Strawberry Jelly Heart Cheesecake
This is a NO BAKE light and creamy cheesecake with that irresistible jiggly jello and a yummy salty biscuit base. A perfect blend of three textures.Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Servings: 25 strawberry squares
Ingredients
- 300 g digestive biscuits ~20 cookies
- 150 g melted butter
- 500 g cream cheese
- 100 g sugar
- 220 ml boiling water
- 1 1/2 tbsp gelatine powder
- One punnet of strawberries (I used about 13-14 strawberries, cut into halves)
- 1 tbsp of vanilla essence
- 2x 90g packets of Tortally strawberry jelly crystals
- 400 ml hot water
- 400 ml cold water
Instructions
- Blitz the digestive cookies in the food processor until fine. Pour melted butter over the biscuit crumbs and mix well. Texture should be like wet sand.
- Pour out the biscuit crumbs into a 10x10 inch square cake ring on a cake board and spread evenly as a base (alternatively use a similar sized springform pan or pie dish) Use a small glass or a spoon to press it down especially around the sides, until the biscuit base is tight and nicely compact. Freeze for 30min.
- Dissolve 1 1/2 tbsp of gelatine powder in 220ml of boiling water and set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, whisk the softened cream cheese and sugar until it’s well combined. Add half of the cooled liquid gelatine and mix well on low speed. Add 1 tbsp of vanilla essence and the remaining liquid gelatine and whisk on low until well mixed.
- Switch to a spatula and mix by hand to remove air bubbles until the cream cheese mixture is nice and smooth.
- Remove the biscuit base from the freezer and poke holes in it with a wooden skewer (this holds the cream cheese better). Layer in the cream cheese mixture evenly. If there are visible air bubbles, use the wooden skewer to gently pierce and smoothen out the bubble. Set in the freezer for no more than 7-8 minutes for the cream cheese to lightly set.
- Remove the leaf and halve strawberries. Slit a V at the hull of each strawberry half. Gently but firmly press each berry half into the lightly set cream cheese to form neat strawberry rows (as a gauge, the strawberries should be at least 1/3 wedged into the cream cheese). Freeze for another 40 minutes.
- To prepare the Jello mixture, dissolve the jelly crystals in 400ml boiling water. Stir briskly until the crystals are all dissolved, add 400ml cold water and mix well.
- Retrieve the set cream cheese from the freezer and gently ladle the cooled liquid jello over the strawberries. (Be a gentle ladler otherwise you will get swimming strawberries!)
- Set the Jello in the freezer for another 30 minutes and then chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours. When it’s time to serve, carefully remove the cake ring and enjoy the beautiful Strawberry Jelly Heart Cheesecake.
Video
Notes
- I made this with a 10x10inch cake ring because it looks much prettier set on a cake board. However the cake ring requires a bit more patience when unmoulding in order to get the most perfect sides. This Strawberry Jelly heart cake is quite easily made in a springform tin or a square or rectangle dish and just served straight therefrom.
- This jello cheesecake looks the best when it’s made with strawberries. I’ve also tried it with blackberries and whilst the taste is just as good, the look of the blackberry is nowhere as pretty as the strawberry enshrined in jello.
- Use similar sized strawberries for a neat uniform look. Choose pointed ones over flat tip ones as they make nicer strawberry hearts
- When layering the jello mixture, it’s important to go slow and ladle gently. The cheese cake is not fully set at this point so take time and that extra care if you don’t want swimming berries.!