Day 47 - Strawberry Cheesecake!

Mmmm - so I baked the cheesecake for my hubby's birthday today. It's currently sitting in the fridge cooling down for it's big moment tomorrow. The cake did crack a little but I was aware that I over beat it. When I added the eggs I realized my mixer had left a little  of the cream cheese on the bottom of the bowl and I beat it a little faster to make sure it was properly mixed. Oh well... it still looks good and hopefully tomorrow we will find out that it tastes good. I am a little concerned that the base might be a bit sweet but we will be reporting back tomorrow after tasting it. Also I'll show you a photo of what the cake looks like inside!

I added half a teaspoon of vanilla essence to the crust because more than one reviewer suggested this. I also used a 600g bag of frozen strawberries and added 45ml of sugar. I couldn't find sweetened frozen strawberries - other than that I followed the recipe.


I used this recipe. The reviews were mostly positive and so I decided this was the one I was going to try. Here is the text recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen sweetened strawberries, thawed
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions

1. Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter. Press onto the bottom of an ungreased 9-in. springform pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. In a blender or food processor, combine strawberries and cornstarch; cover and process until smooth. Pour into a saucepan; bring to a boil. Boil and stir for 2 minutes. Set aside 1/3 cup strawberry sauce; cool. Cover and refrigerate remaining sauce for serving. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in milk. Add lemon juice; mix well. Add eggs, beat on low just until combined. Pour half of the cream cheese mixture over crust. Drop half of the reserved strawberry mixture by 1/2 teaspoonfuls onto cream cheese layer. Carefully spoon remaining cream cheese mixture over sauce. Drop remaining strawberry sauce by 1/2 teaspoonfuls on top. With a knife, cut through top layer only to swirl strawberry sauce. Bake at 300 degrees F for 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Remove side of pan. Thin chilled strawberry sauce with water if desired; serve with cheesecake. Store in the refrigerator.