Vanilla Cheesecake and Strawberry Sauce

I'm not used to making plain vanilla cheesecake, but it's one of my dad's favourite desserts. In fact, every time I make it, it's for my dad: birthdays, father's days, anniversaries... The first couple of times I made this cheesecake, I would serve a slice on its own. However, this time I made the simplest strawberry sauce as an accompaniment (my dad did not have this sauce!) My mum and I enjoyed the sauce with our vanilla wedges along with some fresh strawberries. This cheesecake follows the same basic foundation Nigella Lawson gives us in Nigella Express with her Cherry Cheesecake recipe. And like I said in my Blueberry Cheesecake recipe, you are free to change the flavours in any way that you wish. You don't even need to do a strawberry sauce, any berry will taste fabulous.

Every cheesecake recipe starts the same: prepping the base. As 150g of butter was melting slowly on the hob, I crushed 250g of digestive biscuits in a bowl with a rolling pin.

When the biscuits resembled breadcrumbs, I added the melted butter and mixed this together with a spoon.

This was tumbled into a 25cm springform tin, lined with baking parchment, and pressed down with the back of a tablespoon.

This was left to set in the fridge while I got on with the filling.

Again, this was very easy - I put all the filling ingredients, the cream cheese, double cream, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice into a bowl at the same time and whisked them together until a smooth, thick and creamy mixture formed. 

I spooned this into the tin on top of the biscuit base and smoothed out the top with a spatula. I leisurely placed this into the fridge to set for 4 hours. 

Now for the sauce, another super easy method. Out of a 400g punnet I took 200g of the strawberries along with around 100ml of water (this doesn't have to be precise, enough to fill the base of your pan) 1tsp of icing sugar and a drop of vanilla and placed them in a pan. I turned on the heat and let this all boil together allowing the strawberries to release all their juices and create a sticky sauce. 

To thicken the sauce a bit more, I added a 1/4tsp of cornflour and stirred this together. After about 5 minutes, when the strawberries had popped and the sauce had thickened, I turned off the heat and let this cool. Once it had cooled to room temperature, it was poured into a jug and placed in the fridge. 

When we were ready for dessert, I served the cheesecake in the centre of the plate, with the sauce drizzled around it and some fresh sliced strawberries. 

The cheesecake itself is so light and the sauce isn't overly sweet, so the pair go together like ebony and ivory, or shall I say like pearls and rubies. 

Serves: 8-10

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Setting Time: 4 hours (or over night)

Ingredients:

For the cheesecake:

• 250g Digestive Biscuits, crushed
• 150g Butter, melted
• 600g Cream Cheese
• 568ml Double Cream (2x 284 Elmlea double cream)
• 120g Icing Sugar
• 2tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1tsp Lemon Juice 

For the sauce:

• 200g Strawberries
• 100ml Water
• 1tsp Icing Sugar
• Drop of Vanilla
• 1/4tsp Cornflour 

Method:

1. Melt the butter on a low heat on the stove, making sure the butter does not sizzle. Once all the butter is melted, turn off the heat and leave to cool.
2. Place all the biscuits in a large bowl and with a rolling pin, bash them until fine crumbs appear. If you have a food processor, place the biscuits inside and blitz them into fine crumbs.
3. Add the melted butter to the biscuit crumbs and mix them together with a spoon. Pour the buttered crumbs into a 25cm springform tin lined with baking parchment and press them down with the back of a tablespoon. Place this into the fridge to set.
4. For the filling place the cream cheese, double cream, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice into a large bowl and whisk together with an electric hand whisk or stand-alone mixer until they have fully incorporated.
5. Bring the biscuit base out of the fridge and spoon the filling on top, smoothing the top with a spatula or palette knife. Leave this to set in the fridge for at least 4 hours.  
6. Take your 400g punnet of strawberries, rinse, hull and slice them. 
7. From the 400g, take out 200g and place them in a pan along with 100ml of water, 1tsp of icing sugar and a drop of vanilla. Turn on the heat and boil them together. Once the strawberries have burst and released their juices, add the cornflour and continue to boil this for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. When this is finished, turn off the heat and leave to cool to room temperature before putting in the fridge. 
8. When you are ready to serve, release the the cheesecake from the tin, cut out your slices and serve with the cooled strawberry sauce and remaining sliced fresh strawberries.