Strawberry Cheesecake Mousse

I purposely made a trip to the National Library during my lunch break to look for a cookbook - a cookbook with cheesecake recipes to be precise. And I was in luck as I found a delicious looking book by Catherine Lau called "Cheesecake Seduction". The recipes in the book looked really interesting and the pictures were amazing as well.

I'm a sucker for cookbooks with beautifully taken photos. If it didn't have colourful pictures in it, I'd not buy the book or even pick it up from the shelf. I was pleased that I had completed my mission in a short time and happily walked back to my office with the book under my arm.

My intent and purpose was I'd promised my husband that I'd bake him something that he'll enjoy, which obviously is a cheesecake. The funny man doesn't eat any of my cakes so I thought I'd better indulge him for once! I took the book home that evening and asked him to pick a recipe. I told him I'd bake it for him over the weekend. He ended up picking a strawberry cheesecake mousse which looked easy enough for me to prepare on Saturday evening. As the cheesecake will take overnight to set we'll only be able to taste it the next day.

The assembling took a while and I even got him to be my "assistant" by spreading the chocolate over the biscuit crust whilst I prepared the filing. The whipped cream topping could only be added on Sunday morning as the filing needed to set first. We had our first slice during tea time and may I say that it was delicious.


Strawberry Cheesecake Mousse
(makes one 23 cm cake)

Ingredients for the base:

110g unsalted butter, cubed
200g finely crushed digestive biscuit
2 Tsp firmly packed brown sugar
50g crushed cornflakes
60g dark chocolate melted with 2 Tsp milk
One layer of thin plain sponge cake

Ingredients for the filing:

500g cubed cream cheese
140g castor sugar
2 Tsp strained lemon juice
1 1/2 Tsp + 1 tsp powdered gelatine, dissolved in 100ml water
300g strawberry puree
400ml thickened cream
8 strawberries, halved

Ingredients for the whipped cream topping:

200ml whipped cream + 1 Tsp sugar
6 strawberries sliced

For the base:

1) Melt butter and sugar in pan over low heat. Pour melted butter over crushed biscuit crumbs and cornflakes. Mix well until combined.

2) Press mixture into a greased 23 cm springform cake pan with the back of a metal spoon.

3) Spread melted chocolate over the biscuit base.

4) Cover cake pan and refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

5) Remove from fridge and place on top of the chocolate a thin layer of sponge cake.

For the filing:

1) Beat cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Pour in combined gelatine and strawberry puree and mix well. Blend in the cream.

2) Press strawberry halves around side of cake pan. Carefully sppon filing into pan.

3) Cover cake pan and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

For the topping:

1) Top cake with a layer of whipped cream

2) Transfer cake to a serving plate. Arrange strawberry slices on cake. Chill before serving.