This Strawberry Cheesecake is a stunner! Based on my classic Baked Cheesecake which I describe as a magically rich-yet-light, finished with a gorgeous strawberry topping that tastes as amazing as it looks.
You’ll love how the sauce slowly drips down the cheesecake with every bite, and how the filling is creamy and rich, but it’s a bit fluffy rather than heavy and dense. And because I love the biscuit base so much, I’ve made it go aalll the way up the sides….
Strawberry Cheesecake
This has been my go-to cheesecake recipe for many years now. It’s the cheesecake that rendered a group of girls silent when we were on a weekend away. And that’s saying something with my friends!
I’ve shared this cheesecake recipe in all its naked glory. Because it really is the sort of cake that’s rich enough and so good (and that BISCUIT BASE!!) that you don’t need to trick it up with anything – just serve a plain slice and it will be devoured.
But it’s that time of the year for excesses. Where we take a cake that’s already perfect as it is, and take it over the top with a glossy Strawberry Topping for Cheesecake….
PS You’re going to go a little bit bonkers when that Strawberry Sauce is on the stove. The smell is outrageous!
I did say that this Strawberry Cheesecake is pretty straightforward, but I never said it’s a quick and easy recipe! It takes time but it’s not complicated. I’m going to walk you through each part, there are process photos and a recipe tutorial video too.
Here are the 3 main components:
Cheesecake biscuit base and walls: blitz and press. No baking required;
Cheesecake filling – plonk and mix. The easiest part!
4 ingredient strawberry sauce – couldn’t be easier (hardest part is trying not to “taste test” too much)
The Cheesecake Biscuit base
Oh that buttery base!!! I love it so much, I make an entire wall of it for this Strawberry Cheesecake. Actually, the practical reason for the biscuit wall is to hold the Strawberry Topping in. But even without topping, I always make my cheesecakes with biscuit walls!
It’s as simple as blitzing (or bashing) biscuits into crumbs then stirring in melted butter. The biscuit base can be made with pretty much any type of plain biscuit – or even plain flavoured biscuits (like gingersnaps!). Arnott’s Marie Crackers or Nice biscuits (Australia), digestives (UK), and in the States, Graham Crackers are ideal.
PRO TIP: Inverted base & paper overhang
To make it easier to remove finished cake: Flip the base of the springform pan. Grease then top with a square sheet of paper. Secure sides of pan so excess paper is sticking out. Then you can easily move the cheesecake as follows:
use the paper overhang to grip, and slide the cake off the base onto the cake stand;
finished cake will slide safely off the inverted base (because it has no lip); then
once the cake on the paper is on the cake stand, slide the paper out from under the cake. Voila!
Cheesecake Filling
The easiest part! The ingredients in the cheesecake filling are simply cream cheese (Philadelphia all the way!), sugar, lemon zest (this really gives it a special touch), vanilla, a tiny amount of flour (for stability – keeps it fluffy) and eggs. It’s a plonk-and-mix deal.
This cheesecake has sour cream in it which lightens it up a bit. While rich, it has a slightly aerated texture which is quite different from a New York cheesecake which is much denser and calls for twice as much cream cheese as this Strawberry Cheesecake recipe!
PRO TIP: Don’t overbeat, it can cause craters
No need for water bath
Some recipes say to bake cheesecake in a water bath, swearing that this a) makes the cake more moist; and b) is the secret to avoiding cracks.
Out of curiosity (because some people are so adamant!) I made this exact cheesecake with and without a water batch just to compare. Logistical issues aside (because no springform pan is 100% leakproof, it requires double layers of heavy duty foil and even then, I was still wary).
Both cheesecakes looked exactly the same – no cracks, and tasted exactly the same. Except one was a heck of a lot more of a hassle to get in the oven.
So it’s confirmed. NO WATER BATH!
PS Santa, may I please have new matching oven mitts for Christmas?
Strawberry Topping for Cheesecake
5 simple ingredients – strawberries, sugar, cornflour/cornstarch, lemon juice (or water) and vanilla. Plonk in saucepan, simmer for 10 minutes, stand over stove and inhale the incredible smells. Stir through halved strawberries (nice to soften them a bit), cool then spread on cheesecake.
Don’t fret about getting the strawberry sauce consistency 100% right straight off the stove. Cook the sauce until it’s the thickness you want for your cheesecake (ie slow ooze – watch the video!), then it will thicken more as it cools. THEN use the teeniest touch of water to loosen it up to the desired consistency – as in, 1/2 teaspoon at a time. That’s the safest way to get the sauce consistency perfect. 👍🏼
That Strawberry Topping for the cheesecake…. it is unbelievable. Not only does it make the cheesecake look stunning, it tastes incredible. The addition of a sauce to an already amazing cheesecake really does take it over the top.
As regular readers know, I specialise in “brown foods”. Think – stews, roasts, curries.
So when I make things as beautiful and colourful as this Strawberry Cheesecake, the immature child within can’t help getting overly excited and sending these photos to everyone in the RecipeTin family and more friends than she cares to admit.
And their reactions made my head swell. 😂
Make this. You WILL be praised for days on end! – Nagi x
Strawberry Cheesecake
Watch how to make it
Accidentally forgot to include adding cornflour/cornstarch in the strawberry topping in the video! Whisked it in off camera. 🙂
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Strawberry Cheesecake
Ingredients
Cheesecake Biscuit Base:
- 200g / 7oz Arnott’s Marie crackers or other plain biscuit (Aus) or 28 Graham Cracker squares (Note 1)
- 120 g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
Cheesecake Filling:
- 1 lb / 500g cream cheese , softened (Note 2)
- 2 tbsp plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream (full fat, sub sour cream)
- 1 1/2 cups caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 3 eggs , at room temperature
Strawberry Topping for Cheesecake:
- 500g / 1 lb strawberries , half diced and half halved
- 2 tbsp lemon juice OR water (Note 3)
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp cornflour/cornstarch
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 160C/320F (standard) or 140C/295F (fan/convection).
- Get a 20cm/8″ springform cake tin. Turn the base UPSIDE DOWN (Note 4), butter lightly and place a square piece of parchment/baking paper on the base. Then clip into the springform pan – excess paper will stick out, see photos in post and video.
- Butter and line the side of the pan.
Cheesecake Biscuit Base:
- Break up biscuits roughly by hand and place in a food processor.
- Blitz until fine crumbs (Note 5). Add butter, briefly blitz until dispersed and it resembles wet sand.
- Pour into the prepared cake tin. Use a spatula to roughly spread it out over the base and up the walls.
- Use something with a flat base and vertical edges (I used a measuring cup) to press the crumbs up the wall almost to the top of the sides, and flatten the base.
Filling:
- Use a mixer or beater to beat the cream cheese until just smooth, no longer than 20 seconds on speed 4. (You do not want to aerate cheesecake filling as it causes cracks when it bakes)
- Add flour, beat for 5 seconds on speed 4 until just incorporated.
- Add vanilla, sour cream, sugar and lemon zest. Beat until just combined (10 sec max, speed 5).
- Add eggs one at a time, beat in between until just combined (5 sec each), and after the last one, beat just until the egg is fully incorporated.
- Pour into prepared crust.
- Bake for 55 minutes. The top should be a very light golden brown, not cracked, and near perfectly flat. It should jiggle slightly when you gently shake the pan.
- Cool the cake in the oven with the door open 20 cm / 8″ (Note 6), then refrigerate for 4 hours+ in the pan.
- Remove sides. Use overhang paper to slide cheesecake off the cake pan. Then slide the cheesecake off the paper.
Strawberry Topping for Cheesecake:
- Place chopped strawberries, vanilla, sugar and lemon juices in a saucepan. Stir then bring to simmer over medium heat.
- Simmer for 10 minutes until strawberries breakdown.
- Mix cornflour with water, then add into saucepan and stir.
- Add halved strawberries and cook for 1 minute to soften.
- Sauce should be syrupy – remove from stove and cool. Will thicken as it cools.
- Once cool, stirl. Adjust thickness to make it the right “oozing” consistency (see video, Note 7) with a tiny touch of water (be careful!).
- Spoon onto cheesecake so it’s covered with a single layer of strawberries. Flip strawberry halves so they are facedown. Refrigerate 2 hours+.
- Slice and serve with remaining Strawberry Sauce!
Recipe Notes:
Australia: Arnott’s Marie Crackers, Arrowroot and Nice are ideal, I’ve made it with all these.
US: Use 28 squares / 14 full sheets, yes I measured it with my last Graham Cracker packet I brought back from my last trip.
UK: Digestives are ideal, I LOVE digestives! The crumb should be like wet sand so when pressed, it stays packed firmly, especially up the wall. It’s delicate when uncooked but once the filling is cooked, it becomes much more stable. 2. Cream Cheese – In the UK and some parts of Europe, block cream cheese isn’t available. If you can only get spreadable cream cheese in tubs (softer than block), skip the sour cream. 3. Lemon Juice or Water – Depends on sweetness of strawberries. If they aren’t that sweet, use water instead. 4. Inverted cake pan with overhang paper: The base of springform pans have a slight ridge. By inverting it, there is no ridge which makes it easier to slide the cheesecake on a serving platter without ruining the crust. There is no risk of batter leakage as the crust is thick enough to hold it all in. 5. Crumbs: OR crush in a ziplock bag using a rolling pin or large can. 6. Cool in oven: This helps stop the surface from cracking. 7. Strawberry topping should be like jam consistency, not a set jelly. It should ooze slightly when cut. 8. Different measures: Cups and spoons vary slightly between countries (US and CAN are different to most of the rest of the world). I have made this recipe using both US and Australian measures, using Australia Marie crackers and US Graham Crackers. The Graham Cracker crust is slightly crunchier because the biscuit doesn’t crush to a fine sand like Marie Crackers do. Both are delicious! 9. Make Ahead / Storage: Cake is at its best consumed within 4 days, after that I feel like it starts getting denser but still really fab, most people wouldn’t notice a difference! Ideal to top the day or or day before. After 2 to 3 days, the top does start to “sweat” but it’s not very noticeable.
Nutrition Information:
More Cheesecake recipes
And more strawberry goodness …
Life of Dozer
He’s been waiting all year for a moment like this – when a whole piece of Strawberry Cheesecake fell on the floor!!
(But no, he didn’t get the whole thing. Can you imagine the other mess I’d have to deal with if I did let him?!)
Barbara Harilaou says
Hi Nagi I’ve not been able to write anything for a long time,grandma duties……. but this cheesecake of your …..wauuuuu. Finally a cheesecake you can bake without the water bath.I want to make this for New Years but only one problem they don’t have sour cream here where I live [small village in Corfu Greece] so my question is what can I substitute it with?
Nagi says
Hi Barbara!! Given where you live, you will love the sub – GREEK yogurt! 😂 I’ll pop this tip in the recipe! N x
Hazel says
Hi Nagi, your note for sour cream says sub sour cream? Is it a typo?
Nagi says
Oops! Let me fix that! Thanks for picking it up!
Christina C says
Nagi,
Can you provide some tips on how to avoid the cake collapsing? Mine rose beautifully in the oven then collapsed later on whilst cooling in the oven. Thanks.
Nagi says
Nooooo! You definitely added the flour?? And you cooled it in the oven?? It definitely does lose height after cooling in the oven (I couldn’t show the height fresh out of the oven in the video because I didn’t want it to collapse by moving it). You can see in the video that it’s pretty full when it goes in the oven and you don’t actually gain that much height once cooked. How tall was it?? N x
Cindy Lanphear says
What happened to the print button? Difficult to print now. Bring back the print function!
Mr G says
Hi Cindy – There is a print button still. It’s the right-most icon of the five at the top of the recipe card.
Christina Chan says
Hi Nagi,
I tried the recipe last night. The cake lost all its height overnight as I cooked it in the oven. What do you think caused the filing to collapse?
Tracey says
Look forward to trying this recipe but have to say, the best cheesecake base I’ve created came from using butternut snap biscuits (I’m Australian) – just delicious!
Nagi says
OMG that would be amazing!!! I think I’ll try that when I make this for Christmas!! N xx
Gayle says
Oh man, I can’t wait to make this for Christmas. This is my son’s favorite desert. But he doesn’t like lemons and can tell if I add even a tsp of lemon. Do you think I could make this with Lime? Secondly, can this be frozen? I’m worried that it would last for dinner as I would have to make this a couple days in advance.
Thanks Nagi, love love your recipes.
Nagi says
Skip the lemon Gayle! Freezing is a no go for this. It lasts up to a week so you’re fine! N x
Adi says
Oh this looks soooooo good!!
I’m on a stupid diet currently for a friend’s wedding but this is TOP of my post diet cooking list!
Nagi says
OMG I hear you Adi!! The things we do for our best friends’ right??? 😂
Howard Hor says
Simple and easy to follow,
deliciously yummy
Nagi says
Thanks Howard!
Tamarra says
OMG I need to make this! Anything cheesecake is always delicious but who wouldn’t love THAT STRAWBERRY sauce. Oh lordy YUM. I cannot wait xx and ps thank you for your *make ahead* notes. They are FAB
Nagi says
I hear you Tamarra! Cheesecakes are my weakness! N x
Katrina says
This is definitely going in our Christmas feasting! 😍 Yum! Would the sauce work with frozen strawberries? I have some diced and some halved because we have an abundant strawberry farm down the road and we always pick far too much to use all at once, so I freeze them cut in different ways to use for smoothies, baking etc.
Nagi says
Absolutely! I’ve made this plenty of times with frozen strawberries and blueberries! 🙂 N x
Coral says
Hi Nagi, As usual this looks amazing and I am going to try it with gluten free flour as there is so little in it that it shouldn’t make too much of a difference. I would like to wish you a wonderful, safe and perfect Christmas and may 2019 be as good as 2018. Hugs to Dozer and also best wishes to all my fellow readers. Love and hugs xxx
Nagi says
Hi Coral! GF flour should be just fine with this, and for the biscuit base too – I’ve made it with GF cookies before. Merry Christmas to you too Coral!! N x
TangPY says
I just joined your blog and i love your recipes. Do you have any cookies recipe as the Chinese New Year is coming? 🙂 Thanks.
euqohns says
I love reading the blog 🙂 “matching gloves” :)))
Nagi says
I’m not kidding!! I keep cringing every time I see them in videos!! 😂
Nagi says
It’s been on my whiteboard for “MUST BUY!” for about 6 months 😩
Fiona Hampton says
Hi Nagi. As I have an abundance of homegrown raspberries, do you think I would be able to substitute the strawberries for raspberries? Would I have to change anything in the recipe? Thanks
Nagi says
One more thought! If you want something to replace the shine that’s on the strawberries, you could dust the raspberries with icing sugar 🙂
Nagi says
Actually wait, I changed my mind. I think the sugar in the topping might soften the whole raspberries too much so I would skip stirring them in. I would spoon the sauce on the cheesecake then cover the whole thing with fresh raspberries. I think that would look amazing – and imagine that moment when you cut through and see that glossy sauce under the fresh raspberries! SWOOOON!!!
Deb says
I would make a thickish raspberry sauce and place raspberries on top and then carefully spoon on **seived** sauce over the raspberries. You don’t need seeds with the sauce!
Nagi says
I just need a moment to be green with envy…. I WISH I had that problem!!!! 😂😂😂 I must confess I’ve never made a raspberry sauce because I’ve never had such an abundance of raspberries (they’re precious in my world) but I use this same topping recipe for blueberries, blackberries (they were so cheap this year!) and cherries so I am confident it will work. The only change I would make is to NOT stir in whole raspberries at the end, they are more delicate so don’t need softening. Just add them once the sauce is cooler. Also depending on how juicy your raspberries are (because the ones I get aren’t as juicy as strawberries) you might need to add a touch of water to get enough liquid. It’s an easy recipe to tweak 🙂 N x
Fiona Hampton says
Thanks Nagi, I will let you know how I go;)
Molly says
congrats on the mew website but it is harder to navigate than the previous one, at least on the phone. i think its the typeface or the font size- have to scroll much more for half as much info. Tx!
Nagi says
That’s a great pick up Molly! We observed the same thing and are looking at tightening it up a bit 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing that!! N xx
J says
Catchy tune on the video!
Yum, this looks so good N!
Now, if only I could figure out a way to get that yummy cheesecake off the screen and into my mouth! 😂
So, if I wanted to make a chocolate cheesecake too, do I just add some cocoa or melted chocolate? How much? The darkest kind of cocoa? I love chocolate even more than the standard kind of cheesecake!
It looks like Dozer can’t believe his eyes! I’m surprised he didn’t nosedive into it N! 😂
Christmas is coming fast now and everyone gets busy. So I’m saying it now. Have a Merry Christmas and a Great 2019 New Year coming N and Dozer too!!! 🎄🎄🎄🎉🎉🎉🎈🎈🎈
Also to all your readers *Merry Christmas and Happy New Year*! 🎄🎄🎄🎉🎉🎉
Nagi says
Hi J! Chocolate cheesecake has been on my mind for a while, I haven’t been happy with the ones I’ve done 🙂 A quick way to get a chocolate hit would be to frost it with the chocolate ganache from my Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe, and also use Oreos or choc biscuits for the crumb! N xx
Wynn says
I adore cheesecake and like strawberry sauce too, but prefer my cheesecake naked! I’ll save the strawberry sauce recipe for a summer cake, but will try that cheesecake recipe soon! It looks heavenly! I love All kinds of cheesecake, especially NY, but also the less dense ones, the creamy ones, the fluffy ones, and in a pinch even the no-bake sort.
Congratulations to the knife winner!
Nagi, does your knife supplier ship to Australia, Canada, UK, and the US? Do you think they might be willing to offer selling your favorite knife directly to your readers and followers? I’m probably not the only one who’d be willing to purchase one, based on how highly you prize the one you have. My sharpening skills are abysmal, but I’d still give it a try! It looks like a great knife, and I’d rather buy one I know is of superior quality, than take a chance on buying one that might not be AS good!
Nagi says
Hi Wynn! They sure do – my mother arranged for the knife to be sent directly to the winner in the US! I will talk to my mother about the best way to share the info to order them because they don’t do business in English 🙂 That’s why my mum has to arrange the knife delivery for me!! My Japanese isn’t good enough! 😂
Wynn says
Excellent! If that knife producer didn’t already have a worldwide customer base, they certainly deserved one, as anyone can tell who’s watched your videos!
Any chance of a sharpening tutorial on the horizon?
Danka says
THANK YOU for work for pleasure of others.
I love all Yours recepis in all form You present it.
So HONEST and ACCURATE work.
Have a Happy HOLLIDAYS
Nagi says
You’re so welcome Danka! N x
Yao Wang says
Hi Nagi!
What can I use to substitute the sour cream, I live in Brazil and we don’t have that here. Thanks.
Can’t wait to cook this recipe!!
Nagi says
Hi Yao! Yogurt will be just fine! 🙂 N x
Kate says
My best guess to substitute sour cream would be greek or natural yoghurt, if you can find it.
Nagi says
100%! 🙂 Thanks Kate – N x
Nicole Legault says
I love your new website … I like the other one but this one is WOW
Have a great day
Nagi says
Thank you Nicole! N xx