Strawberry Cheesecake

This no-bake cheesecake says summer like nothing else. Serve it as a teatime treat or as a dessert, it is creamy, fresh and deliciously cool on a summer's day.

Take the cream cheese for this recipe from the refrigerator an hour before you start mixing the cheesecake. A soft cream cheese gives a much smoother and even result.

For the base:

200g digestive biscuits

60g butter, melted

about 15 large, fresh strawberries

Lightly spray the sides of a loose-bottomed cake tin with cooking spray.

Put the biscuits into a plastic bag and smash them with a rolling pin.

Melt the butter and mix it with the biscuit crumbs.

Spoon the crumb mixture into the cake tin and press it to the bottom of the cake tin with the back of a spoon. Get the base as even as possible.

Now cut off the bottom part of each strawberry and cut it in half. "Sit" the strawberries against the side of the cake tin with the cut sides facing towards the tin and the levelled bottoms on the crumb base.

Put aside.

For the filling:

12,5ml granulated gelatine

125ml sugar

250ml boiling water

500g cream cheese, softened

5ml vanilla

Add the gelatine and sugar to a mixing bowl and give it a mix through.

Add the boiling water to the mixture and stir constantly for 5 minutes, until all the gelatine has dissolved and the mixture has cooled slightly. This is important!

Add the cream cheese and vanilla to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat the mixture until creamy. Scrape the mixture down once or twice, in between beating.

Turn the mixer onto low speed and gradually, a little at a time, add the gelatine mixture. Beat the mixture until it is blended after each addition of gelatine and before adding the rest.

Refrigerate the mixture in the mixing bowl for one hour, stirring it with a spatula every 15 minutes, until thick.

Gently spoon the cream cheese mixture into the prepared cake tin and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

Keep the cheesecake in the refrigerator.