Curd cheese rather than cream cheese goes into this Hairy Bikers vodka strawberry cheesecake, which is what makes it Polish. And it serves 12 at about 590 calories a slice, from BBC Food, over nearly fourteen hours.
BBC billed the Poland episode as a New York style cheesecake given a Polish twist, and that is the recipe here. So the vodka does work an ordinary soak never would, because it draws juice out of the strawberries before they go in.
Drain the strawberries properly and keep every drop of that pink vodka juice, because it is the glaze. And wet fruit folded straight in will loosen the filling, so the sieve matters more than it looks.
Hairy Bikers Vodka Strawberry Cheesecake Recipe
Description
Strawberries sit in sweetened vodka for four hours until they give up their juice. Then they are drained and folded through a curd cheese filling that bakes in a water bath. And the reserved juice is warmed with strawberry jam into a glaze brushed over the cooled top.
Ingredients
For the vodka strawberries
For the base
For the filling
To finish
Instructions
- Soak the strawberries: pour 100ml vodka into a large bowl, then stir in 1 tbsp caster sugar and 1 tsp vanilla bean paste. Then add 400g quartered strawberries, pricked all over with a fork, and leave them for four hours.
- Heat the oven: set it to 180C fan 160C, then butter a deep 23cm springform tin generously.
- Bake the base: blitz 300g digestives to crumbs, then mix in a pinch of salt, ½ tsp cinnamon and 150g melted butter. Then pack it evenly into the tin and bake for 10 minutes before leaving it to cool.
- Mix the filling: beat 500g curd cheese with 375ml double cream, then add the juice and zest of 1 lemon. Then beat in 200g caster sugar, 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, 50g cornflour and 5 eggs until smooth.
- Drain and fold: tip the strawberries into a sieve set over a bowl, keeping every drop of the pink juice. Then fold the drained strawberries through the filling and pour it over the cooled base.
- Bake in a water bath: wrap the outside of the tin in two layers of foil, then stand it in a deep roasting tin. Then pour in boiling water to come 2cm up the sides and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, until browned and just solid.
- Cool it down: leave the cheesecake to cool completely, preferably overnight, before going anywhere near the glaze.
- Glaze and finish: warm 100g strawberry jam in a pan, then stir in half the reserved vodka juice and leave it to cool. Then brush it over the top and press 200g halved strawberries cut side down into it, before chilling until you serve it with whipped cream.
FAQs
Where do I buy curd cheese, and can I use cream cheese instead?
Tesco and Sainsbury’s both stock it under Polish dairy brands like Łowicz and Mlekpol, usually in 250g tubs. Because you need 500g, that is two tubs, and BBC’s note about large supermarkets still holds. So cream cheese will work at a push, though it sets firmer and loses the mild sourness that makes it taste Polish.
Is this the Polish cheesecake from their Poland episode?
It is, and the episode was Hairy Bikers Northern Exposure on BBC Two, filmed in Poland. Because a Polish baked cheesecake is traditionally built on twaróg, a curd cheese, the swap from cream cheese is what earns the name. So this sits closer to a sernik than anything else they baked, though the vodka strawberries are their own addition.
Why does it bake at 180C when most cheesecakes go lower?
BBC keeps the oven at 180C fan 160C for the full hour and fifteen, which is high for a baked cheesecake. Because 50g of cornflour and a water bath hold the set together, the top is meant to brown rather than stay pale. So compare it with their lemon and prune cheesecake in Brilliant Bakes, which drops to 120C fan 100C for the same water bath.
How long does it actually take?
BBC lists prep as over two hours, which does not cover the four hours the strawberries need in the vodka first. Because it then wants to cool completely and preferably overnight, the honest answer is closer to fourteen hours. So plan it a day ahead, or make their fridge-set apple cheesecake when there is no time to bake.
How well does it keep?
Three days covered in the fridge is the realistic limit, because the glazed strawberries weep and dull after that. And the base softens from day two, so freezing it whole is not worth the texture you lose. So a spare punnet works in their strawberry and black pepper scones, while their easy tarte tatin is the other make-ahead pudding here.
