Baked Strawberry Cheesecake

Individual strawberry cheesecake

In honour of national cheesecake day in the USA (30 July; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesecake) I’ve dived into the kitchen and baked up this easy little cheesecake number. Cheesecake is so simple to make and is a great base dessert that can have any kind of fruit mixed into it so its something that you can make at any time of the year!

This is a baked cheesecake using ginger biscuits for the base to give it a bit of zing rather than the usual digestive biscuits which I think are a bit dull. I also prefer to make individual cheesecakes because cheesecake is very rich and a big cake can be a bit off putting. Smaller, individual portions are just about right and great for serving up at a dinner party!

Serves: 6 individual cheesecakes of 6cm in diameter and 4cm deep.

Ingredients

For the biscuit base

• 100g ginger biscuits, finely crushed (can use other hard biscuits like digestives)
• 25g caster sugar
• 40g unsalted butter, melted

For the filling

• 250 kg full-fat cream cheese (Philadelphia), at room temperature
• 50g caster sugar
• 10g plain flour
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 20ml double cream
• 150g fresh strawberries, cut into halves
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the topping

• 120ml full-fat soured cream
• 15g caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 6 whole strawberries

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180 ˚C with rack in the centre of the oven
• For the biscuit base combine the crushed biscuit  with the sugar and melted butter in a mixing bowl. Put 6 cupcake cases into a muffin or cupcake tray. Put about 2-3 tsps of the mixture into each cupcake case. Use cases that are quite stiff to prevent the cheesecake mixture from flopping out of the top of the case – this gives you a better shaped cupcake. Cover and put in the fridge while you make the cheesecake mix
• For the filling, mix together the cream cheese, sugar, flour – either by hand or using an electric mixer – until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix well after each addition to combine everything. This gives you a chance to see how the mixture looks after each add has been mixed in. you don’t want to make it into a batter! Add the double cream, strawberries and the vanilla extract and mix well to combine. Spoon the mixture into each cupcake case. The cheesecake won’t rise during baking so you can fill to almost the top of the case
• Bake the cheesecakes for 7 min then turn the oven down to 120˚C and continue to bake for about 25 mins until the top of the cheesecake should be opaque and only the centre should look a little wet and wobbly. Different ovens will have slightly different temperatures so the exact time may vary – you simply need to keep an eye on them the first time you do it. Remove to a wire rack to do the next part
• In a small bowl combine the sour cream, sugar and vanilla extract. Spread this over the top of the cakes and add a whole strawberry and bake for another 7 minutes. Allow them to cool completely before storing them otherwise they’ll get soggy

Tips

• Don’t over beat the cheesecake mixture as this can cause cracks in the surface of the cakes
• Don’t over bake the cheesecake, its done when only the middle still looks a bit wet and the rest is opaque
• make sure to grease the sides of the springform tin, if using this, so that the cake doesn’t stick during cooling