A "Grace-full" week : No bake Strawberry & Mango Cheesecake

This week has been a quite an eventful one for me. Why? Well, I had the pleasure of having two nice ladies coming to visit me this week. And it so happened that these two ladies shared the same name...Grace. :) And thus the post title, "Grace-full", heehee. :D One of these ladies I believe most of you bloggers will already have come to know, she is Grace from Kitchen Corner. I came to know her through blogging more then 2 years ago. We then got to meet up twice during the past bloggers' gathering and found out we actually stayed pretty close to each other! After going to and fro a couple times, we finally got to meet up to have lunch at my place. It was a really pleasant meet up as we just chat away non stop and enjoyed our lunch happily. ;) Grace was nice enough to bake me some yummy cakes even while she's been really busy lately. Thanks my friend! I too managed to make a simple cheesecake for her, which is No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake which we delightfully enjoyed after our Sweet Italian Sausage pasta.

This is one of my all time favorite cheesecake. It's light, not the same as those baked version cheesecake which is much more dense and filling. The addition of whipped non dairy cream to the recipe makes it lighter but still creamy and delicious like a soft serve ice cream, yum yum!

I didn't add any Strawberry chunks into the batter because I wanted it to be nice and smooth...kind of like melt in your mouth texture. :) And besides using strawberry, I believe you can use all sorts of yummy flavor! Passion fruit, chocolate, lemon and even Dulce De Leche!

This recipe turned out just right, with evident strawberry flavor (no essence added, all natural!) and with the right amount of sweetness. Luckily Grace whom is such a great baker also said it's nice. *phew* I loved it so much that I actually craved for it the following day, lol!

Ingredients for No Bake Strawberry/Mango Cheesecake: (makes one 8" round)
Cookie Base:
200g graham cracker, crushed
100g melted butter

Cheese filling:
400g cream cheese, soften
90-100g caster sugar (adjust sweetness to your own liking)
1 cup fresh strawberry/mango puree
200ml non-dairy whipping cream, whipped
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 to 1.5 tbsp gelatin powder and 4 tbsp water


Jelly Top:
100g fresh strawberry/mango puree
100ml water
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp gelatin powder
1 tsp agar agar powder
Method:

• For cookie base: Mix all ingredients together. Then press the mixture evenly to the base of a 8" or 9" cake pan (preferably those with removable sides or base) Chill the cookie base for at least 30 minutes before using.
  
• Cream the cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and strawberry puree till smooth. Gently stir in the whipped cream and mix till well incorporated.
  
• Using double boiler, melt the gelatin in the 4 tbsp water. Let cool slightly but not much else the gelatin will solidify again. Scoop 2 tbsp of the cheesecake batter into this gelatin mixture till well combined. Then add this mixture to the cream cheese mixture and stir well.
• Scoop the cream cheese batter over the cookie base and level it smoothly. Chill it in the fridge for at least an hour before use.
• Meanwhile, make the jelly top: In a small saucepan, add all the ingredients in and gentle boil till gelatin and agar agar powder melt and blends in the mixture. When the side of the mixture starts to bubble, remove from fire and let cool for 15 minutes. Then pour the mixture over the cream cheese top and chill it for at least 30 minutes.
  

The other friend called Grace is an old friend cum neighbor which I had the pleasure to come to know for 3 years while I was staying in KL. She's been a supportive and always welcoming friend to me. I was glad that she is coming to Singapore this time because it's been 3 years since her last visit. Coincidentally, her birthday happens to fall close to the date of her visit to Singapore. That would means I can bake her a birthday cake to celebrate this special day together with her.

This is not the first time I made a birthday cake for my friend Grace. Last year I did a simple birthday cake for her, which is butter cake with blueberry filling and butter cream. This year I wanted to make her something different, on the lighter flare, similar to above, but a No Bake Mango Cheesecake, heehee. :D Only managed to snap the above photo since I was rushing off to meet her for dinner that evening. But rest assured that she and her family loved the cake as well. :)

I will definitely try out this recipe again. Perhaps with a much more exotic flavor or maybe just my all time fave, dark chocolate. :)) Let me know if you ever try this out. Signing off now, take care all and have fun baking!