Hello, and welcome to the third installment of the strawberry cheesecake series. If you've made it this far you have followed my cheesecake journey from conception to execution. Now for the final touches to give it a little extra flair and taste. I had allowed the cheesecake to cool overnight in the fridge, which really made it set up well. I cut a little chunk out of the center where it was cracked, and it tasted good! So it is looking quite promising. But here is the cheesecake as it was this morning, it looked a lot like what it did last night when I put it in the fridge.
The next step is to add the topping to the cheesecake. Since this is a strawberry cheesecake, I am making a strawberry topping, duh. I placed 10 oz of strawberries in a pot, and added 1/2 tsp vanilla and 65 g (1/3 c) sugar. I meant for this to be pretty much exactly the same as the strawberry swirl and syrup from yesterday, I just happened to put in a few extra berries. Now, these ingredients may be sufficient to create a nice topping, but I really wanted to make a nice gel topping so it wouldn't soak into the cheesecake after pouring it on. This will make it last longer and not get all sogged out. Therefore, I added 1 tbls of both heavy whipping cream and corn syrup. From my background in making candies, I know that when these ingredients (sugar, corn syrup, and cream) are brought to the proper temperature, they will form a gelled or solidified state. Plus, what could go wrong with boiling strawberries with cream? I also added an additional 1 tsp of lemon juice, to compliment the lemon zest I had added to the cake previously.
I cooked the berries on medium heat for quite awhile. I don't go by time because it is all about the temperature! Since everyone's stovetop has different medium settings, it makes it difficult to judge how long you should cook something like this. Also, depending on the size of the berries and various other factors, the time may be quite different from person to person. I decided I would cook them until I reached a stage when the mixture started to form a jelly. There are some recipes out there that tell you to add corn starch or gelatin, but you will not need these, they are not necessary.
Just keep cooking the strawberries! They will gel on their own once you reach the proper temperature. I will admit, I did not use a thermometer this time because I used too large of a pan. I have a good feeling for when a candy is at the right temperature, but I would guess that it reached a temperature of around 225 - 230 degrees F, just below the 'soft ball' stage. A good way to tell if you are at the right temperature is to take a small amount of your mixture and drop it into a glass of cold water. If it drops in and forms a nice little jelly clump at the bottom, you are ready to go! (Note: You should be able to reach into the cup and pull out the jelly on your finger. If it falls apart, cook it a little longer.) Once it reached the gelling temperature, I poured it directly on top of my cheesecake, spread it out so it was evenly distributed (and filled in the big crack in the center) and immediately put it in the fridge for ~5 minutes to let the topping set up. If you did it properly, the remaining topping in the pan should be gelled, ash shown here.
During the chilling, you will have time to make the whipped cream topping. What you will need:1/2 c Heavy Whipping Cream
1 tsp Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
If you have never made whipped cream by hand, don't worry! It is both simple and delicious! All it takes is a little elbow grease. Whipping cream on its own will be able to form a nice whipped cream (obviously), but the addition of the powdered sugar will both give it a little added sweetness and will help the whipped topping maintain its shape for longer periods of time once it is piped onto the cake (due to the cornstarch used to make powdered sugar). The vanilla has no purpose other than just to give it a little extra taste. More sugar can also be used if you want it to be a little sweeter, this is not an exact science. Then take a whisk, and start beating the mixture vigorously. What you are doing is mixing air in with the cream, so be sure to disturb the surface, don't just mix! Be sure to that the whisk goes from the air to the cream mixture, and doing so rapidly will enhance your results. You will notice the cream getting thicker and then all of a sudden you will notice that it starts to keep its shape. You want stiff peaks to form, so when you put your whisk in and pull it out, there should be distinct, somewhat sharp peaks don't sink back into the cream. Place the cream into a piping bag (essentially a plastic bag with a hole in it and a nozzle, you can probably almost make your own out of a ziploc bag) and it is ready to go!
Feel free to test your whipped cream creation by piping it into the center of a prepared strawberry :) Another delicious summer time treat! Also, when doing my research on cheesecakes there were people that piped cheesecake into strawberries, might be delicious! (I didn't notice my white balance was off in the previous two photos until it was too late, I apologize)
At this point, the strawberry topping has probably set up into a gel, so you can take the cheesecake out of the fridge. It is now ready for the whipped topping. Place the piping tip near the surface of the cake, extrude it from the tip, and gently lift it up to lave a nice little peak. Do this all the way around the cake and keep going around until the remaining bare cake is covered with some overlapping into the strawberry topping. Really, you can add all the whipped cream you want! You can't see the cracks now can you ;)
This may be sufficient for your cheesecake tastes, but I added one final touch. I took strawberries sliced in half, and placed them around the outside edge of the cake to give it a hint of the fresh strawberry taste. Now it is ready to serve! And it shouldn't get soggy within the expected lifetime of the cake. I hope you enjoyed the journey of creating a cheesecake. I will update you later on how it tastes!
Enjoy!
Jake
Looks great! Wish I could have some!
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