Mango cheese cake w strawberries
A stay-homed Sunday as it was pouring so heavily the whole day. Decided to make my day more meaningful and to keep myself occupied so I headed down to the supermarket to get all the ingredients and started my baking journey. Previously, I helped my friend to make strawberry jelly heart. This time I planned to change a little of my recipe to try out a new kind of flavour. Instead of using Strawberry powder, I changed it to Mango powder. The rest of the recipe remained the same as I'm lazy to come out with another piece of recipe. This time round, I did a short video on my making process on my instagram and also make used of my DSLR to capture a better image. So first picture up is the ingredients needed for today's dessert. Trust me, it is a quick and easy process. I timed myself and it took me the whole 1 hour to prepare EVERYTHING including washing all the tools and equipments.
Makes 20 to 24 jelly hearts.
Ingredients
For the crust -
300g digestive biscuits
150g melted butter
300g digestive biscuits
150g melted butter
For the cheesecake layer -
500g cream cheese (placed in room temperature for 2 to 3 hours to soften)
1 & 1/2 tablespoons gelatin powder
1 & 1/4 cups boiling water
2/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
About 10 to 12 strawberries
500g cream cheese (placed in room temperature for 2 to 3 hours to soften)
1 & 1/2 tablespoons gelatin powder
1 & 1/4 cups boiling water
2/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
About 10 to 12 strawberries
For the jelly layer -
160g mango flavoured jelly
1 & 1/2 cups boiling water
1 & 1/2 cups cold water
160g mango flavoured jelly
1 & 1/2 cups boiling water
1 & 1/2 cups cold water
Use digestive biscuits for the base. Place 300g of digestive biscuits into a zip lock bag and use a roller to crush all the digestive biscuits into pieces.
Place 150g of butter in a oven proof bowl. Cover the bowl loosely with cling film wrap or use a microwave oven food cover. Microwave for 30 to 40 seconds at high till butter is melted.
Place the crumbs in a large bowl and add the melted butter. Stir well to combine.
Dip a brush into the melted butter and butter a large rectangular pan generously. I used a 13 X 10 X 2 inch glass pan. Note: You can line the pan with a large piece baking paper. This will make removal of the jelly hearts from the pan alot easier. And you wouldn’t have to worry about the crust sticking to the base of the pan. If you line the pan with baking paper, butter the baking paper all over as well. For photography purpose, I’ve eliminated the baking paper.
Place the biscuits-butter mixture in the pan. Using a back of the spoon or a large glass with a flat surface, pack the mixture tightly into the pan.
Once the crust is made, place the pan in the fridge and chill until ready to use.
Add 1 & 1/2 tablespoons of gelatin powder in a bowl. Use the right amount of gelatin, else the cheese layer won’t set.
Add 1 & 1/4 cups of boiling water to the gelatin powder.
Place 500g of cream cheese in a large mixing bowl.
Add 2/3 cups of sugar.
Using an electric whisk, combine the cheese and sugar. The cream cheese must be soft otherwise it will be very hard to mix here. Whisk till the mixture is light and fluffy.
Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the cream cheese mixture.
Add the cooled gelatin mixture a little at a time. Whisk well to combine.
The finished mixture should be a runny smooth liquid. Like a milkshake. If there are lumps, run the mixture through a sieve.
Pour the cream cheese mixture on to the biscuit base. Let the mixture rest in room temperature for about 10 minutes.
In the meantime, cut the strawberries. Cut them first in half. Look for the thicker side and cut lengthwise across it so that each strawberry heart is thick. Then at the top of the strawberries, slice off the white tops with the leaves and cut a deep V in the centre. Press each strawberry half into the cream cheese mixture. Let the strawberry sink in gently. If the strawberries don’t sink in, they will float up in the jelly layer later.
Space the strawberries 1 inch to 1.5 inches apart. Place the pan in the fridge. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. If the cheese layer is not well chilled, the cheese will disintegrate when the jelly layer is added.
Place 160g mango jelly powder in a bowl. Add 1 & 1/2 cups of boiling water. Add 1 & 1/2 cups of COLD water. Mix well.
Ensure that the jelly-water mixture has cooled. If the mixture is still hot, it will melt the cheese layer and cause bits of cheese to float in the jelly layer. Gently pour the cooled mixture over the cream cheese layer.
(I did a mistake by putting in immediately and the rest of the cheese foam started to float on the surface ):)
Pour just enough jelly to cover the strawberries.
Chill for at least 4 hours.
Use a sharp knife with a thin blade to cut the jelly hearts. Prepare a large jar of boiling water. Dip the knife into the water. Wipe it off and cut. Repeat that with every cut to get a nice clean cut with no crumbs sticking at the sides.
If you lined the pan with baking paper, the crust should not stick to the pan. If you didn’t line with baking paper, set the pan on a hot/warm surface for a few minutes before removing the jelly hearts. The heat will warm the butter at the base and make it easier to remove the jelly hearts.
Cut into nice small pieces of jelly hearts cheese cake.
Till then (:
