Strawberry Cheese Cake

Strawberry Cheese Cake

For the Base:

140g /5oz self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

25g /1oz butter cubed

25g /1oz golden caster sugar

1 egg

2 tbsp milk

For the Filling

2 x 300g tubs full fat soft cheese

140g /5oz sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

1 egg yolk

100g/4oz clotted cream

200g/9oz strawberries jam

For the Sauce

100g /4oz golden caster sugar

250g /9oz strawberries, hulled and roughly sliced

1-Heat oven to 200C/ fan /180C/ gas 6. Sift the flour and the baking powder into a bowl, rub the butter, add the sugar then mix the egg. Add the milk and mix to form dough.

2-Roll out the dough to 1cm thickness, then cut out a circle to fit the base of 23cm springform cake tin (any leftover pastry can be used to make a couple of scones).

Prick it all over with a fork and cover with a piece of greaseproof paper and some baking beans. Cook for 5 – 8 minutes until the greaseproof paper peels off easily. Reduce oven to 180C/fan 160C/ gas 4.

3-Make the filling: put the soft cheese, sugar, vanilla and eggs in a blender and blitz until smooth, fold in the clotted cream.

4-Spread the jam over the cooked base, then pour over the cheese mix. Bake in the oven for 1 hour until the mixture is firm.

5-Meanwhile, make the sauce. Gently warm the sugar in 100ml water until the sugar has dissolved, then add the strawberries and cook for about 3 minutes until the liquid starts to turn pink and the strawberries soften. Remove half the strawberries with a slotted spoon. Cool the remainder in the liquid then passes it through a fine sieve, discarding any pips. And the reserved strawberries to the strained liquid and serve spooned over wedges of cake.