Strawberries & Cream Cheesecake
Sometimes all I need is a good cake to really enjoy the weekend. Something sweet & rich & outside the category of what I eat on a daily basis. A solid weekend treat, ya know? & cake just feels fancy and right from time to time. With strawberries literally everywhere…big, juicy, and yummy looking strawberries…strawberry cheesecake is calling my name.
Every grocery store I’ve walked into this past week has had strawberries front and center of the produce section, & all it has confirmed was that it’s time for the first Strawberries & Cream Cheesecake of summer. A cheesecake inspired by Martha Stewart that takes the cake for the creamiest & most fruit forward cheesecake I’ve ever had.
My mom sent me the recipe to Martha’s strawberry cheesecake several years ago, and I failed at making it. Like failed miserably. So after playing with the recipe, determined to pull off a layered strawberry cheesecake, I’ve come up with my own variation that’s always a hit & a fairly simple bake that has the BEST cheesecake texture.
I love this cheesecake because it has a super fruit forward flavor from strawberries that are roasted to sweet perfection, and because it has the most velvety cheesecake texture I’ve ever had. It is truly so f*cking creamy & velvety. There is no other way to describe it. & why? One reason - mascarpone. The batter is essentially 3 parts cream cheese + 1 part mascarpone. Mascarpone is like a cross between cheese and butter, and I love slathering it on a piece of crusty baguette with a drizzle of honey. It’s just one of the most luscious things I’ve even tasted. It’s unique, butter-like flavor, and lends itself perfectly to a rich and creamy cake.
My life motto is that there is no better way to bond with people than good food. It just sets a relaxing, “let’s just sit back and enjoy” tone, & a homemade desert does the trick. So with people heading to our house for Memorial Day last weekend, I wanted to dust off this always delicious strawberry cheesecake recipe to share with new friends. It’s layered effect is what brings the wow, and it’s so easy to make happen! It’s 90% strawberry cheesecake filling + 10% plain cheesecake to give the cake that strawberries & cream feel.
Quick note to self for the next bake (and what’s reflected in the recipe): reserve more of the plain cream cheesecake filling next time to get a more defined layer and a more pungent strawberry layer.
The thing I messed up on the first go around with this cake is oven placement. Literally it cannot be over-looked! Specifically, you want to make sure your oven rack is no higher than dead center of the oven. I, like an idiot, made this for Memorial Day and was too lazy to take out one of the oven racks, so I cooked it at the very top of my oven. It resulted in the brownest cheesecake I’ve ever seen, and it was just not cute. Could’t be saved even by a cute cake tray. The worst part being that I thought that to myself “the cheesecake should probably bake in the center of the oven,” yet did nothing about it, and then had a sad, brown cheesecake to show for it. But round two (redemption round), I moved the oven racks and this beauty emerged. Total perfection!
For the cheesecake
1 lb strawberries, hulled
2 tbsp corn syrup
10 full graham cracker sheets
1 stick of butter
3-8 ounce packages cream cheese
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
8 ounces mascarpone
Start by roasting the strawberries. Preheat the oven of 300. Place the strawberries on a foil lined baking sheet and drizzle them with the corn syrup. Roast for 90 minutes. Remove the strawberries, smash them with a fork so they’re a jam-like consistency, & let them cool in the fridge. Up the heat of the oven to 350.
Place the cream cheese and mascarpone on the counter to bring them up to room temperature.
Pulse the graham crackers in a food processor. Melt the stick of butter in a microwave or the warmed oven. Pulse the grahams and melted butter together. Grease the spring form pan all over with the last bits of the butter or another non-stick spray. Pour the graham cracker mixture into the spring form pan. Using your hands, press the graham cracker crumbles (which should have a sand-like texture) into the bottom of the pan to form your graham cracker crust. Press down firmly to form a sturdy crust layer. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, turning the heat down to 325 once the first bake is done.
Using an electric mixer, mix the cream cheese on medium speed for 3 minutes. Beat in the sugar, and continue mixing for an additional 3 minutes. Add in the eggs one at a time, and then the vanilla, and continue mixing until the cream cheese mixture is totally smooth. Beat in the mascarpone, mixing for another 2-3 minutes, or until the mixture is perfectly smooth.
Remove 2 cups of the cream cheese mixture and set aside in a separate bowl. Continue using the electric mix & beat in the strawberries to the remaining cheesecake filling. Once they’re well incorporated and you’ve got a pretty pink colored batter, it’s time to assemble your cake.
Pour the strawberry filling right on top of the graham cracker crust, using an offset spatula to create an even layer. Next, dollop on the plain cream cheese filling. Place small dollops all across the top of the cake, and gently spread using an offset spatula so you have a smooth top on the cheesecake. Finish assembly by wrapping the entire outer edge of the cheesecake with foil, and place the whole cake in the oven. Bake on a center rack, placing it above a roasting pan filled with water, and bake for 1 hour (up to 1 hour and 10 minutes if it looks a little liquidy in the center after an hour). Once the cake has finished baking, remove it from the oven and let it cool on the counter for 90 minutes, followed by 6 hours of chill time in the refrigerator. Eat ice cold for a super refreshing treat.
