Deliciously creamy and fruity cheesecake with a luscious sweet-tangy strawberry sauce that brings this dessert over the top. Best way to welcome Spring!

Are you excited for Spring? I am so into spring nowadays!! I've had enough of winter already (though I must say I have no right to complain as this past winter has been pretty mild!)!! Anyway, when I got together with my favorite food bloggers in the world wide web and we decided that our theme for the month of March for our 30 Day Recipe Challenge would be berries - I had no hesitation at all in choosing strawberries as my featured fruit. After all strawberries are the quintessential spring fruit!

When it comes to dessert, our family's topnotch favorite is cheesecake. It is one dessert I often make as everyone loves it. Besides, strawberry cheesecake is one type of cheesecake I haven't made yet so I thought it's high time I make a cheesecake and pair it with some plump and juicy strawberries as our way of welcoming spring!! Thankfully, we had some guests come over at the time I made this cheesecake so we were able to enjoy it with them. And yes, I am happy to report that they enjoyed the cake. I believe the homemade fresh strawberry sauce truly made a difference and perfectly enhanced the cheesecake. So, if you're looking for the perfect sweet treat to welcome Spring, I highly recommend this one!! It's delicious and loaded with strawberry goodness!

Don't forget to check out the other recipes from our amazing blogging friends!! They are sure to both please the eyes and the palate! Enjoy!





To delete the photos for printing, click on the image box and tick the "remove" button.

Yummy Strawberry Cheesecake

By: Manila Spoon
Published: 03/30/2017

Deliciously creamy and fruity cheesecake with a luscious sweet-tangy strawberry sauce that brings this dessert over the top. Best way to welcome Spring!

Ingredients

• 2 cups Graham Crackers or Digestive Biscuit crumbs
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 6 Tablespoons unsalted Butter, melted
• Three (3) 8-ounce blocks of Cream Cheese, softened at room temperature
• 1 cup Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 pint plus 1/2 cup Strawberries, cleaned and coarsely chopped
• 1/3 cup Sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon plus juice of 1/2 lemon (or to taste)

Instructions

1. To make the crust, combine the graham cracker or Digestive biscuit crumbs, sugar and melted butter in a bowl and mix until evenly moistened. Press the crumb mixture into a greased 9-inch springform pan using the smooth bottom of a glass. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese in medium speed until soft, creamy and completely smooth (no lumps). Add the sugar slowly and continue to beat until the mixture is smooth. Add the eggs one at a time (this is very important) beating well after each addition. Pour in the vanilla extract and beat again until it's well mixed. Frequently scrape the sides of the mixing bowl to ensure that there are no lumps remaining on the side or at the bottom. Patience is the key here - it may take awhile to do all the above but the result would be a very silky smooth cheesecake and not a lumpy one.
3. Pour the cheesecake batter onto the prepared springform pan. Make a water bath. Wrap the springform pan in heavy foil going up at least an inch above the edge of the pan. Place the springform pan in a bigger pan and fill the latter with hot water up to the middle of the springform pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour. NOTE: The water bath is optional and you can decide not to do it. However, the cake may brown on the edges and may even crack on the middle but that's perfectly fine. If you don't like the appearance of cracks, then bake the cheesecake using a water bath. I don't worry much about the cracks as the cheesecake would be covered on top with the sauce anyway. Besides, the browning, sinking or cracking won't affect the cheesecake's taste one bit. It's all up to you.
4. When done, transfer the cake to a rack and cool completely. Refrigerate. The cake can be done two days ahead. Once it's completely cool, prepare the strawberry sauce.
5. To make the sauce, in a small saucepan combine the strawberries, sugar and lemon zest and juice and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Cook until the fruits begin to break down and release their juices at the same time mashing a few berries to help in the process. Continue to cook until the sauce thickens roughly 12-15 minutes. Leave to cool before spreading on the cheesecake. You may also opt to just add the sauce per individual slice instead of the entire cake. Store in the refrigerator if not using right away. Enjoy!

Yield: 10-12 slices
Prep Time: 00 hrs. 30 mins.

Cook time: 01 hrs. 00 mins.
Total time: 1 hrs. 30 mins.
Tags: Strawberry, Cheesecake, Spring, Sweets. Desserts, Berries

Check out "The Best Berry Recipes" below from bloggers who took part in our 30 Day Berry Recipe Challenge.

• Blueberry Breakfast Pastry from Life Currents
• Yummy Strawberry Cheesecake from Manila Spoon
• No bake berry lemon tartlets from Culinary Ginger
• Best Ever Breakfast Strawberry Fruit Salad from Hot Eats and Cool Reads
• Raspberry Buckle from Savory Experiments
• Raspberry Chocolate Tart from Num's the Word
• Fresh Strawberry Crisp from The Kitchen is My Playground