Baked Strawberry Praline Cheesecake

Although this turns out to be a Waitrose recipe, I have Melody to thank for this quite incredible cheesecake recipe. But Melody pointed out that credit ultimately goes to Georgine Hayden for this sensational combination of strawberry and hazelnut praline. When I tried a slice of the cheesecake Melody had baked, I was inclined to think this is the best baked cheesecake I have ever tried. Robert agreed.

Light, creamy, rippled with sweet strawberry. The base – the inspired shortbread and hazelnut praline base – wow! More praline and strawberries to decorate the cake. This is a showstopper of a cheesecake if there ever was one – and it is just perfect for summer. We are so ready for everything summer represents – Wimbledon Tennis Championships, Pimms, sandals, sunglasses strawberries and cream…and more!

INGREDIENTS

400g caster sugar
75g hazelnuts
100g salted butter
175g all butter shortbread
250g strawberries
½ tsp vanilla extract
750g soft cheese
200ml soured cream
4 large eggs
2 lemons
50g plain white flour

METHOD

First of all is the slightly fiddley and also hazardous task of making hazelnut praline. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Pour 100g caster sugar into a saucepan and warm over a medium heat. I think I used the wrong pan because it took ages for my sugar to melt. When the sugar eventually starts to melt, it goes quickly! Eventually you should have golden syrupy sugar swirling around the pan. Once it becomes deep gold, add the hazelnuts. Working quickly, pour the mixture out onto the prepared sheet. Leave the praline to cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 130°C, gas mark ½. Grease and line the base of a deep 20-22cm loose-bottomed cake tin.

Melt the butter. Break ²⁄₃ of the hazelnut praline into pieces and place in a food processor with the shortbread. Blitz until finely crushed. Mix with the melted butter. Spoon into the prepared tin and press down firmly into an even layer. Chill in the fridge for half an hour.

Hull and chop 200g of the strawberries. Place in a bowl with 25g of the caster sugar and the vanilla extract. Crush roughly with a fork. In a clean bowl, beat together the soft cheese with the remaining 275g sugar. Beat in the soured cream. Next beat in the eggs, one at a time. Finely grate in the zest of both lemons and squeeze in the juice of one lemon. Stir in the flour, then ripple through ²⁄₃ of the crushed strawberry mixture.

Pour the creamy cheesy mixture over the praline and biscuit base (I found there was too much cheesy mixture, so I actually poured the remainder into a separate baking tin, then ripple the remaining crushed strawberries on top. Bake for one hour, or until set with a slight wobble in the middle. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake inside until cooled (I left it in the oven for a couple of hours as per other baked cheesecake recipes). Cover, place in the fridge and leave to chill overnight.

When ready to serve, crush the remaining praline and halve the remaining strawberries. (I blitzed it in a food processor which made it a crumb, but I think I ought to have crushed it in a pestle and mortar so there were slightly bigger chunks.) Use the strawberries and crushed praline to decorate the top before cutting into slices to serve.