Strawberry & Almond Cheesecake Sponge

My attention was totally caught by the cover photo of the lastest issue of BBC Goodfood magazine and after looking through the recipe, I was determined to make it and of course, it must be sooner rather than later !

I'd recommend this one if you like cheesecake that is not too rich and dense. I could say the cake is a great combination of everything in it !


The recipe ( slightly adpated from the original in the magazine )

Ingredients :

175g soft butter

200g caster sugar ( the original calls for 250g )

4 large eggs

200g self-raising flour

50g ground almonds

75g full-fat natural yoghurt

2 tsp vanilla extract

250g strawberries, hulled and sliced

Handful flaked, toasted almonds

For the cheesecake blobs

200g full-fat cream cheese

20g caster sugar ( 25g for the original )

1 large egg

Method

Heat the oven to 180C and grease and line the base of a 23cm cake tin.

Begin by mixing the ingredients for the cheesecake ‘blobs’ in a bowl but be careful not to over mix as it will just become runny very quickly.

In a separate large mixing bowl, add your butter, sugar, eggs, flour, ground almonds, yoghurt, vanilla and a pinch of salt. Beat the mixture together until it has a smooth consistency.

Scrape half of this mixture into your cake tin and flatten out as best you can. Scatter with half your strawberries and then dollop on blobs of half of your cream cheese mixture.

Pour on the remaining cake mixture but try to be as careful as possibly not to disturb your strawberries or cream cheese.

Scatter on your remaining strawberries and dollop on the remaining cheesecake mixture before scattering on the top a handful of flaked almonds.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean.

Cool for 20 minutes in the tin before turning out.

Delicious warm or cold.