Strawberry Cheesecake Tart

Strawberry Cheesecake Tart - all the smooth, creamy, rich goodness of a cheesecake complemented by sweet, buttery pastry and a velvety chocolate ganache. What's not to like?

Excuse the sharp, jagged centre. I froze the tart to speed-up setting time!

Summer's almost here and  in Tenerife the shops and markets are already piling up punnets of fresh, juicy strawberries just waiting to be smashed with ice and made into strawberry margaritas, delicately chopped and placed on top of a delightful pavlova, or finely sliced and used to decorate this fresh Strawberry Cheesecake Tart. 

I love cheesecake and can't get enough of it, but my Official Treat Taster can take it or leave it. Some things he would give his left and right arms for, though, are buttery, flaky pastry and sweet, ruby-red strawberries. Combine all of that with one of my favourite things to make with chocolate - ganache - and I was on to a winning recipe.

Be warned - when you make this tart, you won't be able to stop and just one piece. There are only two of us at home, so every time we had just a small slice each, the rest of the tart would be sitting on the counter, watching and waiting for us to come back for "just one more slice". 

It was never just one more slice.

Strawberry Cheesecake Tart

Ingredients

Crust

100g flour

Pinch of salt

50g sugar

25g butter, cubed

25g lard, cubed

2tbsp cold water

Chocolate Ganache

100g chocolate

80g cream

Filling

250g cream cheese

200g icing sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

Strawberries sliced length-ways

Recipe

1. Begin by making the crust. Preheat the oven to 180C (355F) and combine the flour, salt and sugar. Add the butter and lard and rub in with your fingers until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. 

2. Starting off with just 1tbsp, pour in tiny amounts of water and mix until a good dough forms.

3. Knead the dough for a few minutes on a lightly-floured surface before rolling out to about a 1cm thickness. Sprinkle flour over your tart pan then cover it with your dough. Trim the edges and try to make it as neat as possible.

4. Blind bake the tart crust for 20 minutes or until golden-brown.

5. Whilst the crust is baking, make the chocolate ganache. Break the chocolate into squares and place them in a bowl.

6. Heat the cream in a saucepan over a medium heat and pour over the chocolate when the cream begins to boil. Leave for 5 minutes before mixing together well.

7. Spread the chocolate ganache over the base of the tart and refrigerate until set.

8. To make the filling, mix together the cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla extract. Spread on top of the chocolate ganache and top with the sliced strawberries.



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