Non Baked Strawberry Jelly Cheesecake

When I first met this beautiful looking cake was when my colleague bought it for Xmas, so I told myself hmm...It shouldn't be difficult to "bake".

So I did my homework and...here comes my cheesecake. Just love the colour. 红红!

My first "bake" & success!

I made this on 2 January evening and finished the top jelly layer on the 3 January morning.

Cheers to all and have a wonderful new year ahead!

Ingredients (for 24 jelly squares)

For the bottom layer - Crust

300g digestive biscuits

150g melted butter

For the middle layer - Cheesecake

2 bloc Philadelphia Cream Cheese (500g)

1½ tbsp gelatin powder

1¼ cups hot water

2/3 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

12 strawberries (I used Korean Strawberries)

For the top layer - Jelly 

160g strawberry flavoured jelly (I bought Jello)

1½ cups hot water

1½ cups room temperature/cold water

Method

1. Melt the butter using in a water bath over the stove. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Using a brush, coat a 9x13 inch baking pan.

    *As I don't want to scratch my pan and also for easy removal of the jelly cheesecake, I lined my pan with baking sheet and brush butter on it as well.

3.  Using a food processor, blend the digestive biscuits to obtain fine crumbs.

4. Place the fine crumbs into a large bowl and add the rest of the melted butter. Stir well to combine.

5. Scoop the mixture into the pan and press them down.

    *I used my spatula to press the biscuit butter mixture as evenly as possible.

6. Now once this is done, cover the prepared bottom layer with a cling wrap or if your pan (like mine) has a lid, cover and chill it in the fridge.

    *I let it chill for almost 1 hour in the fridge.

7. While waiting for the bottom layer to solidify and holds in shape, there are a couple of things to prepare.

a) Bring the cream cheese to room temperature and allow them to soften. 

b) In a small bowl, add in the exact amount of gelatin powder and hot water. Stir till the gelatin powder completely dissolve. Set aside and allow it to cool.

c) Remove the green top of the strawberries and wash the strawberries. Set aside for them to dry.

8. Using a mixer, place the soften cream cheese in the mixer bowl, add in the sugar and whisk till its light.

9. Add in the vanilla extract to the cream cheese mixture. Whisk.

10. Add the cooled gelatin mixture a few tbsp at a time into the cream cheese mixture and combine well.

11. Once all the gelatin mixture is incorporated, the cream cheese mixture should be a smooth runny mixture.

      *There shouldn't be any lumps. If there is lumps, sieve the mixture before pouring them into the pan.

12. Bring out the baking pan out from the fridge, using a fork poke holes into the bottom biscuit layer.

13. Pour the smooth runny cream cheese mixture on top of the biscuit layer. Allow it to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.

14. In the meantime, half the strawberries and cut a v-shape at the top to remove the white portion. This should make the strawberries look like a heart shape.

      *which Mr W failed to make them looks like heart shape. Lol.

15. After the 10 minutes, gently press the halved strawberries into the cream cheese mixture. Space the strawberries 1 to 1.5 inches apart.

16. Cling wrapped it or cover with lid and place it in the fridge for minimum 4 hours or overnight.

17. Using 160g of Jello Strawberry powder, add in 1½ cup of hot water and whisk till the powder dissolve. Add in the room temperature/cold water. Mix well.

18. Bring out the baking pan, using a measuring cup, gently pour the jelly mixture on top of the cream cheese layer. Pour just enough to cover the strawberries.

19. My baking pan comes with a cover & this is how it looks like.

Alternatively you can cling wrapped it before placing it back to the fridge for another 4 hours.

I forgotten to take photos when I cut them. Pretty and delicious jelly cheesecake!!! You can omit the strawberries and jelly and you will have a Tofu cheesecake!

There you have it. It's a easy recipe except time consuming. We need to give each individual layer time to set properly.

For prettier presentation, you may slice away the 4 sides and eat them. Oh remember to pour hot water on your knife, wipe dry before cutting any cheesecake. With each slices, wipe the knife before cutting again.

Give it a try!