No-bake Strawberry Chocolate Cheesecake … Happy International Womens Day!
Deeba @ PAB
“The history of all times, and of today especially, teaches that … women will be forgotten if they forget to think about themselves.”
Louise Otto
Another day passed, more guests and I had a delicious layered almond sponge in mind. This time the power failed me about halfway through my baking, the cake sank and with it my heart. I picked up the pieces in a hurry and did a quick recalculation! For times like these, a simple No-bake Strawberry Chocolate Cheesecake turned out to be just the thing!My sis and her family are here from Houston, adding to the merriment of having friends over from Down Under at the same time too. The only problem … the teen has her Grade 10 state exams throughout the month and life is a fine balancing act. In the middle of all this, power cuts don’t help!As a cake baked in the oven, I had visions of a light as feather almond sponge with a strawberry and cream filling. Sadly, the light as a feather picture didn’t survive. Ten minutes of a nicely rising cake in a beautiful hot oven, we had a power cut! Misery was my middle name. This is a sign that summer is almost here, the weather warming up alarmingly, which simply means load shedding galore!!By the time electricity was back, I was in no mood to take another chance on the cake, so my plans changed rapidly. A few almonds and digestives later, I had a cheesecake base in the oven … 15 minutes was all I needed! The rest was no bake stuff; just needed time to set! Some hung yogurt in the fridge awaiting its fate in a dip landed up in my cheesecake as did the strawberries … a happily delicious end!I used milk chocolate this time, from a smooth Cadbury baking block the hub got from HKG. A few days ago, he called me from HKG at some absurd hour asking if I needed baking chocolate he saw on the aisle in some shop. Needed?Did he expect me to say anything but yes?My choice for cheesecakes and tarts in chocolate terms is always the dark variety, but this time my nieces were here, and I knew they would enjoy a sweeter bite. They did…… and we did too! Thankfully the cheesecake was just about set by the night {about 6 hours later}, yet it was perfect the next day. I would recommend a slow overnight setting in the fridge. The strawberry sauce which I used in these Berry & Buttermilk Puddings can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for a few days.On this sweet and rather pink note, happy International Womens Day you wonderful women! Make sure you spoil yourselves today!!
Run the biscuits and whole almonds in a processor until fine crumbs form.
Mix in the melted butter and push this mixture into the base and up the sides of a 8″ round spring form tin.
Chill in freezer while the oven preheats.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Bake the base for 10-15 minutes until light golden brown.
Cool completely.
Chocolate layer
Place both chocolates in a large mixing bowl.
Gently heat the cream to a simmer, add the butter and pour over the chocolate, mixing until melted and smooth.
Pour into the cooled baked shell, and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes, until lightly set. In the meantime, make the strawberry layer.
Strawberry layer
Sprinkle the gelatin over 1/4 cup cold milk, and place over a bowl of hot water. Stir until dissolved.
Whip the hung yogurt with strawberry sauce until smooth. Then blend in the gelatin mixture.
Whip the cream until medium stiff peaks, and fold through the strawberry cream. {Adjust sugar if required}.
Assemble:
Top the chocolate layer with this strawberry cream, and leave to set for 6-8 hours, preferably overnight. Loosen the sides with a butter knife, slice and serve with fresh strawberries.
Note: You might need to increase the gelatin by 1/2 tbsp if the weather is warm.
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Springform pans and other kitchen wares can usually be found at a discount online.
