What could be better than a creamy mascarpone strawberry cheesecake? Add in a little homemade whipped cream and you’ve got a party.
In honor of our Country’s birth, I have made a dessert for the occasion, and what better way to celebrate the Fourth than with a creamy Cheesecake! And your friends and family are going to love my Mascarpone Strawberry Cheesecake.
Now of course since the United States is a melting pot, I have gone back to one of my favorite recipes for a delicious blend of cream cheese (Philadelphia Brand of course) and Mascarpone, that wonderfully versatile Italian cheese!
Feel free to use all cream cheese for the recipe, but I have to tell you, it won’t be as creamy without mascarpone.
How I love a good cheesecake especially when its made with mascarpone!
If you enjoyed this recipe you may also like these:
Mascarpone Strawberry Cheesecake
This velvety smooth Mascarpone Strawberry Cheesecake is the perfect dessert for any occasion. Topped with strawberries, blueberries or the fruit of your choice this dessert will bring smiles to your table.
Ingredients
Crust
- 1½ – 2 cups shortbread cookie crumbs or Graham Crumbs
- 6 tablespoons butter melted
Filling
- 16 oz cream cheese softened
- 16 oz mascarpone cheese
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- zest of one lime
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 5 eggs lightly beaten
Strawberry Topping
- 2 cups fresh strawberries
- ¾ cup water
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ cup sugar
Whipped Topping
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ envelope gelatin
- 1 tablespoon super fine sugar
Instructions
Crust
- Place the shortbread cookies in a food processor and pulse to a fine crumb.
- In a small bowl, mix the cookie crumbs with the butter. Press onto the bottom and up one inch on the sides of a prepared 9 or 10 inch springform pan.
- Place pan on a baking sheet, bake at 325° for 10 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cheeses, sugar, lime juice, zest and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beat on low speed just until combined. Pour over crust. *optional water bath method
- Bake at 325° for 50-60 minutes or until center is just set and top appears dull (do not overcook or the top will crack).
- Remove springform pan from the oven, and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer.
- Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. Before serving, prepare topping and Strawberry Glaze.
- * If you want to have a perfect top of your cheesecake, place your prepared springform pan on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil (about 18 in. square). Securely wrap foil around pan. Continue with the process and before placing in the oven, place springform pan in a large baking pan; add 1 in. of hot water to larger pan. Since I almost always put a topping on my cheesecake, I rarely use the water bath method, but if you want a perfect top to your cheesecake, give it a try!
- (After your cheesecake has properly set up, you can continue with the topping.)
Topping
- In the bowl of your mixer, add the heavy cream and sprinkle the gelatin on top of the heavy cream and allow it to set for a two minutes.
- Add the sugar and whip till it is become whipped cream.
- Place whipped cream in a pastry bag and make a ring of whipped cream on the top of the cheesecake to help keep the strawberries in place.
- For the glaze puree 1 cup strawberries with the sugar, mix the cornstarch into the water and add to the strawberries and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Cook and stir until mixture is thick and clear. (a drop of red food coloring may be used if it is not red enough)
- Cool to room temperature.
- Clean and remove the tops of the remaining berries, place on of the top chilled cheesecake.
- Pour the glaze over the berries and chill one hour before serving
Nutrition
Calories: 359kcalCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 5gFat: 25gSaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 120mgSodium: 165mgPotassium: 91mgSugar: 22gVitamin A: 910IUVitamin C: 11mgCalcium: 68mgIron: 0.6mg
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Alan says
I followed the recipe sans the strawberry topping. It came out really good. I used espresso flavor mascarpone and the flavor was noticable but not overpowering. I used honey cinnamon flavored graham crackers for the crust. Using a 9″ spring loaded baking pan. I lined the pan with parchment paper to make it easier to remove. Thanks for the recipe.
Jason says
Stumbled across this recipe, it was just what I needed. Tasted great, quite light, perfect for an after dinner dessert !
Unfortunatley my crust was not crunchy, it was soggy. I used shortbread cookies and blitzed them in the food processor. Next time I will try and cook the crust for longer and/or use less butter. Highly recommended thank you!
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks for the feedback Jason! I hope you find some more recipes to try on my blog
Carrie says
Hello! I just made this and used 2 cups of cookie crumbs as usually you only need 3 tablespoons of butter for a graham cracker crust! So when I melted the 6 tablespoons and tried to use only one cup crumbs it was too little to fill the pan and too oily so I knew there wasn’t enough cookie crumbs! Hope that helps!
shan says
hi chef dennis! i am from 3rd world country and yet i still made your yummy cheesecake with mascarpone (hard to find in our place). i even made this as a christmasgift (made 5) but the batter is a bit lumpu or there are little lumps when i poured it in the pan. can u give any idea or ways to prevent this from happening? iwhat happens if there are lumps? does it still taste good?
thank you so much and look forward to your reply
Lauren says
Hi – This cheesecake looks amazing and I can’t wait to make it. One question – in the directions for the strawberry glaze, I don’t see the part where you added the 1/2 cup sugar mentioned in the ingredient list. Do you mix that in with the strawberries before you puree them? Also, I wanted to make a sliced strawberry topping instead of a glaze over whole berries. Should I do that the same way as I would for the puree, just slicing them and cooking them with the sugar and cornstarch, then chilling it? Thanks for the help!!
Chef Dennis Littley says
hi Lauren
yes add the sugar in the puree process for the berries. Your not cooking the topping berries the berry puree is making the glaze, you’ll want to set the sliced berries on top of the cake in a decorative manor then spoon the glaze over the berries filling in all the gaps and making a nice layer of glaze over the slices.
Then chill the final product so the glaze sets up fully. Good luck!
LAUREN DILLON says
DEAR CHEF DENNIS , OH GOD HOW I Adore your recipes !!! I WOULD LITERALLY MARRY YOU FOR A HEAVENLY SLICE OF YOUR STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE !!! YEAH BUDDY !!! FANCY AND OH SO SWEEEEEEET !!!!!
Chef Dennis Littley says
thank you Laureen!
Ann says
Hey Dennis
I stumbled over your recipe looking for a creamy cheesecake for the upcoming Easter holidays and it looks like I’ll be trying your cake this weekend as it looks so yummy!
There is just one thing I was wondering about: Do you think I can seperate the eggs to use beaten egg whites and have an even creamier yet lighter filling?
Greetings from Germany
Ann
Chef D says
hi Ann
thanks so much for stopping by, that was one delicious cheesecake. As for separating the whites and beating them to get a lighter cheesecake, that will make the cheesecake lighter as for creamier, I’m not sure. I hadn’t thought of that before with my cheesecakes, so thanks for the inspiration!
let me know how your cheesecake comes out
Cheers
Dennis
Lola Velasco says
Es una tarta de queso riquísima y muy apetitosa ¡Me encanta!
¡Saludos!
cookingrookie says
I was just browsing on Pinterest and this cake immediately caught my eye – gorgeous colors! I bet it tastes even better than it looks….. oh, where is my slice?? 🙂