This strawberry cheesecake is made using evaporated milk but also has hints of lemon and mint. I made this in recognition of Festa Frawli and family childhood memories. Festa Frawli is a great festival being celebrated this weekend in Mgarr. A town in Malta where my mum’s family is from.
I have never been to Festa Frawli but I sure would love to one day. Mgarr is known to have the best strawberries in Malta and I can honestly say they are amazing. They are incredibly sweet. Clearly the farmers (including my family) are doing something right!
I have memories of my nanna from Bidnija in Malta giving me a bowl of strawberries. She also added a few spoon fulls of sugar. I haven’t forgotten how wonderful that bowl of strawberries tasted.
My uncle also took me once to the Markets early in the morning in Malta and I remember so many strawberries in green crates being sold. It was a wonderful sight. I just loved being at fruit and vegetable markets and I still do. One of my many happy memories as a young girl was going to Flemington Markets in Sydney with my dad in his Black dodge truck. It was always full of vegetables ready to be sold at his stand. The bacon and egg sandwiches for breakfast from the cafe were a real treat too. Nowadays I love going to local markets in London but I haven’t been to a wholesale market in a long time.
A traditional Maltese way of eating strawberries is something my cousins have shared with me. It is eating them mashed with evaporated tinned milk. Something I was not familiar with until recently but my cousins recall having this all the time as children. I do however recall having evaporated tinned milk at home as a young child and I did now and again love having it with cereal. My parents loved having evaporated milk with tea and I am sure this was a Maltese thing too. My dad also took a small tin of evaporated milk with him every time he went fishing. Just to drink with his tea which was in his flask.
So, I decided to make my cheesecake using tinned evaporated milk to keep some of the tradition. I originally made it with an almond base and scented it with mint and lemon. It ended up being a frozen cheesecake because to be perfectly honest it didn’t set properly. I used reduced fat cream cheese, I did not whisk the evaporated milk properly, I blended the strawberries which made consistency of the mixture too runny and because I did not use enough gelatin.
My second attempt has resulted in a beautiful strawberry cheesecake with evaporated milk. I also changed the base and used a bought sponge cake. You could change this to using 300 grams of digestive biscuits with 150 grams butter but I do prefer using sponge cake. It is a lighter texture and since the cheesecake is lighter in nature too, it goes perfectly with the sponge layer at the bottom. The other changes I made was to chop the strawberries instead of blending them, use full fat cream cheese and increase my quantity of gelatin to help in the setting process. You can also top it with chopped strawberries, lemon zest and some mint leaves. Another option which I prefer is to mash some strawberries with any leftover evaporated milk and spread on top once set. If you want to change the cheesecake slightly you could add 2 passionfruit pulps to the mixture, change the base or use other fruit instead such as mango or pineapple.
If you are at Festa Frawli enjoy all the lovely strawberry inspired dishes. From strawberry pastizzi, cakes, spring rolls, cannoli, fritters and the list goes on, you are sure to find something that suits your taste buds! Not only is Festa Frawli about the food, it is also a time where everyone from the village and the rest of the country come together to socialise and enjoy the wonderful atmosphere.
To all my family and friends in Malta, enjoy the festa for me. I really do feel like I am missing out on a special day.
- 4 gelatin sheets
- cold water
- 200ml evaporated milk frozen for two hours
- 150 grams sponge cake to line a 23 cm round cake tin
- 600 grams cream cheese
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
- 250 grams chopped strawberries
- 2 to 4 tablespoons caster sugar
- 8 mint leaves finely chopped
- 100 grams chopped strawberries to decorate
- Place gelatin sheets in cold water for about ten minutes.
- On a stove top warm 100 ml evaporated milk (don't boil). Add in the gelatin sheets which have had the water removed. Mix well.
- In a bowl mix by hand the cream cheese and sugar. I only use two tablespoons but taste and add more if you prefer. Remember the lemon juice and strawberries will also sweeten the mixture.
- Add in the lemon zest and juice, the chopped strawberries and mint.
- Mix in the gelatin evaporated milk mixture. Place in the fridge.
- In a cake tin line the base with the sponge cake.
- Take 200 ml of the semi frozen evaporated milk and whisk with a electric beater. The evaporated milk should froth up in about ten minutes to double in size.
- Fold this into the cream cheese mixture. The mixture should be whipped cream in thickness.
- Pour this into the cake tin. Let set overnight.
- Serve with chopped strawberries to decorate but if you have any evaporated milk left over you can also mash this with the strawberries. You can also add a little sugar too.
- Decorate further with mint leaves and lemon zest.
