Vanilla strawberry cheesecake with a shortcrust pastry and a vanilla milk glaze

I love a good cheesecake! It is one of my favorite desserts, so you can imagine that I have tried my fair share or it ;) I`m still on the search for the perfect cheesecake though, with just the right creamy filling and crunchy crumbly crust....but I think I might have found it.
I recently came back from a trip to the US and I must say that I tried a lot of delicious cheesecakes. Some had better fillings and the others the better crust. If your a fan of cheesecake like I am I definitely wouldn't miss "The Cheesecake Factory" as well as "Miette" which were both fantastic.

I personally have tried numerous different cheesecake recipes that I can't even keep track anymore. I have a few which I have kept as my "favorites" so far. Nevertheless I still keep testing new recipes every now and then.
The one recipe which I keep going back to is made from either cream cheese or quark. The philadelphia based cheesecake which for me is more the American style cheesecake whereas the European style cheesecake is made with quark cheese filling.

The taste and consistency of the two cheeses is quite different from each other. Cream cheese tends be  a lot creamier and thicker in consistency whereas the cake made with the quark is a bit less creamy, but instead has a much fluffier and lighter consistency.
Depending on which cheesecake I need I`ll use either of the recipes and then vary with different flavors and fillings. Adding fresh berries or fresh purees such as passionfruit adds amazing flavor to the cheesecake. This way you can always vary with flavor and decoration.

To celebrate the start of Summer and also not being able to walk past the strawberries in the store I decided to make a delicious strawberry cheesecake "European style" ;)


The Recipe

Short Crust Pastry:

320g butter
200g sugar
106g whole eggs
530g plain flour
70g ground almonds
pinch of salt
5g vanilla extract/paste

Instructions:

Mix the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla till combined (but not fluffy)
Add the eggs a little at a time mixing well after each addition until you have a smooth batter.
Add the flour and the ground almonds and mix shortly till you have a smooth dough.
Wrap is clingfilm and refrigerate for 1-2 hours before rolling out.
Roll out the dough about 2-2,5 mm thick and line your baking mould with the dough.
Place the cut strawberries on the bottom of the mould. Set aside till you have your filling.

Cheesecake filling:
(makes one ring 26 cm)

755g low-fat quark
250g full fat quark
250g sugar
1vanilla pod (seeds scrapped out) or vanilla extract
5 whole eggs
70g plain flour
100g melted butter
pinch of salt
zest of 1/2 lemon

about 100g fresh strawberries for the bottom

Instructions:

Cut the fresh strawberries and place these on the bottom of the prepared Shortcrust base.
Melt the butter and let it cool down slightly.
Mix the quarks, sugar, salt, lemon and the vanilla with the paddle attachment of your stand mixer or with your hand mixer.
Add the eggs one by one and mix well after each addition making sure you have a smooth and even batter. Add the flour and mix well again. Add the butter and slowly incorporate into the batter.
Fill your batter into your desired cake tin and bake at 175-180C for about 40-45 mins. Your cake should have a golden brown color but still have a slight wobble when out of the oven. The cake will set more after it cools down slightly.
Let the cake cool completely before decorating.

Gold leaf and mini fondant flowers to garnish

Once completely cooled I made a simply vanilla milk glaze and glazed just the top. I colored a small portion of the glaze pink and did a bit of a wild design. I place the fresh strawberry slices only on the edge of the cake and glazed it with a neutral glaze to keep them in place as well as to keep them from drying out. Lastly I added some gold leaf and mini fondant flowers to add a bit of color contrast.

Next up my Passionfruit vanilla Philadelphia cheesecake ;)