Miguel’s Show-Stopping Strawberry Cheesecake

“I feel like I’ve been to every single strawberry farm in Australia with my TV gigs. It’s turned me into a bit of a strawberry snob – there are so many different types and varieties to suit different purposes. But you know what? The ones in the supermarket are great. The trick to this dish is to choose strawberries that are all the same size so your finished dish looks spot on. Keep the grees on for presentation, then just remove them as you eat. It’s important to use good-quality marmalade or jam for this cheesecake – have a look at your local farmers’ market as it really makes a difference.”

Serves 6 – 8

Ingredients:

  • 75g strawberry jam
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 500g strawberries, halved, with green tops on one half of each strawberry

For the biscuit base

  • 300g shortbread biscuits
  • 75g unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 lavender sprigs, flowers picked, or 1/4 teaspoon dried lavender flowers (optional)

For the Filling

  • 750g cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 90g (3/4 cup) pure icing sugar
  • 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
  • Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 300ml double cream

Method:

  1. Grease a 23cm springform tin with butter
  2. To make the biscuit base, place the shortbread, butter and lavender, if using, in a food processor and pulse to a coarse crumb. Press the mixture into the base of the tin, using the base of a jar or glass to flatten it out evenly.
  3. Mix together the jam and lemon juice until smooth. Spread over the biscuit base and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, to the make the filling, beat the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla seeds and lemon zest until smooth. Gradually add the double cream, whisking until combined.
  5. Remove the tin from the fridge and spread the filling over the jam layer, smoothing the top with a spatula. Place in the fridge to set for at least 1 hour or overnight. Before decorating the top, put the cheesecake in the freezer for 30 minutes.
  6. Smooth any rough edges with a spatula, then press the strawberries, cut-side up, into the top, forming a circle fanning out from the centre. Decorate half with the strawberries with green tops, and the other side with those without.
  7. Serve immediately

Recipe Credit: This recipe is from Miguel’s new book Feast. Feast has 100 generous recipes that are designed to share and is now
available to buy from your favourite book retailer. Feast by Miguel Maestre is published by Plum.