Baked White Chocolate Cheesecake with Mascarpone & Strawberries … BEST CHEESECAKE EVER

“But don’t forget, in the meantime, that this is the season for strawberries. Yes.”
Clarice Lispector

Baked White Chocolate Cheesecake with Mascarpone & Strawberries might well be my best cheesecake to date. Smooth, rich, indulgent, satisfying and quite impressive for something made so simple. It’s inspired of course by the Dark Chocolate Cheesecake which is an absolute winner recipe by Ruchira.I had to bake dessert the other day, another late decision, another fast track recipe. I wanted something different this time, something lighter, something more Spring. This was experimental, and we waited with baited breath while it was cut. One bite … and I knew it was a winner.It’s not always easy to throw in this and that, hoping things will work out. Sometimes stuff like this works, sometimes it’s a total disaster. This time around it was surprisingly a 100% success. There was nothing I’d change about this Baked White Chocolate Cheesecake with Mascarpone & Strawberries recipe, and I’m glad I took notes as I threw things in.As I mentioned earlier,  I was really short on time. I first put the white chocolate into the Thermomix and blitzed it into a fine powder, then just added the remaining ingredients and stirred everything together. Ideally, like most cheesecake recipes with chocolate, you need to first melt and cool the chocolate before adding it to the batter. Well, this worked fine for me, so I think that’s yet another chocolate cheesecake shortcut  will turn too often. If you have a sturdy food processor, then it takes less than a minute to grind chocolate really fine. Do try it this way too someday!This Baked White Chocolate Cheesecake is the easiest as the base doesn’t need to be baked separately. Leaves you a ton of time to figure out how to top it. Maybe too much time because I went a little indulgent. Well, to be honest, it was a special occasion bake, so some luxurious vanilla bean spiked mascarpone was much in place.
Then of course the strawberries. So much you can do with them! This season in North India has seen an EXCELLENT strawberry crop, possibly the best ever. I’ve used them in just about everything, and they’re still falling off carts in the city. A quick jam like reduction, some balsamic, some vanilla, a dash of lime juice and sugar of course yielded a beautiful topping for the Baked White Chocolate Cheesecake.

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Baked White Chocolate Cheesecake with Mascarpone &; Strawberries

Baked White Chocolate Cheesecake with Mascarpone & Strawberries might well be my best cheesecake to date. Smooth, rich, indulgent, satisfying and quite impressive for something made so simple. A quick jam like reduction, some balsamic, some vanilla, a dash of lime juice and sugar of course yielded a beautiful topping for the cheesecake.

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 9 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings 8 people

Ingredients

Biscuit base

• 185 g digestives​ biscuits​
• 25 g jaggery {or brown sugar}
• 55 g butter

White Chocolate Filling

• 200 g white baking chocolate melted
• 300 g cream cheese
• 400 ml single cream
• 20 g cornflour
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste {or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract}
• 100 g raw sugar

Vanilla Mascarpone Cream

• 150 g mascarpone cheese
• 25 g raw sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

Strawberry Topping

• 250 g strawberries chopped
• Few sprigs fresh rosemary
• 100 g sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• Juice of 1/2 lime

Instructions

Biscuit base

• Whiz the biscuits and jaggery in food processor until you get a fine meal. Add butter, whiz again to mix. Press into 7-8" loose bottom tin. Chill in the freezer while you get the filling ready, and the oven preheats.

White Chocolate Filling

• Preheat oven to 160C.
• Place all ingredients in bowl of food processor, and blend well to mix, 1-2 minutes on medium speed.
• Pour into crust, and bake for an hour.
• Cool completely in the oven, then chill covered in the fridge, preferably overnight.

Vanilla Mascarpone Cream

• Place all ingredients in a large bowl an whisk until just mixed and smooth. Don't overmix. Spread over chilled cheesecake.

Strawberry Rosemary Topping

• Place all ingredients except lime juice in a non reactive sauce pan. Simmer over low heat until it becomes jam like and reaches the desired consistency. Taste and adjust sweetness. Discard rosemary. Add lime juice if desired. Cool completely {Can be made a day ahead}. Top the Vanilla Mascarpone Cream with this.
• Garnish with freshly sliced strawberries and fresh rosemary sprigs.