Lazy Mom Perfected: Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake Recipe (from scratch)

* Some Step by Step photos included at bottom
** To find this recipe "lazy mom" version that's not from scratch go here.

I love both Strawberry Shortcake and Cheesecake and saw a recipe that had them both together. I just wasn't savvy on the idea of the no-bake cheesecake. I am not a fan of those. So, I decided to look up recipes that had a cheesecake like this one. All I found were messy looking and not quite the cheesecake recipes I wanted. So, I decided to make up my own. I first decided to make a quick version where there was practically no cooking for the days that we just don't have all day to spend making this cake. I made that cake for a friend as a thank you gift and hoped it would be as wonderful as I planned. They absolutely loved it. My next goal was to make it from scratch and then create the recipes for others to enjoy and here they are.
* Serve with a dollop or two of whipped cream for best results!

PREP TIME

42 min.

TOTAL TIME

6hr. 55min.
If you have 2-9 inch springform pans than this will only take 5hr 55 min as you can make the cheesecake first than make the pound cake. That will save an hour of refrigeration time since it'll be in the fridge while the pound cake bakes.

Servings 12

MASTER INGREDIENT LIST:

3/4 cups butter, softened (no substitutions)
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

5 (8 oz. Each) and 1 ( 4 oz Each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

3 cups plus 3 Tbsp sugar

7 large eggs, room temp

2 3/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoons salt

1-3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons water
12 oz Fresh strawberries

PART 1:

POUND CAKE

PREP TIME
10 mins

TOTAL TIME
1 hr 10 mins

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cups butter, softened (no substitutions)

4 ounce cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 large eggs, room temp

3/4 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoons salt

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Generously grease one 9 inch springfoarm pan

In a bowl cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.

Add sugar; beat until light and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes (you MUST beat for at least 5 minutes this is an important step!).

Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.

Mix in vanilla.

With mixer on low add the flour and salt in two additions.

Immediately pour in batter into prepared pan.

Tap pans to eliminate any large air bubbles in the batter.

Bake 30-40 minutes, or until cake tests done.

Note: if the top begins to brown too quickly tent loosely with foil.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Turn out the cake then cool completely with the tops up on a wire rack. Once cooled Refrigerate
*If you don't have a second 9 inch springform pan then carefully take the pound cake off the springform pan bottom after it's cooled and place onto another flat plate.
** If you have a second 9 inch springform pan then while the pound cake is cooling you can start making the cheesecake recipe to save time.

PART 2:
CHEESECAKE

PREP TIME

20min.

TOTAL TIME

5hr. 15min.

INGREDIENTS

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 Tbsp. sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

4 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

4 eggs

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 325°F.

Mix graham crumbs, 3 Tbsp. sugar and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.

Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.

Bake 55 min. or until center is almost set. Loosen cheesecake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate cheesecake 4 hours.

* do Part 3 while cheesecake bakes

PART 3:

Now is a good time to make the strawberry puree and cream cheese frosting while cheesecake is baking.
TOTAL TIME (for all of part 3)
25 mins

_______________

STRAWBERRY PUREE

PREP TIME

5 mins.
COOK TIME
3-5 mins

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons water
12 oz Fresh strawberries

DIRECTIONS
Wash, dry, and stem berries
Put 3-4 strawberries aside and place in refrigerator for the cake topping decoration.

Turn stove on medium high. Add water. Wait until water starts to boil then add remaining strawberries (approx 10 oz). Let strawberries start to get a little softening on bottom of the pan. This happens pretty quickly, so keep a close eye on them. Once you see them softening use a metal potato masher and start pressing down on the strawberries. They will resist at first, but then they will press down pretty easily as they mash up into a lumpy puree mixture. Just keep pressing and turning the potato masher until all the strawberries are mostly pureed. There will be some slight bits of lumpiness.

Turn off heat and remove the pan from the heat. Set aside to cool. After the strawberry puree mixture has cooled, put into a small container, cover, and refrigerate.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
TOTAL TIME

15 mins

INGREDIENTS
8 ozs cream cheese (room temperature)

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Put cream cheese into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until smooth. Reduce speed to medium-low, and mix in sugar and vanilla. Raise speed to medium-high, and mix until fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes.

Put mixture into a smaller bowl, cover, and refrigerate

PART 4:
ASSEMBLY

After Part 3 is done and the cheesecake has refrigerated for 4 hours we can move on to the completion of this yummy Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake.

Set out the cheesecake, pound cake, strawberry puree, cream cheese frosting (uncover and set aside to soften), remaining strawberries, and remaining graham cracker crumbs

To assemble:
Starting with the pound cake, place it in front of you then using a sharp thin long knife, cut the top off the cake so it is no longer rounded, make sure not to cut to much from the top. After the top has been removed and evened out, using about 1/4 of the cream cheese frosting, frost the top of the cake (not the sides) – not to thin and not to thick. This is important as it will serve as a barrier to keep the strawberry puree from soaking into the pound cake after assembled.

Put the frosted pound cake aside and place the cheesecake in front of you. Scoop about half of the strawberry puree onto the cheesecake leaving approx 1/2 inch of the top of the edges all the way around untouched by the strawberry puree. It's important to leave room for the puree to spread out when the pound cake is placed on top.

After the strawberry puree has been properly spread on top of the cheesecake, take the pound cake and turn it upside down (cream cheese frosting side facing down) and place on top of the cheesecake carefully. The bottom of the pound cake will now be the top of this strawberry shortcake cheesecake. Remove the springform pan bottom if still attached to the pound cake bottom.

Using the rest of the cream cheese frosting spread the frosting on the top and sides of the pound cake while also filling in the gap between the pound cake and cheese cake to help seal in the strawberry puree. If any has come out, use a flat knife to wipe it off before spreading the cream cheese frosting there. Do not spread any cream cheese frosting on the cheesecake sides.

Once the cake is frosted, take the remaining strawberry puree and scoop on to the top of the frosted cake making sure to leave about 1/2 inch untouched around the edge of the top of the cake. Now take the remaining strawberries and slice them lengthwise into 4 slices each. Place each sliced strawberry on the top of the cake about 3/4 inch in from the outer edge in a circle all the way around making sure to space them apart from each other. Then place a final strawberry in the center.

For the final touch, sprinkle the remaining graham cracker crumbs on the top of the cake, putting most of the graham cracker crumbs on the top edge of the cake where the strawberry puree wasn't spread.

Refrigerate for 30 mins for frosting to set.

*Serve with a dollop or two of Whipped Cream for best results!