Strawberry Milkshake Cheesecake - The Aussie Way

Two weeks ago, something pretty exciting happened. I tweeted out a picture of my version of a Strawberry Milkshake Cheesecake by the wonderful Sprinkle Bakes and scored a couple of follows and favourites on Twitter. Not being a huge Twitterer, particularly not with my food, that was pretty cool.

I'd been thinking of doing this blog for quite a while and the great response I got from the lovely Heather and her followers actually gave me the push I needed to start it up. The blog is nowhere near where I want to end up with it - I haven't even got around to the layout! - but you've got to start somewhere right?

I'd had this cheesecake bookmarked for a while. I mean, strawberry milk and cheesecake? It was always going to be great. But one of the cooking-related problems we have in Australia is that we can access an amazing array of recipes online, but have no way of getting some of the ingredients cheaply and quickly. Sometimes the Aussie substitutions just don't work out.

I mean, I had never even seen the sprinkles I needed for the base in the local shops. Luckily I found them and the rest of the ingredients I needed and they worked out perfectly.





These are Jimmies in the USA, not sure of the Aussie name!

 

Here are the sprinkles I got from Woolies.

 

 

 

Thanks again Heather for the recipe - my Party of 11 loved it. I'm reliably informed that this is the best cheesecake base they've ever had. A big call as we do love our Cheesecake, but I agree!

Try it and let me know what you think!

 Strawberry Milkshake Cheesecake - The Aussie Way

This cheesecake is a light whipped one, almost like icecream, with a brilliant sweet/salty biscuit base.

Ingredients

1 packet Arrowroot biscuits
1/2 cup Bright Sprinkles
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp Caster Sugar
125g unsalted butter

2 ¼ cups thickened cream

500g (2 blocks) Philadelphia cream cheese, softened

1 cup Nesquik Strawberry flavoured drink (powder)

 

Instructions

 

1. Process or crush biscuits into fine crumbs.

 

Here's my effort to crush them as I don't have a food processor. I can't afford the cupboard or counter space.
Maybe Santa will bring me one - a new kitchen I mean!

 

  

2. Add the sprinkles, 2 tbsp of the caster sugar and the salt, and mix well so that the sprinkles are evenly spread throughout.  

 

3. Melt the butter and leave to cool slightly. Then make a well in the centre of the biscuit crumb mixture and pour in the melted butter. Mix until well combined. It should feel like wet sand, so add a bit more melted butter if you need to, otherwise the base will crumble when you remove the sides of the pan.

4. Press wet crumb mixture into the bottom of the pan and up the sides. I was able to get a pretty thick crust that went right to the top of mine.

5. Put the base into the fridge to set slightly while you make the filling.

6. To make the filling, mix the cream in a large bowl with an electric mixer until it starts to form peaks. Then, add all of the cream cheese and beat until combined.

7. Sift Nesquik and the remaining caster sugar over the mixture of cream and cream cheese, and beat again until smooth.

8. Pour filling into the crumb base and smooth out the top. Then, cover the entire thing with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. You'll see from Heather's original recipe that she included a whipped cream decoration before chilling the cheesecake. I needed to get it into the freezer so it would be ready for dessert, so we decorated with the conversation hearts and served it with icecream.

9. To serve, take the cheesecake out of the freezer and thaw it in the fridge. Serve it partially frozen so its easier to cut. A good tip from Heather is to put a warm teatowel around the outside of the pan to loosen it before removing it.

 

The finished product! My apologies for the sub-standard photos - I had a hungry Party of 11 to feed!