Strawberry Cheesecake: made with LOVE

Tomorrow is Valentine's day and you are probably willing to make this day sweet. Almond cake was my last year's creation. I clearly remember a nice nutty flavor spreading around. Perfect rasprerries were like little hearts all around the cake. And it seemed that love was in the air... everywhere I looked around! So why not to make this Valentine's day even better?!

 I decided to review my posts I find for each wish a separate one. For the ones who prefer classical recipes with minimum preparation time and complexity level, I would highly recommend chocolate souffle. You will have two in one - healthy and romantic dessert. Maybe some of you want to make a perfect cake for this occassion and here it is. Just a pinch of patience ;) 

Of course, you can make the sweet treat really simple and clever. Like chocolate hearts with marzipan. I think everything with a heart shape is acceptable on St.Valentine's Day. Having no heart forms does not mean you are not able to do anything. Just check this one. All you need is a kitchen blender and your hands. What I decided was a perfect strawberry cheesecake. The basic recipe you will find here. I decided to make it LOVE-ly adding strawberries on top.

Ingredients:

for 28 cm round baking form

100 g wholewheat cookies

40 g butter

3 tbsp cold water

1 kg low fat cottage-cheese

200 g creme fraiche

2 bananas

3 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 vanilla pod, seeds scraped

5 eggs

zest from 1 lemon

1 pack of vanilla pudding powder

250 g fresh strawberries

1 tsp cinnamon

1 pinch of salt

2 tbsp strawberry jelly (for glazing)

Preheat the oven to 180° C.

For the crust blend the cookies into dust and mix with butter and water. The powder should get sticky enough to form a nice bottom for our cheesecake. As soon as it is well mixed put a sheet of baking paper into the form and using your hands or a spoon make a nice thin layer on the bottom of the form. Bake it for 10 minutes. If it raises a bit do not worry. The filling will press it back down.

And here is the filling. 

Separate egg whites from yolks in different bowls. Put the egg whites into fridge. Meanwhile mix yolks with 2 tbsp of sugar and mashed bananas. Add vanilla seeds, mix well. As for cottage cheese I usually take low-fat cheese. If you prefer 20% or even 40%, go for it. Put cheese of your choice, pudding powder and lemon zest into yolk-banana-sugar mixture. Mix thoroughly.

Now leave it all aside and get the egg whites out of the fridge.

Beat egg whites as explained in a tip here. Fold the carefully into cheese mixture and get your baking form with a crust inside. Pour the ready cheesecake mixture into the form. Cover the bottom of the form with foil and place it in a bath. In other words, take a bigger form and pour 1-2 glasses of water into it. That would be a bath for our form with cheesecake. If you have no bigger form you can use just any heat resistant folder with water as a bath. Put it then on the bottom of your oven. This trick will insure you a velvety structure of the cake. And believe me, that is something worth to reach.

Baking time - 20 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 140° C and bake 20-30 minutes more. It depends on the height of the cake. The higher - the longer baking time.

After that let it cool down until room temperature. Meanwhile wash the strawberries and melt strawberry jelly. Then mix it with the berries in order to reach glossy skin. Then decorate the top of cheesecake with strawberries and put it into the frigde for about 2 hours.

Here it is: a nice glossy strawberry cheesecake, tender, smooth and sooo tasty!!!

Have a SWEET Valentine's Day! Love and be loved! Catch every moment and enjoy it as much as you can!

Made with LOVE! By #GourmetBalance