Strawberry Cheesecake (with Speculoos Crust)

Don't let this cheesecake fool you with its prettiness. It's EVIL I tell you! This will forever be known to me and Asian Gaga as the Cheesecake Disaster of 2014. It was close (but not quite) as devastating as the Trifle Disaster of 2012. I've decided that my birthday dessert attempts for Asian Gaga must be cursed. They've resulted in some of the biggest fails in my recent baking history.

So why was this such a fail? It looks fairly good in the photos, doesn't it? Well it was all fine while I was taking these photos, and then slowly I started to realise that it hadn't set properly and the whole thing was starting to melt into a puddle in front of me. In a panic I rushed to try and get it back onto a plate, but the stupid (but gorgeous) cake stand I was taking the photos with doesn't have a flat base, so the crust had split into four or five pieces which made it impossible to lift up, and there was a bloody super high lip on the edge of the stand so I couldn't just slide the damn thing off! ARGH! By this point there were smears of cheesecake everywherrrreee and the strawberries had started sliding off the edges and I was starting to freak out. I eventually got it on to a flat plate (with a lot of swearing). And then I realised that because it was totally not set, the sides were probably going to collapse even if I put it back the fridge. So I had to move it again into a cake tin to hold the sides up. This was a MESS. The cake was threatening to completely fall apart. Strawberries were rolling on to the ground. I was getting hysterical. AND THE TIN WAS TOO BIG. So I had to move it AGAIN. 

By the end of it there was cheesecake all over me and the kitchen and about 3 different tins because I couldnt match up my springform tins with their matching bases (I have a lot of them). It was awful. My husband actually fled the house to go shopping in the middle of my meltdown, because he knows better than to be anywhere near the vicinity of one of these disasters. I felt so bad because the cheesecake actually tasted really great, and I had this feeling while I was making it (I was sorta loosely making it up as I went along) that I hadn't added enough gelatine but I was on the cold and flu meds and kinda out of it so I just kept going (I also exploded a ton of melted butter all over the inside of my microwave, I'm just that good). I knew better, but I still managed to completely stuff it up.

The cheesecake somehow still tasted great, even though it was a little melty as it came back to room temp. If I had the time I would have just started from scratch again, but Asian Gaga was already in her car and on the way when this was all happening. Of course she was a dutiful best friend and ate it all anyway, told me it was great and ignored the smears of cheesecake on the floor. The cheesecake itself is a chilled Strawberry Cheesecake with Strawberry Jelly on top and Fresh Strawberries. The crust is made with speculoos (aka Biscoff cookies for those of you in the US). I was so excited to find the Lotus brand in Coles (on special!) and bought about 10 packets, I'm not kidding. These lovely spiced biscuits make an excellent cheesecake crust that match so well with the strawberry and I really recommend you try it if you can find the biscuits. But if you can't get your hands on them, ginger nut biscuits/ginger snaps will work well with this flavour combo too. Anyway, since I'm still completely happy with the flavour of the actual cheesecake, I'm going to share the recipe with you with some modifications so that you can avoid any of my pain (I've more than doubled the gelatine amount so it should be nicely set - if you make this recipe please let me know if it is too firm or not firm enough!).

Strawberry Cheesecake (with Speculoos/Biscoff Crust)

(makes one 7 or 8 inch cheesecake)

For the crust:
250g (about 9oz) speculoos (aka Biscoff cookies), I used Lotus brand (you can substitute with ginger nuts/snaps or any other biscuit of your choice)
75g (about 5 tbsp) butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and line the base of an 18cm (7inch) or 20cm (8 inch) springform cake tin with baking paper (I used 18cm). 
2. Place biscuits in a food processor and blend until crushed to small crumbs, then add melted butter and blend until just combined.
3. Press mixture in an even layer on the base of the prepared tin.
4. Bake in oven for about 7-10 mins, make sure it does not burn.

For the strawberry mixture:

400g (about 1.5 punnets/14oz) fresh or frozen strawberries, hulled

1/3 cup (about 65g) sugar

3 tsp lemon juice + grated zest of 1/2 lemon

1 vanilla bean pod, split and seeds scraped (or 1 tsp vanilla extract/vanilla bean paste)

4 tsp powdered gelatine

1. Place gelatine in a small bowl with 3 tsp of cold water and set aside to soften.
2. Place strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and zest and vanilla bean pod and seeds into a medium saucepan on medium heat.
3. Simmer until sugar is completely dissolved and fruit softens, about 10 minutes.
4. Add gelatine and whisk mixture over heat until gelatine is completely dissolved. 
5. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes. Place 1 cup of mixture aside to use for topping later, the remaining amount will be added to the cheesecake.

For the cheesecake:

3/4 cup thickened/heavy cream

400g (14oz) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup (100g) sugar (preferably caster/superfine)

Remaining strawberry mixture from above, should be just over 1 cup

Optional: Extra fresh strawberries to decorate, about 2 punnets

1. Place cream in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high until it reaches stiff peaks (take care not to overwhip). Place cream in fridge until ready to use.
2. Place cream cheese and sugar in another large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high until smooth and fluffy. 
3. With the mixer on low, gradually add the remaining strawberry mixture from above (making sure you leave 1 cup behind for topping) to the cream cheese mixture. Beat until completely combined.
4. Gently fold in in whipped cream until smooth. 
5. Pour mixture over prepared crust and chill in the fridge until just set, about 2 hours (or about half an hour in the freezer).
6. Reheat remaining 1 cup of strawberry mixture in saucepan until it is pourable, then pour over top of chilled cheesecake. Return to the fridge to set overnight.
7. Run a sharp knife under hot water to warm it up, then carefully run knife around the inside edge of the cake tin. Carefully remove from springform tin. Top with extra fresh hulled strawberries. Keep chilled until ready to serve.