#6 : The Strawberry Jelly Cheesecake

This cheesecake got me insomniac last night. Well I've been having troubles trying to sleep these past few days and this cake made it worse! Ugh. The recipe I used was pretty much the same with the one I used for #2 : Oreo Cheesecake .
I made this cake while watching the MTV VMA 09. Green Day won! YEAY! I was happy. Especially when the cheese cream started to set and when I successfully cut the strawberry into heart-shaped pieces. I was really happy.

But then.......
Time to make the jelly layer. First mistake: I got it wrong by putting two cups of boiling water. Damn you instructions on the back of the jelly box! It should be one cup of boiling water and another cup for cold water. I was nervous. My sis told me to relax. I put the jelly water into the fridge hoping to cool it down. But I was eager to pour the jelly on to the cheese layer. So I did it. I was like "OMG!" when I saw the cheese layer started to float into the jelly layer. I was totally freaking out. But my sis said it was okay. So a little bit of the cheese was floating in the jelly. So what? I put it into the fridge.

Three minutes later, I checked on it. I had another "OMG" moment again. I was using this new square springform pan, and the jelly water started to leak! Shit! But again, my sis told me it was okay. How was it going to be okay when it leaked? @_@ But I let it be that way. I was afraid if I did something to it, it would make it worse.

4am and I was still awake, checking on the fridge every half an hour hoping for the jelly to set. And finally it set! I wonder why it took that long time to set. I read in some blogs that usually it took 15 minutes! Or 2 hours top! @_@ Finally I could sleep.....

8am I was awake. I couldn't wait to try it! To my surprise, the jelly was not as hard as I thought it would be! So it was really hard to cut it neatly. It was a mess :( :( But it tasted quite okay. But not good though. My sister said it looked good but she hates strawberries. Arrghhh!

Anyway here's the recipe (taken from Happy Home Baking again):

Strawberry Jelly Cheesecake

Ingredients:
base:
300g digestive biscuits
140g melted butter

filling:
250g cream cheese, soften at room temperature
50g icing sugar
1 tablespoon gelatin powder
40ml boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 box Jelly crystal (strawberry flavour)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup cold water
Some strawberries, cut into heart shapes

Method:
1. Mix biscuit crumbs & melted butter together and press firmly with the help of a spoon onto the base of a 18cm cake tin. (I used the square springform pan). Chill for 30 minutes.
2. Place gelatin powder and boiling water in a bowl. Heat a pot filled with some water until just simmering and place the bowl inside the pot. Dissolve gelatin and boiling water in the bowl. Keep warm.
3. With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese , icing sugar and vanilla essence until smooth & creamy. Blend in gelatin solution and mix well.
4. Pour the cheese mixture into the cake tin. Layer the strawberries on the cheese mixture. Chill for at least 3 to 4 hours.
5. Dissolve the jelly crystal in the cup of boiling water, followed by the cold water. Pour the jelly on the cheese mixture. Let it set before removing from the cake tin.

USEFUL TIPS : - when pouring the jelly into the cheese layer, aim to the strawberry to reduce the breaking parts of the cheese.