Recipe of the Month - July 2019
Vanilla Cheesecake with Strawberry Compote
Provided by Emlyn Sexon, Life’s Kitchen Company Head Chef
Serves 8
Ingredients
- Cheesecake:
- 180g digestive biscuits, crushed into fine crumbs
- 75g butter, melted
- 10g Brown Sugar
- 400g full fat cream cheese (Philadelphia is good)
- 100g Mascarpone
- 100g icing sugar
- 2 x sheets of gelatin or 50g
- 80g caster sugar
- Half a lemon
- 200ml double cream
- 1 x vanilla Pod
- Compote:
- 3 x Packets of fresh Strawberries (cut into quarters) (save 8 nice strawberries for garnish)
Method
For the sauce, place the sugar, water into a pan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the sugar has dissolved.
Take the pan off the heat and add half the strawberries. Then using a hand blender, blend the sauce until smooth. Pass the sauce through a sieve into a bowl and stir in the remaining fruit.
Grease and line a deep, round cake tin.
Pre soak the gelatin in some cold water.
Add the melted butter, Brown Sugar and digestive biscuit crumbs together and mix thoroughly.
Place the butter and biscuit mixture into the prepared tin, pressing down firmly and evenly, until flat. Place in the refrigerator until set (about 30 mins).
Beat cream cheese and icing sugar together until well mixed.
Add the mascarpone and mix, with a squeeze of lemon juice,
De seed the Vanilla pod and then add to mix, lightly whip the double cream and carefully fold in (Do not add cream all at once).
Dissolve the gelatin in a little water and finally add to the cheese mix,
Empty the mixture into the cake tin, spreading evenly, and leave to set in the fridge for at least two hours.
To Serve
Remove from cake tin and cut into eight equal portions, serve on a plate with the strawberry compote, and the saved strawberry split down the middle, dust with icing sugar.
Enjoy!!
