Strawberry Couscous Cheesecake

21 May 2021

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This strawberry couscous cheesecake is a no-bake cheesecake with a combination of strawberries, white chocolate, couscous and cream cheese filling on a biscuit base – it is just sublime.

It’s a winner! Delicious, easy to make and a great dessert for the strawberry season when family or friends are coming around to visit.

If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and the other readers. And don’t forget to take a picture and tag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram. I love seeing what you come up with! 🙂

RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS

EASE: easy.
GREAT FOR: treat, lunch/dinner dessert, celebrations.
TASTE: a creamy white chocolate cream cheese filling, topped with fresh summer strawberries.
TEXTURE: a crisp base with a cheesecake cream studded with couscous pearls and topped with juicy strawberries.
QUANTITY: 12 slices (23cm / 9inch springform pan)
TIME: 60 minutes

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INGREDIENTS

For this cheesecake recipe all you need are these ingredients:

Plain biscuits or digestives
Unsalted butter
White chocolate
Double or heavy cream
Water
Couscous
Cream cheese
Pure vanilla extract or paste
Caster or granulated sugar
Fresh strawberries

– Vanilla recommendations: pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste or vanilla pods.

TIP:

I highly recommend adding a good pinch of salt to your cakes. It might seem counterproductive, but it’s not. Salt helps balance out the sweetness and richness. It also elevates the other ingredients, bringing out the best characteristics of any recipe. In a seemingly absurd or contradictory way, salt intensifies the mouth’s ability to taste sweetness. It is the sodium that sends signals to move glucose into the sweet taste receptor cells in our tongue, triggering the cells to register sweetness. The result is that salt not only alerts our ‘salt sensitivity’, but also our ‘sweet sensitive’ taste buds.
I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt for baking.

WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?

Strawberries: If you don’t want to use so many strawberries you can just dice some up and add them to the filling.

Alternative fruit: Try raspberries or blackberries instead of strawberries they make great alternatives.

If you experiment, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.

EQUIPMENT SUGGESTIONS

Breville Classic Combo Stand and Hand Mixer | 3.7 Litre Stainless Steel Bowl | Swivel Control, Whisk, Dough Hooks and Beaters

I like this model of electric hand mixer because it comes with a large stand, meaning you don’t have to always hold it.

Measuring Spoons Set, Magnetic Stainless Steel

These measuring spoons are really handy for getting the right measurements of those small ingredients. I also like the fact that they are magnetic, sticking together and narrow to fit into spice jars.

Springform Round Cake Pan/Tin, Loose Base, 23cm (9 inch)

These springform pans make removing cakes from them after baking a doddle. I personally tend to line them as often as possible to ensure that my cakes don’t break for added security.

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TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.

NUTRITION

Serving: one strawberry couscous cheesecake slice

Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, or the source of nutrition data.

I strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy.

I encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

STORAGE AND FREEZING

This cheesecake keeps well for up to 5 days in the fridge.

Freezing: I would only recommend freezing the base and filling of this cake, made with only diced strawberries inside. And finishing the top of the cake on the day of serving.

Strawberry Couscous Cheesecake

Preparation:30

Chilling time:30

Total:1

Servings: 12 servings

Tools you’ll need:

23cm / 9inch springform pan

A no-bake strawberry couscous cheesecake, delicious, easy to make and perfect for when friends or family are coming around to visit.

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INGREDIENTS LIST

Biscuit base

200 g digestive biscuits
100 g butter

Cheesecake filling

100 g white chocolate (chopped)
200 g double or heavy cream
80 g water (boiled)
80 g couscous
400 g full-fat cream cheese
1 tsp pure vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp of vanilla paste
2.5 tbsp caster sugar
200 g fresh strawberries (halved, see notes)
100 g fresh strawberries (diced, optional see notes)

Decoration

450 g fresh strawberries (see notes )

Preparation

Line a 23cm (10inch) springform pan with baking/parchment paper. To stop the cake from getting stuck around the edge and clingfilm or acetate around the edge.
Biscuit base: Melt the butter over a low heat.
Crush the biscuits using a bag and rolling pin or food processor.
Add the melted butter to the crushed biscuits and pour into the lined baking pan.
Evenly spread the biscuit crumbs around the bottom of the pan. Then using a drinking glass with a flat bottom, press down to compact the crumbs to make a nice base for your cake.
Place in the fridge to set while you make the filling.
Cheese filling: In a small heatproof bowl add the chopped white chocolate and half the cream. Set the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water to create a double boiler. Stir occasionally until all the chocolate is melted. Remove the bowl from the heat and set it aside.
Couscous: Boil the water and pour over the couscous in a small bowl. Stir and place a lid or plate over the top of the bowl to allow the couscous to steam.
Cream cheese: In a medium bowl whip the remaining cream until the whisk leaves a trail behind it. Add the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla and mix until well smooth and incorporated.
Check the couscous is cooked and use a fork to loosen it up. Add it to the cream cheese filling along with the white chocolate and cream mixture. Stir to incorporate.
Strawberry edging: Now you can either make the cake as I have with the strawberries around the middle or simple dice and add them to the cheese filling.
If you are going to make the cake as I have with the strawberries in the middle, cut the tops of the strawberries then cut them in half and place them neatly around the biscuit base.
Pour half the filling into the middle of the pan and using the back of a spoon spread it around and between the strawberries.
Add 100 g of diced strawberries to the remaining filling and then add this to the centre of the cake, evening it out. (Leave this out if you diced all the strawberries for the centre.)
Place in the refrigerator while you prepare the strawberries for decoration.
Decide if you want to use strawberries sliced or in halves and place them in a circular pattern around the outside first and then working in towards the centre.
Finally, I added 3 whole strawberries in the middle to complete the decoration.

Notes & Tips

Filling

Instead of halving the strawberries around the middle of the cake, an easier option is to dice the strawberries and mix them into the filling.

Decoration

I made this cake with lots of strawberries cut in half from the garden. If you don’t have so many you can slice the strawberries instead to make them go further.