Spring is a season full  of colors and love. It brings back freshness in the air, trees get their life back, flowers blossom, colorful kites can be spotted in the sky and fruit markets shine with mouthwatering and sweet strawberries. All these are reasons to bid a warm farewell to the chilling winters and welcome the spring.

Strawberries are a joy to eat. The juicy, sweet and vibrant red brings a lovely flavor to any dish. From tasty strawberry milkshakes to delicious cakes and gorgeous strawberry tarts, strawberries stand out.

Back in the day, whenever strawberries were brought home, ammi would freeze half of it and use the rest. The frozen half to be used during Ramzan. If there was no so-called sweet-dish at times, we used to eat strawberries with cream. You have to try strawberries with cream, it’s the simplest and the best desert there is.

While Ali and I can happily eat the strawberries with cream, I have made a long list of desserts to try and treat my friends and family. Strawberry tarts and classic Charlotte cake are two of my favorites that I fancy making. I inaugurated this seasons’ fiesta of desserts with a Strawberry Cheese Cake. Keeping it easy I decided to go for a no-bake cheese cake. No bake cheese cakes are the easiest to make and taste extremely good too.

A crunchy biscuit bottom layered with velvety soft cheese cake filling flavored with strawberries in layers is a combination like no other. The texture of the cheesecake is creamy mousse-like yet firm and stable and it holds its shape even better after overnight refrigeration. The firmness of cake is attained through proper use of gelatin and experience gives you confidence of using it in proper ratio and with the right technique. The key step is to first sprinkle gelatin over cold water and let it sit for a minute to soften and then gently heat it, once done allow it to cool before adding to the mixture to prevent it from melting the cheesecake later. That’s all I have to share on technical terms. Let us start cooking as nothing can beat the pleasure of having the luxury of eating a delicious cheesecake all on our own at home while watching TV. There is a certain royalty element to it that can only be experience, not explained.

Ingredients:

For the base
  • Biscuits (digestive or marie biscuits or graham crackers) – 3 oz
  • Butter – 3 tablespoon
For the basic cheesecake filling
  • Cream cheese – 8 oz – 1 cup
  • Hung yogurt – ½ cup
  • Cream – ½ cup
  • Lemon juice - 2 tablespoon
  • Sugar – 4 tablespoon
  • Gelatin – 1 tablespoon
For the fruit layer filling
  • Strawberries – 1 cup, chilled
  • Sugar – 3 tablespoon
  • Gelatin – 2/3 teaspoon
  • Lemon juice – 2 teaspoon
  • Water – ¼ cup
  • Preparation time : 1 hour
  • Cooking time : 6 hours or overnight
  • Number of servings (yield) : 4-6

Instructions:

For the crust

  •  Pulse the biscuits into coarse crumbs. In a medium bowl, mix the crumbs and melted butter until combined well.
  • Put the biscuit crumbs into the spring form pan using either your fingers or the bottom of a cup. Spread evenly and press well to form a crust layer.
  • Place it in the freezer for 20 minutes or so to let it set while you make the filling.

For the filling

  •  Slightly blend the strawberries in a blender
  • In a pan, mix blended strawberries with sugar, lemon juice and water.
  • Add the gelatin powder and mix well. Heat it for two minute or so and mix well.
  • Let it cool and set aside. Strawberries will soften and a syrup will be formed.
  •  In another bowl beat cream cheese, hung yogurt, half the cream, sugar and lemon juice. Mix well until smooth.
  • Heat the rest of the cream cheese in the microwave or stove until just boiling. Add the gelatin to it.
  •  Add this cream to the cream cheese mixture and mix well until smooth.
  • The consistency of the filling gets slightly firm at this point. (If you find it not setting, add more gelatin dissolved in cream into the mixture.)
  •  Divide the mixture evenly into three separate bowls.
  • Add all the strawberries fruit mixture along with half of the strawberry syrup into one bowl.
  • Pour the rest of the syrup into the second bowl.
  • Leave the last bowl as it is.
  •  Now, pour the strawberry cheesecake mixtures into the biscuit crust starting from the fruit layer one, than the second bowl filling and finishing with the plain cheesecake mixture.
  •   Refrigerate for minimum 6 hours or for best result, overnight
  •   Decorate with strawberry sauce or fresh strawberries and cream.
  

Fatima Ali

I am trained to be an IT professional. I served National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) for six years after graduating from the same university. As long as I can remember, cooking good food has been my passion and it makes me happy. My cooking lessons were a bit unusual though. Back in the day when digital did not mean much, my father would record cooking shows (knorr ka kitchen, kaukab khuwaja and Zee Khana Khazana – Chef Sanjeev Kapoor) for me to watch endless times later on, before trying the recipes out. I would make brownies and cold cake almost every day while my mother was asleep. This was my way of surprising her every evening. My mother cooks amazing food too and I have tried many of the recipes written in her recipe book. I draw inspiration from a number of chefs from televised cooking shows such as Late Chef Farah, Chef Rahat, Chef Mehboob, BBC Food, Masala TV, Chef Shai, Chef Sharmeen, Master Chef Australia and my ultimate favorite Chef Shireen Anwer. I would not be as good a cook I am now without passive guidance from each one of these.