Strawberry Topped Cheesecake

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I haven’t met anyone yet who doesn’t love cheesecake!  For Valentine’s Day, I decided to create this delicious glazed strawberry cheesecake for my wife today. She was very Happy! Because strawberries, chocolate and Valentine’s Day just go together.  🙂

This cheesecake is a GORGEOUS show-stopper and is to die for cheesecake. And not only is it beautiful but is tastes delicious! I just love Cheesecakes so I make them all the time.

This is my regular cheesecake recipe that I use a lot. With this recipe you can easily change up the flavors. I went to Sam’s yesterday and while I was there I found the most beautiful strawberries for my cheesecake. Did I say how delicious and creamy this cheesecake recipe is? If you like cheesecake, you will love this recipe, it is so good!

The recipe is easy but it has a good many steps.

Ingredients:
For the crust:
This time I decided to use a brownie crust but if you want to make a graham cracker crust, chocolate cookie crust, vanilla wafer crust, Oreo cookie crust, etc. you can. If you want to make a cookie crust, go to my Chocolate Cheesecake recipe post to get the ingredients. I decided used a Duncan Hines brownie mix for the crust so that I had a nice chocolate crust.

For the filling:
1 cup granulated sugar
3 – 8 ounce packages of Philadelphia cream cheese
2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream

For the topping:
2 cups chopped strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
red food coloring – optional

Let’s get started, prepare your spring form pan. Be sure that it is assembled correctly so that it doesn’t leak at the bottom. I spread butter on the bottom and side, then insert a round piece of parchment paper to line the bottom. This will make it much easier to remove the cheesecake.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the brownie mix according to the instructions on the box. Use only half of the mix in your spring form pan, place the other half in another pan. You can bake both of these at the same time, the other half make a good snack! When done remove from the oven and cool completely.

Brownie crust is done!

For the Cheesecake filling:
When the brownie crust is nearly done, start the filling. Set out the cream cheese and eggs, let them come to room temperature. In a clean mixing bowl, blend the cream cheese and sugar until combined, scraping down the sides of your bowl as needed. Blend in eggs one at a time until combined, be sure not to over blend the eggs. Blend only until the yolk is mixed. Now, add the vanilla, using a spatula fold until vanilla is blended. Add the sour cream, again using your spatula fold in the sour cream. Pour filling over cooled crust and smooth the top.

Cheesecake filling poured on top of the brownie ready to bake.

Wrap bottom of spring form pan tightly with 2 layers foil and place into a larger, deep baking pan. Pour water into large pan until water reaches about halfway up the sides of the spring form pan to create a water bath.

Carefully place pan in oven and bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes or until center is set and the top looks slightly dry. Don’t over cook or it will not be very creamy, keeping watching every few minutes until the center is set then remove from oven.

Cool cheesecake on a wire rack. Place pan into the fridge to chill overnight but do not cover the cheesecake. Remove cheesecake from pan after cheesecake has been chilled overnight. Remove from the spring form pan and place on your favorite cake dish! You are now ready to eat or you can add a topping.

Cheesecake is done and is cooling.

Wash your strawberries, remove the stems and pat dry with a paper towel. Pick out the best berries and place them on top of your cheesecake.

To make the filling, chop strawberries, place in pot with sugar and water. Place on medium high heat, stirring bring to a boil. While the strawberry mixture is heating, in a separate small bowl, mix the 2 table spoons of water with corn starch until you have a slurry.

Once the strawberry mixture gets warm, continue stirring constantly until it starts to boil. Then lower the heat to medium and add the cornstarch mixture and continue to stir for 4 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat and let cool for 3-4 minutes before topping cheesecake.

You can serve the topping as-is with a chunky texture, or puree it smooth with an immersion blender. You can also puree it to about halfway, so that it’s almost smooth but still has some texture. Use for anything that requires a sweet strawberry topping, like cheesecake, ice cream sundaes or waffles!! 🙂

Happy, happy, happy, boy this is delicious!!! 🙂

Happy Valentine’s Day!! 🙂

Check out my recent post,

Making Crème Brûlée          Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cake

      

Strawberry Pie                        Chocolate Cheesecake

      

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