Strawberry Jelly Hearts // Strawberry Jelly Cheesecake Recipe!

This Valentine's, I made a tray of Strawberry Jelly Hearts/Strawberry Jelly Cheesecake for R and his family! It was my first time making a cake for him all by myself, so I wanted something easy and non-bake (cos I don't have an oven). While the recipe is easy to follow, it actually took up more time than expected (2hours just to make the crust and cheese layers!), so be prepared for that!

Now let's go into the recipe!

I'll link the original recipe right here! I've added a few items and modified some of the measurements and ingredients, otherwise, it is still quite similar to the original list.

For the crust -
300g digestive biscuits
150g melted butter

1 ziplock bag

1 pestle (those heavy herb grinder that your grandma uses)

note: If you prefer a thinner crust, use

200g digestive biscuits
100g melted butter

For the cheesecake layer -
450g cream cheese (placed in room temperature for 2 hours to soften)
1 & 1/2 tablespoons gelatin powder
1 cup boiling/hot water
Slightly less than 2/3 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
About 10 to 12 strawberries

For the jelly layer -
Tortally Jelly (Strawberry flavour)
1 cup hot water
1 cup cold water

Step 1: Cut your strawberries into heart shapes! Remember to buy bigger strawberries, if not your hearts will sink into the cheesecake and the heart shapes won't be so obvious.

Step 2: Place 300g of digestive biscuits into the ziplock bag. Lock it well, make sure that you let out all the air inside the bag. Now, just whack your pestle hard and start breaking down your biscuits into crumbly pieces.

Step 3: Prepare 150g of butter, clingwrap your bowl to prevent the butter from splattering all over and pop it in the microwave for about 20-30secs. While waiting, use the leftover butter to grease your pan.

Step 4: Mix the melted butter together with your biscuit crumbs. Proceed to spread the mixture evenly onto your pan, try to flatten it and leave as little empty air space as possible. Then, leave it in the refrigerator to cool!

Step 5: Measure out 1 & 1/2 tablespoons of gelatin powder and dissolve it in 1 cup of hot/boiling water. Then, put it aside and let it cool.

Step 6: Now mix 450g of cream cheese together with the 2/3 cup of sugar. This is the tiring part. If you have a whisk, USE IT! It will save you alot of time. I didn't have a whisk, so I had to use a normal spoon to mix it in, and that took me about 20min.

The end product should look rather smooth and fluffy like this!

Step 7: Pour in your cooled gelatine and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the cream cheese mixture. Stir/whisk well. Now at this point, the mixture is going to be VERY WATERY. Do not panic. The cheese will set well.

Step 8: Pour the mixture onto the crust

Step 9: Add in your strawberries!

Step 10: Refrigerate your pan and just let it chill for 4 hours or overnight (that's what I did).

Step 11: For the jelly mixutre, I used the Tortally strawberry jelly and just mix the powder with 1 cup of hot water until all the powder dissolved, then add in another cup of cold water.

Step 12: Make sure the jelly mixture is cooled (to about room temperature), and pour the mixture over your cream cheese.

Step 13: Chill the cake for 4 hours (or overnight) and VOILA! A light and refreshing dessert, suitable for any occasion!

I think this recipe is quite foolproof. Even if you make a bit of mistake here and there (e.g not adding enough gelatine, crust too buttery, jelly too soft), the end product will still be yummy.  Highly recommended for beginners!