Fraisier Cheesecake
French know how to make desserts, don’t they?! The classics of French pastry are well known around the world and Fraisier is most definitely one of them. But this version is not your classic Fraisier, but it takes inspiration from it. It is in fact a Fraisier cheesecake with a delicious pistachio sponge cake, cream cheese white chocolate mousse and plenty of fragrant strawberries. Just 3 elements in a dessert that is really refreshing and fragrant, a joy to eat and look at! It’s a dessert perfect for the end of winter and beginning of spring if you ask me. It may not be strawberry season yet in Romania, but I’m so looking forward to making this cheesecake again once the local strawberries will surface on the market.
This Fraisier cheesecake is like no other cheesecake I have ever made! The cream cheese mousse is incredibly creamy and it literally melts in your mouth, while the slightly salty pistachio sponge and fresh strawberries complement incredibly well the mousse. The final cheesecake is perfect in every way!
I think pistachio and strawberries go so well together! Mind you, pistachio is amazing on its own, even more so combined with other flavors! In this case, the pistachio merely balances the tangy taste of the strawberries and completes the creaminess and intensity of the cream cheese mousse. It’s just the perfect team! Cream cheese, white chocolate, strawberries and pistachio – four ingredients that I would pretty much eat in any dessert!
And strawberries are the star of spring/summer season for sure! They are delicious on their own, with just a touch of sugar on top or a spoonful of whipped cream. Even more so in recipes like this strawberry pavlova or this rhubarb cake topped with a fragrant strawberry compote. But I love them simple as they are – adding them to a dessert has to really make them shine, otherwise it feels pointless!
Fraisier Cheesecake
Ingrediente
Pistachio sponge cake
- 125 g butter
- 125 g icing sugar
- 155 g almond flour
- 2 g salt
- 10 g cornstarch
- 55 g pistachio paste
- 135 g eggs
Cream cheese white chocolate mousse
- 7 g gelatin + 42g water
- 50 g milk
- 5 g vanilla extract
- 120 g white chocolate
- 350 g cream cheese (softened)
- 80 g icing sugar
- 250 g heavy cream
- 100 g mascarpone
Extra
- 500 g fresh strawberries
- Pistachio for decor
Instructiuni
Pistachio sponge cake
- Combine the butter, icing sugar, almond flour, salt and cornstarch and whip for 5 minutes or until pale and light.
- Add the pistachio paste and mix well.
- Stir in the eggs, gradually, mixing well after each addition of egg.
- Spread the batter on a tray lined with baking paper until it reaches 1cm thickness.
- Bake in the preheated oven at 170C for 30 minutes or until golden brown and set.
- Cool down completely then cut out 2 discs of sponge of 18cm diameter. Be careful as you handle the sponge as it is very fragile.
- Prepare an 18cm diameter cake ring (6cm height) by lining it with acetate foil.
- Place one disc of sponge at the bottom of the cake ring and keep the remaining disc for the top of the cheesecake.
- Arrange halves of strawberries into the cake ring, making sure the cut faces the acetate and the ring to ensure an even outside of the cheesecake. Keep aside until the mousse is ready.
Cream cheese white chocolate mousse
- Bloom the gelatin in water for 10 minutes.
- Warm up the milk and vanilla extract then mix it with the bloomed gelatin.
- Pour the hot milk over the chocolate and mix to form a ganache.
- Mix the cream cheese with the icing sugar, then stir in the white chocolate ganache you made earlier.
- Leave aside then whip the heavy cream and mascarpone until soft peaks form.
- Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese base.
- Pour the mousse into the cake ring. Keep just a few tablespoons of mousse for the final layer. Freeze the cheesecake for 15 minutes to set the mousse slightly, then place the second disc of sponge on top. Pour the remaining cream cheese mousse and level it well.
- Keep in the fridge to set for at least 12 hours.
- Remove the cake ring and acetate foil. Decorate with strawberries and pistachio.
