Vanilla Strawberry Cheesecake: French Style
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Today, we decided to level up our pastry and are sharing with you a gourmet version of the famous strawberry vanilla cheesecake.
We are starting a new video collection: "the secrets behind French pastry".
For the first video of this series, chef Ludivine designed this gourmet vanilla strawberry cheesecake recipe, only for you!
Bon appétit!
Difficulty: 
Prep time: 1 hr 30 mins / Cook time: 50 mins / Servings: 10 people
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Strawberry Confit
11 oz (320g) - Strawberries
1 tbsp (15g) - Sugar
3½ oz (100ml) - Water
1 oz (30g) - Corn syrup
1 tsp (4g) - Pectin
Vanilla Cheesecake Mousse
12¾ fl oz (360ml) - Milk
4½ oz (125g) - Sugar
2 - Egg yolks
1 - Vanilla pod (or 2 tsp (8g) of vanilla extract)
7 oz (200g) - Heavy cream
14 oz (396g) - Cream cheese
Mirror Glaze
6⅓ fl oz (180ml) - Water (to rehydrate the gelatin)
1⅕ oz (36g) - Gelatin powder
5⅓ fl oz (150ml) - Heavy cream
10½ fl oz (300ml) - Water
15 oz (450g) - Sugar
2½ oz (75g) - Corn syrup
5½ oz (155g) - White chocolate
To taste - Food colorings: white, red & gold
Sweet Pie Crust
8 oz (226g) - Butter
1 cup (115g) - Powdered sugar
2 - Eggs
3 cups (420g) - Flour
Almond Cream
1¾ oz (50g) - Butter
1¾ oz (50g) - Sugar
1¾ oz (50g) - Almond flour
1 - Egg
To taste - Strawberries
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We advise that you prepare all the above ingredients before starting.
You will typically need: a scale, measuring cups, mixing bowls.
Strawberry Confit
1 - Wash, finely dice, and place the strawberries in a bowl.
Tip: Sabatier knives are excellent French blades we recommend for professional and home cooks. We also love this reversible cutting board with integrated hand grips from John Boos.
2 - Combine the diced strawberries, sugar, water, and corn syrup in a saucepan (or a saucier pan). Mix everything together with a spatula, and cook over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes. Mix from time to time to prevent the strawberries from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
3 - Blend the preparation with a blender. Vitamix blenders are by far the best we have ever owned: Vitamix Explorian, Vitamix Pro Series 750.
4 - Put the confit back in the pan. Add the pectin and bring it to a boil.
5 - Once the strawberry confit has boiled for at least 1 minute, pour it into a silicone semi-sphere mold using a pitcher.
Tip: Only fill ⅓ of the semi-spheres.
6 - Freeze for one hour.
7 - While the confit is resting, start the vanilla cheesecake mousse.
Vanilla Cheesecake Mousse
1 - If you are using fresh vanilla, remove the vanilla bean seeds from the pods. We are showing you how here.
2 - Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks. Reserve the egg whites in the fridge for a future recipe.
3 - Combine the egg yolks and the sugar in a mixing bowl, and whisk vigorously until nice and smooth. Then, set aside.
4 - Pour the milk into a saucepan and add the vanilla beans. Then, bring them to a boil.
5 - Pour the hot milk over the eggs and whisk until everything is well combined.
6 - Pour everything back into the saucepan and cook it like a crème anglaise over medium-low heat, until it reaches 167°F (75°C). Keep mixing with a spatula during the entire process to prevent the eggs from turning into scrambled eggs.
7 - Once the crème anglaise is cooked, pour it into a large mixing bowl and place it in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
8 - Meanwhile, whip the heavy cream until light and fluffy. We recommend this 7-speed hand mixer from KitchenAid for its quality and elegant design.
9 - Now that your crème anglaise is cold, whisk the room-temperature cream cheese in it.
Tip: Incorporate ⅓ of the total amount at a time, and repeat three times.
10 - Once the cream cheese is fully incorporated, add all the whipped cream and slowly stir it in using a spatula.
11 - Unmold the strawberry confit and cut the desired size using a cookie cutter.
12 - Pour the cheesecake mousse into a silicone mold using a measuring cup, filling only half of it initially.
Tip: Pyrex is the gold standard of measuring cups, we love their quality and durability!
13 - Place the frozen strawberry confit in the center using tweezer tongs.
14 - Pour more of the cheesecake mousse over the confit until the mousse fills the mold to the rim. Repeat for each sphere as needed.
15 - Finally, freeze the mold overnight.
Mirror Glaze
1 - Combine the water and gelatin powder in a ramekin. Then, mix using a fork until the gelatin is well incorporated into the water. Set it aside for later.
2 - Combine the remaining water, sugar, heavy cream, and corn syrup into a saucepan. Briefly mix with a spatula and bring the preparation to a boil.
3 - Add the white chocolate chunks into a mixing bowl, and pour the boiled glaze over them. Emulsify the mixture with a hand blender. Our must-have hand blender is the Braun Multiquick Technology.
4 - Add the gelatin and blend some more.
5 - After the gelatin is fully incorporated into the glaze, color it with the food coloring of your choice and blend it again.
6 - Cover the mixing bowl with food wrap and place it in the fridge overnight.
The next day...
Sweet Pie Crust
1 - Add the butter and the powdered sugar into your stand mixer bowl, and mix them on low speed using the paddle attachment. The KitchenAid Artisan Design Series and the KitchenAid Professional 600 Series are superstars among stand mixers and will look amazing in your kitchen!
2 - Stir in the eggs once the butter becomes creamy.
3 - In a large bowl, combine the flour, almond flour and salt.
4 - Add it all to the dough when the eggs are fully incorporated. Give it a quick mix until everything is combined.
Tip: For this recipe, it is important not to over mix the dough to avoid developing the gluten.
5 - Place the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for 30 to 60 minutes. While the dough is resting, start the almond cream.
6 - When cold, roll out the dough on a floured surface using a rolling pin (marble/wood), and mold the tarts. We are showing you how in this video. Here, we are using the De Buyer perforated tart rings.
7 - Place the tarts in the fridge for about 1 hour or in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
Almond Cream
1 - Preheat your oven to 320°F (160°C).
2 - Cream the butter with the sugar in a large mixing bowl, using a whisk.
Tip: If your butter is not at room temperature, microwave it for 10 seconds.
3 - Add the egg and almond flour, and mix everything together until well combined.
4 - Dice a few strawberries and set them aside.
5 - Place the almond cream in a piping bag, and fill the tarts with it. Place some diced strawberries in the tarts. We are showing you how in this video.
6 - Finally, bake for about 25 minutes at 320°F (160°C).
Assembling The Cheesecakes
1 - When the tarts are ready, make sure to let them cool down to room temperature before starting to assemble the cheesecakes.
2 - Unmold the frozen cheesecake mousses and place them back in the freezer.
Tip: Placing them back in the freezer helps ensure they remain as cold as possible prior to the glazing step.
3 - Melt the mirror glaze in the microwave in 30-second increments, until it reaches 98°F (37°C). Place it in a jug.
Tip: Making sure the glaze is at the right temperature is important. If too hot, it will melt your mousses and you will end up with irregular pastries. If too cold, the glaze will set too quickly on the mousses and will be too thick.
4 - Place the frozen cheesecake mousses on a cooling rack (with a baking tray underneath) and slowly pour the glaze over them. We are showing how to do it here.
5 - Spread about 1 teaspoon of strawberry confit on top of the tarts.
6 - Gently pick up the mousses using an offset spatula (or two), and drop them off on the tarts.
7 - Decorate the mousses with thin strawberry slices in a pretty manner (as shown here).
8 - For a flavor boost, zest a fresh lime on top of your cheesecakes.
9 - Place the pastries in the fridge for at least 1 hour before savoring.
10 - Enjoy!
Watch our video for more details!
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Disclaimer: baking/cooking times vary according to each appliance. Make sure to always control halfway through for success.
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🎬 Everything we used for this recipe:
🍶 Kitchenware: Coming soon!
🍳 Ingredients: Coming soon!
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The information provided in this recipe is not nutritional or medical advice. Please read our disclaimer.