Strawberry Cheesecake

Working with an oven that lacks fan-force apparently makes a big difference. I learned this the last weekend, the hard way. Baking this strawberry cheesecake was tricky, I had to shift the tray up and down, checking on it constantly and still could not avoid a charred bottom from forming. I must say however the fact that the cheesecake was edible and still somewhat presentable was so fulfilling. I can say with confidence that this will be the first cheesecakes of many more to come, after all the adage goes 'practice makes perfect'!

Ingredients: 1 punnet strawberries, washed and sliced; 200g low-fat cottage cheese; 250 g light cream cheese; 2 tsp vanilla essence, ¾ cup caster sugar; 2 eggs; 1/3 cup semolina; ¼ cup self-raising flour; ¼ cup buttermilk

Method: Places strawberries on a single layer of absorbent paper. Preheat oven to moderately slow. Grease 21 cm spring form tin, line base with baking paper. Beat cheeses, essence and sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Stir in semolina and sifted flour, then buttermilk. Lightly fold in strawberry slices. Place tin on oven tray. Pour cheesecake mixture into prepared tin. Bake in moderately slow oven for about 45 minutes or until just firm. Cool in tin, and serve with dusted sifted icing sugar for a special touch.