Strawberry cheescake- with chocolate crust

think- fresh strawberries and cream with a dark chocolate crunch. yes and my mouth is watering now. this was really good. the cheesecake filling is very fluffy and light and the crust is rich topped off with sweet strawberries. 

one thing i can assure you is that this cake, once cut, does not travel well. i mean thats not that hard to guess because it is a cheescake. but the filling is particularly soft. so one shouldnt eat some for breakfast and then walk to work swinging said cake in a bag and then expect one's cake to look fantastic when presented to one's colleagues. although, my boss (who never eats sweet things) did have a teeny slice. i think perhaps this was out of pity. BUT, there was no cake left to take home. enough said.

rustic looking to the perfect end to dinner on the deck,  those unexpected guests for afternoon coffee or in my case, breakfast! 

if you take one thing home with you tonight folks, it should be that this crust is flipping fantastic and i want to eat it every day of my life. if you need a good chocolate crust recipe. here it is!

Recipe:

Chocolate crust:

adapted from The Australian women's weekly- Sweet old fashioned favourites, recipe book.

for one 18cm cheesecake

185gr flour

30ml cocoa powder

1/3 cup brown sugar

125gr chilled butter, chopped in blocks

1 egg yolk

- mix flour, cocoa and sugar, rub in butter with fingertips until combined. add egg yolk and mix until ingredients cling together. add a little water if you need.

- knead dough on a floured surface (more like press together until it forms a smooth dough) wrap in clingwrap and refrigerate for 30 min

- line baking tin with parchment paper. press dough into the tin with your fingertips, until evenly covering sides and base of tin

- put baking parchment paper in tin over dough, fill the paper with dried rice or beans, bake at 180'c for 15 minutes. remove parchment and beans and bake for a further 15 min. allow to cool before filling it with...

Cream cheese filling:

- 200gr cream cheese

- 5 tablespoons icing sugar

- 2 tablespoons lemon juice

- 120ml fresh cream (measure out the amount then whip the cream)

1. in a bowl beat cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon juice

2. fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture and spread over the prepared tart crust

3. put in fridge for a few hours or in the freezer (cover tin with tinfoil)

Strawberry topping:

500gr fresh strawberries, washed and chopped
150gr or about 1/2 cup strawberry jam

1. once the  cheesecake has set, place strawberries ontop in a heap. or i suppose you could make a pretty pattern with them.

2. heat jam in microwave until liquid enough to pour. spread over strawberries with the help of a pastry brush.

3. put in fridge until ready to serve

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