Jam Jar Cheesecake – What Jessica Baked Next

Strawberry Lemon Cheesecake in a jar! Layers of buttery biscuit crumble, creamy lemon vanilla cheesecake filling, strawberries and cream. The perfect summer sharing dessert!

I was invited along with 14 other bloggers to create a foodie concoction using the humble jam jar. The Jam J-Art Challenge is to make food look good in a jam jar! I love layered desserts and one of my favourite recipes in a jar or glass is cheesecake. These Strawberry & Lemon Cheesecake in a Jar are my new favourite layered dessert!

And as the strawberries are in season and at their best, I thought I would make a summer-style cheesecake. My cheesecake is layers of buttery biscuit crumble, creamy lemon vanilla cheesecake filling, a small layer of chopped strawberries, whipped cream and strawberries. The dessert itself is light, fresh and one of my favourite summer recipes to date. I’m new to layered desserts, I’m not the best at decorating these kind of desserts, so this challenge was great for me!

These pots are great for sharing (but I don’t usually like doing that when there’s cheesecake involved!). It’s new favourite way to serve homemade cheesecake and I will definitely be making these throughout the summer!

I made a few cheesecakes in smaller jars with some of the leftover cheesecake mix. To be honest, the recipe as well as filling one large jar (as pictured), will fill a few extra smallish jars too!

This dessert links in with this great campaign about desserts that have inspired our sweet treats today – ‘Desserts Through the Decades’. The campaign consists of an infographic and accompanying article, tracing the desserts that were once all the rage, both conventional and bizarre, from the 1910s to the present day. I think it’s a great campaign because you get to see all the different desserts, anything from the classic Victoria sponge cake, eton mess, to the cronut! You can click here to read more!

Makes enough to fill a 1L Kilner jar + approx. 1-2 small extra jars

Ingredients –

Biscuit Crumble –

12 digestive biscuits, broken into small pieces

55g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Lemon Cheesecake Layer –

500g cream cheese, softened at room temperature

85g (3/4 cup) icing sugar, sifted

300ml double cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tbsp lemon juice

200g strawberries, hulled and cut into bitesize pieces

Toppings –

Whipped cream

Strawberries

Method –

1. To make the biscuit crumble: Crush the biscuit pieces in a food processor or a ziplock bag with a rolling pin until fine. Mix through the butter. Set aside, whilst you make the filling.

2. To make the cheesecake filling: Mix the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and juice in a bowl. Whip the cream and then fold into the cream cheese mix.

3. To layer the cheesecake: Take approx. half the biscuit crumbs and sprinkle in the bottom of the jar. Follow by a layer of the cheesecake mix. Then top with the chopped strawberries. Top with another layer of cheesecake mix. Then scatter over some extra biscuit crumbs. Top with whipped cream and a strawberry for decoration.

4. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve!