Indulge Your Sweet Tooth: Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake

There are days when the cold is too intense, and nothing but a moist, creamy pastry will fill your tummy and satisfy your cravings. After a hard day out in the cold rain in Nairobi, a good cup of tea and something sweet is the perfect recipe to end the day, preferably snuggled in under a blanket. And thus the craving began…

I’d eaten a few cheesecakes from several cafes and pastry shops in town, but they all seemed to have one feature – sourness. They didn’t quite hit the spot and the mix of sour and creamy didn’t seem to work for me; I would abandon the cake after the first bite. So I learned to avoid the cheesecakes on offer.

Attempting to make one, we (@TheRancherGirl and I) were not sure if the results would be successful or not. After all, it’s not as easy as making a cupcake – get the mix of ingredients wrong and you’re doomed to have a cheesecake that will sink in the middle. Or that will taste so horrible and put you off them and end up with nothing more than a messy kitchen.

Give it a try. And if it’s successful, I dare you not to have more than one slice. Beware of the calories though! It’s highly sugared and all that cream…..

Using this recipe, we modified it to suit our needs, and tastes.

Ingredients

• 1cup Digestive biscuit crumbs
• 3Tbsp. sugar
• 3Tbsp. butter, NOT melted ( I didn’t like the consistency of the melted butter, didn’t seem to hold the crumbs together)
• 250g Philadelphia Cream Cheese (available in supermarkets)
• 1cup sugar
• 3Tbsp. flour
• 1Tbsp. vanilla essence
• 1cup regular Cream
• 4eggs
• 1/3cup seedless strawberry jam

Pre-heat your oven to 180°c.

Line your baking pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides. Mix cookie crumbs, 3 Tbsp. sugar and butter; press onto bottom of pan. Bake 10 min.

Beat the cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust. Gently drop small spoonfuls of strawberry jam over batter; swirl with knife.

Bake 40 min. or until centre is almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours. Use foil handles to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve.

To make cupcake sized cheesecakes

Line baking tray with foil on each slot. (Tip: cut up the foil in little rectangular strips and laid them across the cupcake slots, leaving a little hanging over the edge to lift the cakes out when ready)

This time I used the batter without adding strawberry swirls, and instead placed strawberries mixed with blackberries on the cooked mini-cheesecake.  Add a lemon flavored icing to make it slightly tart for better taste.