* Rustic Strawberry Cheese Cake

I took a GAZILLION photographs of this cheesecake and was very tempted to subject you to all of them, just so's you could drool as much as I did.

But you may have become paralysed with boredom after the first fifty, so I thought "best not".

It's a *no bake* cheesecake that I made to take to my mum's for Mothers Day last Sunday. I desperately wanted to write the recipe up for it on the Sunday morning and share it with you then, but had to wait until after we'd eaten it - just in case it was awful. It wasn't.

It was scrum-diddly-umptious.

Yes. I have been watching way too much of The Simpsons. No. I don't need to get out more.

Mum loved it (the cheesecake), as did everyone else. I wish I'd thought to take my camera with me, so's I could have taken even more photos of it in various states of dishabille, smothered in strawberry coulis. But I forgot.

Lucky you.

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Makes 6 - 8 servings

Prep time - 10 minutes
Chilling Time - 2hrs

You will need
a 20cm round loose bottomed flan tin
An electric hand whisk or food mixer.

Ingredients
2.5oz/70g butter
3oz/80g plain chocolate
5oz/150g digestive biscuits (graham crackers)
14oz/400g mascarpone
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2oz/65g icing (confectioners) sugar
6.5oz/190ml fresh double (heavy) cream
9oz/250g punnet of fresh strawberries

Method
For the base

Put the butter and chocolate into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for a minute at a time, on 50% power until melted but not crystallised - takes about 2 - 3 minutes. Or, place the bowl over a gently simmering pan of hot water until melted. Make sure the water isn't able to touch the base of the bowl.

Place the digestive biscuits/crackers in a strong plastic bag (freezer bags tend to work well), seal it and bash the living daylights out of them with a rolling pin until crumbled and crushed with a few gnarly bits here and there - it adds to the rustic vibe and is easier to get your fork into when cold.

Mix together the bashed biscuits and the melted butter and chocolate, and press into the base of your loose bottomed flan tin. Pop into the fridge for one hour and then make the cheesecake topping.

For the topping

Using the whisk attachment on your food mixer/kenwood chef/kitchen aid, beat together the mascarpone, icing sugar and vanilla extract then add the double cream and beat thoroughly until the mixture is stiff - to a point where you could probably turn the bowl upside down and hold it over your head without any of it falling out. If it's still a bit runny, you haven't whisked it quite enough.

Grab the flan case from the fridge and spoon the topping onto the base, smoothing the surface as much or as little as you like. Just make sure it's level. Pop back into the fridge for another hour before removing from it's flan case and prying the loose bottom off of the cheesecake base - gently.

Place on a plate or cake stand and top with sliced strawberries, in any fashion you like and dust with a little icing sugar.

If you have any strawberries left over, pop them into a blender with a tablespoon of water and half a teaspoon of icing sugar. Blend until smooth then press through a sieve to remove the pips. Pour over each slice individually, as served.

EAT

You weren't seriously expecting the weight watchers pointage here, were you???!!!??

Trust me, you don't want to know.