STRAWBERRY MASCARPONE CHEESECAKE // RECIPE

Today we are going to make a delicious cheesecake with jelled strawberry compote and fresh strawberries.

As a crust we are going to use shortbread base (pate sablee), and our cheesecake will be glazed with a glossy white glaze to give it some elegance and refinement.

Ingredients for the shortbread base (pate sablee base):

210 g cake flour

30 g almond flour
50 g whole egg (1 large egg)
2 g baking powder

a pinch of salt
80 g confectioner’s sugar (sugar powder)
120 g softened unsalted butter

Directions for the shortbread cheesecake base:

With a mixer cream the softened, chopped into cubes butter.
Add the confectioner’s sugar and salt, mix well.
Beat the whole egg and add it to the butter, mix until blended in completely.

Add the almond flour, mix well.
Combine the sifted cake flour and baking powder, add them to the dough. Mix at a low speed just until blended in, do not overmix the dough.
Form a ball with the hads and wrap it with a plastic film. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Shaping and baking the shortbread base for the cheesecake

Preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F).
Remove the dough from the fridge, place it in between two sheets of parchment paper, roll the dough to about 1 cm thick.
Remove the upper sheet of paper, place a stainless steel baking ring (16 cm diameter) on the rolled dough and cut a circle with a knife. Place the dough (in the ring, with the baking paper beneath it) on a baking pan and bake about 14 minutes at 180°C (356°F) until golden, the exact time depends on the oven.

Remove from the oven and let it cool completely.

Ingredients for the jelled strawberry compote:

300 g Strawberry puree (about 500 g of fresh strawberries)
5 tbsp of white sugar

4 g pectine

Procedure – jelled strawberry compote for the cheesecake

Chop the fresh strawberries, mix them with the sugar, cover with a plastic film and send to a fridge for 2 hours. Then drain the strawberries.
Place the strawberries in a blender and make a puree. Do not blend them completely, it is better to leave some small pieces of berries for the texture.

Place the strawberry puree in a saucepan and heat the puree to 65°C (149°F) stirring continuously, than add the pectin (you can mix it with some additional sugar if you prefer the compote to be more sweet). Stir well to blend it in completely. To let the pectin spread evenly heat the puree to 85°C (185°F).
Pour the compote in a round baking mould or ring (16 cm diameter) covered with a plastic film, with a spatula make an even layer about 1.5 cm high.
Sent to a freezer for 3 hours, it should be completely firm and frozen to use.

Ingredients for the cheesecake:

125 ml whole milk
80 ml heavy cream
2 egg yolks (large)

45 g white sugar
3 sheets of gelatin (6 g)
100 g white chocolate

150 g mascarpone cheese
vanilla essence
125 g heavy cream whipped into soft peaks

Directions for the cheesecake:

Place the sheets of gelatin in a cold water.
Whip the egg yolks with the sugar.
Heat the milk and the 80 ml of heavy cream in a saucepan. When the milk comes to a boil, temper the yolks slowly by beating in the hot cream in a thin stream.

Return all to the saucepan. Cook the mixture to 82°C (180°F) being careful not to exceed this temperature.
Squeeze the gelatin sheets and add them to the mixture, mix well.
Pour the mixture over the white chocolate (finely chopped). Stir well to let it melt and blend in completely.

Let the mixture cool to 55-60°C (131-140°F), than add the mascarpone and the vanilla essence, mix well.
Let the mixture cool to 30-35°C (86-95°F).
Whip the cream 125 (ml) into soft peaks. Carefully fold in the whipped cream, working quickly before the gelatin sets. Chill the mixture a bit until it starts to set.

Pour the cream cheese mixture into a round silicone mold (18 cm in diameter, 5 cm high). Fill the mold to one third. Then stir a bit the mixture with a silicone spatula, moving it gently to insure that the it is evenly distributed, which means that the surface and sides of the cheesecake will be perfect.
Demold the frozen jelled strawberry compote and place on the cream cheese layer, press gently.
Pour more cream cheese mixture, fill the mold almost to the top.

Place the shortbread base on the top and press gently. Align the surface of the cheesecake with a spatula and some more cream cheese mixture.
Cover with a plastic wrap and freeze for minimum 8 hours.

Ingredients for the white glossy mirror glaze:

50 ml water

100 g sugar
100 g liquid glucose
65 g condensed milk

100 g white chocolate (fine chopped)
6 g gelatin (3 sheets)
White food coloring (titanium dioxide), whatever color you like, of course, but it should be intense water-soluble coloring in paste.

Directions for the white mirror glaze:

Combine water, glucose and sugar, in saucepan and heat the mixture to 103°C (217.4°F). It is important to respect the temperature in order to get the desired result, so it is very recommendable to use a thermometer.
Place condensed milk in a bowl and add the heated sugar mixture, stir well.
Add the fine chopped white chocolate. Stir well to melt it and blend it completely.

Squeeze the gelatin sheets and add them to the mixture. Mix well, the gelatin should melt and blend thoroughly. If the mixture has cooled to much you can heat it a bit in a microwave, but be careful.
Add the coloring.
Blend the mixture with a hand blender to make it smooth and homogeneous. Immerse a blender carefully and at an angle to avoid pouring air bubbles in the glaze, we need to have as little bubbles as possible, the best of all – none.

Let the glaze cool to 35-36°C (96.8°F)

Glazing the cheesecake with the mirror glaze

The glaze mixture is ready to use when the temperature is dropped to 35-36°C (96.8°F). Mix it gently, try not to let any air bubbles in.
Take the cheesecake out of the freezer, demold it and place on a wire rack, put a plate or a tray under the wire rack.

Make sure that there is no ice ot the surface of the cheesecake, if there is any – swipe it away with a finger.
Pour the glaze on the top of the cheesecake, glaze will flow down, spread evenly and cover the sides as well. If you would like to make the glazing thinner, with a palette knife quickly spread it to the edges of the cake.
Let the icing set for several minutes, than remove the cake from the rack over a tray. Carefully neaten the bottom edge with the knife.