack Essential Strawberries; 1 unwaxed lemon; 2 sprig/s mint

These quick and easy cheesecake pots were the winning recipe in the semi-final of Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars (BBC One, 18 May 2023). Contestants Sam and Amy say they’re “a take on the seasonal classic of strawberries and cream, incorporating silky-smooth white chocolate with a zesty strawberry compote".

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Vegetarian

Serves6
CourseDessert
Prepare20 mins
Cook-
Total time20 mins

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Ingredients

300ml double cream
2 x 250g Essential Soft Cheese
180g pack Cooks’ Ingredients Belgian White Chocolate, roughly chopped
¼ tsp vanilla bean paste
150g Essential Shortcake Biscuits
30g Urban Forest Gently Baked Strawberries, finely chopped or blitzed in a blender
400g pack Essential Strawberries
1 unwaxed lemon
2 sprig/s mint

Method

Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment (or use a large bowl and an electric hand mixer), whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Add the soft cheese and combine on a medium speed until smooth.
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl, either over a pan of just-simmering water, or in the microwave on high at 30 second intervals, stirring intermittently. Once the chocolate has melted, allow to cool slightly, then incorporate slowly into the soft cheese and double cream mixture with the vanilla paste, ensuring it is evenly combined.
Break up the shortcake biscuits into a fine crumb – either pulse in a food processor with the baked strawberries, or bash in a large bowl with the end of a rolling pin, then mix in the strawberries.
Set aside 6 small strawberries, or 3 large ones, halved for decoration, and finely chop or mash the remaining berries with a fork. Tip into a bowl, add ½ the lemon zest and all the juice. Finely chop the leaves from 1 mint sprig, then stir in with a fork, mixing for a couple of minutes, until compote-like.
Reserve 2 tbsp of the crumbs for later. Take 6 glass tumblers (approx 350ml) and begin layering. Use ½ the shortcake mix at the bottom. Follow with a layer of cheesecake mix (about ½ the mixture between the glasses), a layer of the strawberry compote (using about ½ between the glasses), remaining crumbs and cheesecake mix, finishing with the strawberry.
Spoon the reserved crumbs centrally onto each cheesecake, and top with the reserved strawberries, or strawberry halves. Finely chop the remaining mint leaves, scatter over with the remaining lemon zest, and serve.

Cook’s tip

You could make more of the strawberry compote throughout the summer and add it to a crisp, cold glass of Prosecco for a fruity addition to an apéritif.