Yes, I’ve got a sweet tooth AND I love rich food. Not good for the waist line at all! Doesn’t help that I’m short either. This means that I have to spread the guilt around when I bake (or in this case, don’t bake) . A potluck is always a good excuse to cook something sinful in terms of calories, but a bad time to experiment with a new recipe or so I’ve learnt!
In Singapore, there’s a very popular dessert / snack called Jelly Hearts. They cost a pretty penny to buy but are really popular despite the price. After having tried to make it myself, I reckon that if you aren’t fussy about appearances, I could probably make a decent one. I have also discovered that my freezer shelf is lopsided after cutting my cheesecake. The layers had set in uneven layers.
There isn’t actually a recipe that would give me the exact measurements for the aluminium tin pan I had. So I tried to guess the amounts required. Not too good I must say – the crust was over the top thick and the jelly not thick enough! I didn’t help things by spilling a good portion of the jelly when I banged into the fridge whilst trying to put the cake into the freezer. Also, I didn’t have time to nip out to get the strawberries (which do a mainly decorative job in my opinion) I’m just waiting for another potluck to try this thing out again with the correct proportions (as I have written below) and maybe with some strawberries.
Strawberry Jelly Cheesecake
Makes a 20cm by 20cm by 5cm cheesecake (the correct proportions)
Ingredients
150g digestive biscuits
75g butter
250g cream cheese (room temperature)
1 tbs gelatine powder
50 g sugar
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 box strawberry jello
Method
- Crush the digestive biscuits into crumbs.
- Melt butter in the microwave for 10 seconds and stir and repeat if required. Be careful not to burn by over heating.
- Mix the biscuit crumbs into the butter and pour into baking tray. Place baking tray into the freezer to set biscuit base. It should take about 20 minutes.
- Bring the cream cheese to room temperature and add sugar and vanilla essence, blending until smooth.
- Dissolve gelatin in hot water and add to the cream cheese mixture.
- Pour cream cheese into baking pan and put into the freezer for 30 minutes until set.
- Follow the instruction on the box of jello to prepare jello.
- Pour jelly over the set cream cheese layer and put in the fridge to set.
- Cut and serve chilled.
Tips
- It’s always easier to blend cream cheese after bringing to room temperature.
- The biscuits can be crushed with a rolling pin and a plastic bag or a food processor. With the plastic bag, be careful not to make a hole in it, otherwise, it’s going to be a mess!
- You can use an electric mixer to blend the cream cheese but I use a food processor as I don’t have a mixer. You could even do it manually but it takes arm endurance sometimes.
- Using the freezer cuts the setting time. If you wish to leave the cake in for more than 30 minutes, I suggest you use the fridge to set the layer to avoid ice crystal formation.
- Don’t allow the gelatine to cool before mixing with the cream cheese as it will set on the edges of the container you used to dissolve it, resulting in a cream cheese layer that is too soft.
- Make sure the cream cheese layer is set well before proceeding with the next layer otherwise it will mix.
- You can set the jello in the freezer if you are in a hurry but remember to bring it down to the fridge to chill to avoid ice crystals!!
- You could use lemon jello or raspberry jello too! In fact, you could be adventurous and try other flavors!