3 drops pure lemon extract (substitute: fresh lemon juice drops)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Unsalted butter to grease pan
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
FOR CREAM CHEESE FILLING:
4 8-ounce packages regular cream cheese (not light Neufchatel cream cheese), at room temperature
1⅔ cups sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs
¾ cup heavy whipping cream
FOR FRESH STRAWBERRY TOPPING:
About 8 -10 ripe strawberries
1 cup strawberry jelly (I used ¾ cup of reduced sugar organic strawberry preserves from Trader Joes)
½ cup apricot preserves (I used ¼ cup of reduced sugar organic apricot preserves, also from Trader Joes)
Instructions
FOR CAKE:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Generously butter a 9-inch springform pan. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
Beat the egg yolks together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high for 3 minutes. Then, with the mixer still running, gradually add the ⅓ cup of sugar and continue beating until thick light-yellow ribbons form in the bowl, about 5 minutes more. Beat in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
NOTE: For some reason I used the electric hand mixer, but I recommend using a stand mixer.
Sift the flour mixture over the batter and stir it in by hand until no more white flecks appear. Then blend in the melted butter.
In a clean bowl, using clean dry beaters, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar together on high until frothy. Gradually add the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form (the whites should stand up in stiff peaks, but not be dry).
Stir about ⅓ cup of the whites into the batter, then gently fold in the remaining whites (don't worry if a few white specks remain).
Gently spoon the batter into the pan. Bake the cake just until the center of the cake springs back when lightly touched for about 10 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack. Do not remove the cake from the pan. Set aside while you make the cream cheese filling.
NOTE: I baked the sponge cake for about 20 minutes because it didn't "spring back" when touched. It looked raw and very undercooked. This recipe for the sponge cake doesn't produce a thin layer of cake, but rather a thick, ½ inch layer of cake.
FOR FILLING:
Place one 8-ounce package of the cream cheese, ⅓ cup of the sugar, and the cornstarch in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low until creamy, about 3 mintues, then beat in the remaining 3 packages of cream cheese.
Increase the mixer speed to high and beat in the remaining 1½ cups of the sugar, then beat in the vanilla and heavy cream. Blend in the eggs, one at a time, beating the bating only until completely blended. Be careful not to overmix the batter.
Gently spoon the cheese filling on top of the baked sponge cake layer. Place the springform pan in a largeshallow pan containing hot water that comes about 1 inch up the sides of the pan. Bake the cheesecake until the center barely jiggles when you shake the pan, about 1 hour. NOTE: The cheesecake will rise because of the eggs and should look somewhat firm and cooked. If you shake the pan and it jiggles like it's still raw in the center, continue to bake it. I ended-up baking this cheesecake for an
additional 20 to 30 minutes in order to get it cooked through. The cheesecake will fall as it cools.
Leave the cheesecake in the springform pan and cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Then cover the cake with plastic wrap, making sure that the wrap doesn't touch the top of the cheesecake, and refrigerate until it's completely cold, at least 4 hours or overnight.
When you're ready to serve the cheesecake, remove the springform pan and slide the cake off of the bottom of the pan onto a serving plate. I left the cake on the removable pan bottom when I served it. If you're going to garnish it with strawberries, simply leave the cheesecake in the spring form pan until you've decorated it and it's ready to serve. It's easier to handle the cheesecake if it remains in the pan until it's ready to serve. If any cake is left over, cover it with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.
FOR FRESH STRAWBERRY TOPPING:
Wash strawberries then pat them dry with paper towels. Slice strawberries lengthwise, then starting at the outside edge of the cheesecake, arrange the slices flat, in rows, with ends pointing toward the center of the cake. Continue to work towards the center until the until the top of the cake is completely covered by strawberries.
NOTE: The original Junior's recipe calls for whole, hulled strawberries, but given how challenging it is to slice cake with whole strawberries on top, I opted to slice the strawberries instead.
Melt the strawberry jelly and apricot preserves together in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Strain and drizzle the warm jelly over the berries.
NOTE: The cheesecake would have been just fine without the preserves drizzled on top of the sliced strawberries, if you want to skip this step entirely. The sauce, likely because I used strawberry preserves instead of jelly, was thick and a little globby. There is also a macaroon crunch recipe included with the original Junior's strawberry cheesecake recipe but I omitted this.
Refrigerate the cake until it's completely cold, at least 4 hours or overnight. Remove the cake from the pan and serve it chilled. Wrap any leftover cake in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.
Notes
Recipe compliments of Junior's.
Recipe by Bebe Love Okazu at https://bebeloveokazu.com/2011/05/16/strawberry-cheesecake/