Strawberry, almond and pistachio cheesecake sponge

This recipe was taken from the most recent (June 2014) edition of the BBC Good Food magazine, however I had to replace/adapt some of the ingredients and the method a little. The cake looked too gorgeous not to try and I was intrigued by the cheesecake/sponge combination.

Strawberry, almond and pistachio cheesecake sponge

It’s a good example of the all-in-one cake mix method but actually has a nice twist to it too. It is made up as a straightforward all-in-one but it gets ‘assembled’ rather differently. A simple cheesecake mix is made up which is dolloped (love that word) on to half of the cake mix before the remaining mix is piled on top.

The June 2014 edition of BBC Good Food magazine, with the original recipe cake on the cover

The adaptations were made, not because the recipe sounded like it needed a tweak or two, but simply because I didn’t have some of the ingredients listed but did have ‘replacement’ alternatives. I also altered the cooking temp and time because I didn’t have the same size tin as was specified.

It all came out gorgeously though as a very moist and flavourful cake. The cheesecake lumps really added to it. I can only imagine the original spot-on recipe is just as delicious.

What changed

• I substituted chopped hulled pistachios for the original flaked almonds
• I used an organic (full fat) strawberry yogurt rather than the natural yogurt specified
• I omitted the strawberries inside the cake as the yogurt I used already had whole strawberries/strawberry chunks in it
• I used a 21cm tin (a 23cm tin was specified originally)
• I lowered the temp to 160C (was 180C) and lengthened the cooking time to 1hr 25 mins (well, actually I just kept checking it after 1hr and 15 mins and took it out when it was ready at 1hr 25)
• I only used about 3/4 of the cheesecake mix – maybe it was because I had a smaller tin. The amount I used looked like I’d entirely covered the cake mix rather than the ‘blobs’ the recipe said to have. If I’d have used it all there would have been a whole layer of cheesecake. Mind you, that might actually be worth trying! I’ve scaled down the cheesecake ‘blobs’ recipe by 20% on the original

Equipment

• 21cm cake tin
• baking parchment

Ingredients for the sponge

• 175g soft butter
• 250g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 200g self-raising flour
• 50g ground almonds
• 75g thick strawberry yogurt (not the low-fat kind and organic if possible)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Topping ingredients

• a handful of hulled pistachios, chopped
• 2 – 4 strawberries (depending on how big they are)

Ingredients for the cheesecake ‘blobs’

• 160g full fat cream cheese
• 20g caster sugar
• 1 medium egg

1. heat the oven to 160C and prepare the cake tin (grease and line with the parchment and dust with a little flour)
2. gently mix the ingredients for the cheesecake ‘blobs’ together. If you do it roughly it will make it runny. Put it in the fridge until you need it
3. Mix all the sponge ingredients together in a bowl
4. Pour/scrape half the sponge mix into the cake tin then blob the cheesecake mix all over. Pour/scrape over the remainder of the cake mix
5. Slice the strawberries and arrange them on the cake top, then sprinkle over the chopped pistachios
   

   The cake mix before it went in the oven – with the original recipe I followed/adapted

6. Bake for about 1 hr 20 – 1hr 30 mins (test the cake after about 1hr 15mins and don’t forget that it has cheesecake blobs in it if you test with a skewer)
7. Leave to cool for 10 mins in the tin, then release. The original recipe said it was good hot or cold, but I left mine to cool fully so can’t comment on a warm version

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