I made this gargantuan cheesecake for one of our big family dinner parties and it was a huge success! It's really yummy and so easy to make, so here's the recipe:

Serves 16

Ingredients

100g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
250g digestive biscuits
300g strawberries (or any other fruit you wish to use) plus a few for decorating the cheesecake
300g caster sugar plus 6 tbsp extra
800g cream cheese (I know this seems like a crazy amount, but it's meant to be for around 16 people)
500g mascarpone
4 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (I swear by Taylor & Colledges paste!)
4 tbsp plain flour, sifted

For the Compote:
200g strawberries finely chopped
2tbsp caster sugar
juice of half a lemon


Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.
Grease the base and sides of the cake tin. I would recommend using a 20cm/8in deep springform cake tin.




Put the biscuits in a food bag and crush with a rolling pin until they turn into fine crumbs.



Melt the butter in a saucepan set over low heat. Make sure the butter does not start turning brown.



Add the biscuit crumbs to the pan and stir until they are coated in butter. 



Press the crumbs into the base of the tin, pushing them down with the back of a spoon. 



Add the strawberries and 6tbsp of caster sugar in a food processor and whizz until smooth.



Push the mixture through a sieve into a small pan. Always use a nylon sieve so you don't get a horrible metal taste. (Don't throw the strawberry pulp that is left away, it can be added to the compote later!)

Boil and then simmer for 3-5mins or until it's thick and jam-like in texture. Then set aside to cool.



Place the rest of the cheesecake ingredients (caster sugar, cream cheese, mascarpone, eggs, egg yolks, vanilla bean paste and sifted plain flour) into the food processor and whizz until the mixture is smooth. 



Then pour the mixture into the tin and spread out evenly. 



Drizzle over the strawberry jam and make swirls using a metal skewer.




Next, boil a kettle of water. 

Wrap the sides with tin foil and place the tin in a deep roasting tray.

Then pour the hot water into the tray, making sure you only fill it up halfway up the cake tin (This apparently prevents our lovely cheesecake from cracking).

Bake for 40mins till the cheesecake is set but still a bit wobbly.

Once done, turn the oven off, wedge open the door and leave it for 1 hour. After that, place in the fridge until you want to serve it.



Meanwhile, place all the ingredients for the compote in a small pan including the left over strawberry pulp. 

Heat the pan slowly, stirring and slightly crushing the strawberry pieces. 



Once the sugar has melted and the mixture becomes thick, transfer to a jug and serve alongside the cheesecake. This can be made 3 days in advance and chilled.


In order to make it more dinner party-esque I decorated it with halved strawberries all around the edge. 

Unfortunately the cheesecake was whisked away and almost entirely devoured even before I could take a picture of it fully decorated! 

But I managed to quickly take a snap of the last lonely remaining piece...




Guess it went down quite well then! 

                            X