Strawberry Jellyhearts Cheesecake Recipe

I'm sure we all love our strawberries, jellies and cheesecake. But how do they taste when used together in the same dish...? Awesome.

Jellies remind me of my childhood days. I remember my primary canteen selling these wobbly goodness in little jelly moulds. You eat them straight out of the moulds, cold and often watery (probably for stall-holders to maximise the use of jelly powder...) and they come in various shades of colour and flavour. They are cheap, about 10/20 cents per jelly, making them ideal snack choices for those with tight purse strings. Many years have passed since then and I have out-grown that phase but when I found a recipe on Strawberry Jellyhearts Cheesecake, I knew that I just had to try out that combo.

This cake is rather straight-forward - no bake, minimal cleaning. The challenging part of this cake is keeping to the chilling times and making various parts of the cake in between. There are three parts to this cake - biscuit crumb base, cream cheese layer with strawberries and strawberry flavoured jelly.

(makes 7x7x1.5" square cake)

Ingredients 

For biscuit crumb base
100g digestive biscuits
40g unsalted butter

For cream cheese layer
250g block cream cheese
50g icing sugar
1 tablespoon gelatin powder
40ml hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
7 Strawberries

For strawberry jelly later
45g or 1/2 box jelly crystals (Tortally strawberry flavour)
125ml boiling water
125ml cold water

Method
1. Crush biscuits till fine. I placed the biscuits in a plastic bag and used a rolling pin to beat the biscuits till crumbs. You can also use a food processor. Melt unsalted butter in microwave and pour into biscuit crumbs. Mix well and press and press firmly with the help of a spoon onto base of lined cake tin. Using a fork, prick the crust and chill in freezer for 30 minutes.

2. Mix gelatin powder and hot water in a bowl and stir till dissolved. Cut strawberries into heart shapes. Slice each strawberry into half and make a V cut at the top of the strawberry. Make sure that the V cut is prominent as the strawberries will be pressed on top of the cream cheese layer which might cause them to be hidden

3. Beat softened cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla essence until smooth & creamy. Add in gelatin solution and mix well. The mixture should be liquid and watery

4. Pour cream cheese mixture onto biscuit crust. Layer strawberries on top, gently pressing them into the layer. This will ensure that they do not move around when we pour the strawberry jelly on top later. Chill in freezer for 2 hours.

5. Dissolve jelly crystals in boiling water. Once dissolved, add in cold water. Pour the jelly on the cheese mixture and chill for at least 4-5 hours before unmoulding

Tips
For the biscuit crumb base, use digestives to prevent crumbling. I used Marie biscuits and the base wasn't solid enough for cutting

For the jelly layer, I used only 1/2 box of jelly crystals as I did not want a thick jelly layer - I just want it sufficient to coat the strawberries. You can reserve the crystals for a second batch of Strawberry Jellyhearts Cheesecake or just eat it as a dessert


I made this as a birthday cake, specially for an old friend of mine. A couple of friends and I planned a surprise celebration for her and it went well :)

Happy happy birthday!

Slicing...

MAKAN

Loving the imprint of the strawberry