Strawberry Marble Cheesecake

Piggy's Cooking Journal turns 4 today!

When I started this blog, I used to think that I would get bored of it very soon. But little did I know that until now, the blog is still going strong and my interest has been expanded to food photography as well.

This blog has gone through two facelifts in the span of 4 years. The first header was designed by my sister-in-law, J and it looked like this.


Then it was changed to this header and a completely new layout during mid of last year.

Few months later, I felt that the floral layout and header looked messy and so I changed to the current template which is what you're seeing right now.

My camera gear have gone through several changes along with the blog too. The photos in this blog were first taken with a Canon Ixus, then I bought a Canon Powershot Pro 1 which lasted less than a year. My interest in photography grew and I was amazed at what DSLR can do as compared to point-and-shoot cameras. So I got myself a Canon EOS 350D and a 50mm f1.8II lens in mid of 2006. I'm still using my trusty 350D body but I've upgraded the lens to a 50mm f1.4 since last year.

I guess most of you are sick of my profile page which shows the same thing for 4 years now. It's time for a change, don't you think so? Click on the "About" tab near the header and you'll see my new profile page!

Since I've been doing food blogging for so long, I think it's time to venture into something new. A while ago, I mentioned that I'll focus on another hobby. It's not a new hobby actually, but it's something that I've been doing all along. Since I can't work in Saudi Arabia and I've lots of free time, I think it's time that I take the hobby seriously and so I started another blog. It's called Bubbly Bunny and it will document the handicrafts that I've done. If you're interested to know what I'm up to other than cooking, hop over to www.bubblybunny.com, or click on the square Bubby Bunny logo at the right side of this blog.

To end this post, here's a strawberry marble cheesecake recipe that I tried out recently. It's a no-bake cheesecake, easy to prepare and extremely yummy. My hubby doesn't really like fruity pastry but he gave this cheesecake two thumbs up and he finished 3 quarter of it by himself!



Strawberry Marble Cheesecake Recipe
Recipe from ちっちゃなスクエアケーキのレシピブック

Ingredients:

For the base
100g digestive biscuit crumbs
40g unsalted butter

For the cheesecake
80g strawberry, fresh or frozen (I used frozen strawberry)
20g caster sugar
160g cream cheese, at room temperature
180ml fresh cream
50ml milk
50g caster sugar
7g gelatin sheet

Method:

To prepare the base:
1) Grease and line a 15X15cm square pan with parchment paper.
2) Melt butter in a saucepan. Pour the biscuit crumbs over the melted butter and stir until uniformly moist.
3) Pour the crumbs into the pan. Using fingers, press the crumbs to form an even layer on the base of the pan.
4) Keep the pan in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

To prepare the cheesecake:
1) Using a blender, blend the strawberry until it forms paste. Place the strawberry paste and 20g of caster sugar in a saucepan.
2) Place saucepan over medium heat, stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until the sugar dissolves. Turn off heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature.
3) Soak the gelatin sheet in a bowl of cold water. Remove from water as soon as the sheet soften, wring gently to remove excess water, set aside.
4) In another saucepan, heat up milk and 60ml of cream. When the mixture starts to boil, remove from heat immediately. Let it rest for 2 minutes. Add the softened gelatin and stir until it dissolves. Let the cream mixture cool to room temperature.
5) In the mean time, using an electric mixer, mix cream cheese and sugar in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Add in the cream mixture from Step 4, stir until combine.
6) Place a medium bowl over ice water, whisk the remaining cream until soft peak forms (**see note below). Pour the cream cheese mixture from Step 5 into the bowl, fold quickly until the cream cheese mixture is fully incorporated into the whipped cream.
7) Scrape the batter into the pan with cookies base. Then pour the strawberry paste on top, using a chopstick (or you can use a fork), make a few swirls to form marble.
8) Keep the cheesecake in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight. Cut into squares, serve.

**Note: You can read more about different stages of whisking cream from here.