Conor Popetests five brands of strawberry cheesecake
Leon Strawberry Cheesecake, €4 for 100g, €40 per kg
Highs: This small, freshly made offering comes in a plastic cup - which is prone to cracking, incidentally. It is best described as an upside-down cheesecake as the biscuit, er, base, sits on the top. It is perfectly satisfying while leaving you wanting a little bit more. The cheese layer is light, more like a mousse than a cheesecake. It is incredibly creamy and has a strong, fresh vanilla flavour. It is not excessively sweet, the sweetness of the cream being offset by pieces of real, tangy fruit.
Lows: The biscuity topping is a little on the soft (dare we say soggy) side. Availability is also a problem as they will only be found in a handful of Leon cafes dotted throughout Dublin city centre. And buying your cheesecake in a fancy cafe as opposed to a supermarket does nothing for the price.
Verdict: An occasional treat
Star rating: ****
Dale Farm 3 Strawberry Cheesecakes, €2.99 for 300g, €10 per kg
Highs: The nicest thing we can think of to say about these mini-cheesecakes is that the biscuit base is not really that bad and the picture on the box makes them look appealing.
Lows: We didn't think it would be possible to make a bad cheesecake but we were wrong. The topping tastes like cheap and nasty strawberry jam, and its heavily processed and all-too-lingering flavour overpowers everything else. They are incredibly sweet and the worryingly long ingredient list contains 10 E-numbers plus hydrogenated vegetable oil. While it is made with cream cheese, it doesn't taste in the slightest bit fresh.
Verdict: Horrible
Star rating: *
Glenilen Farm Strawberry Cheesecake, €6.95 for 700g, €9.92 per kg
Highs: This really is the business. It was made in Drimoleague, Co Cork and has a wonderfully simple ingredient list with no artificial additives, colourings or flavourings. We were also reassured to learn that it was made with milk from "happy and contented cows" on the manufacturer's own dairy farm. The base is nice and crunchy and the very creamy topping, made with fromage frais and fresh cream, is wonderfully light and far too easy to eat. It can be frozen, although the manufacturer assures us it is "nicer fresh". While it is certainly not cheap, its high quality makes it very good value.
Lows: It might be difficult to track down - we found it on the shelves of Fallon and Byrne on Dublin's Wicklow St.
Verdict: Lovely
Star rating: *****
Tesco Finest Strawberry Cheesecake, €6.99 for 680g, €10.27 per kg
Highs: This very traditional-tasting and textured cheesecake is topped with large pieces of strawberry swimming in a gooey compote. There are flecks of real vanilla pods in the creamy centre which is made with full fat soft cheese and double cream. The flecks are not just there for show and give these a nice flavour. The ingredient list is uncomplicated, if extremely heavy sounding.
Lows: There is no getting away from the fact that this is a very heavy dessert, and a smallish slice will make up 66 per cent of your GDA of saturated fats. The biscuit base was a bit on the flaky side and quite dry, although that is something we'd have no problem living with.
Verdict: Very good
Star rating: ****
MS Strawberry and Clotted Cream Cheesecake, €6.49 for 680g, €9.54 for 700g
Highs: This fairly straightforward cheesecake has been made to seem that little bit more special through the addition of clotted rather than normal cream. The nicest thing about it, however, is the shortbread base, which was light and fresh-tasting and pleasingly crunchy. The whole pieces of fresh strawberry mixed through the cream cheese topping are good and the topping itself was surprisingly light. It is also surprisingly cheap.
Lows: We weren't that mad about the gelatinous strawberry topping as we reckoned it was just a little processed, which took away from an otherwise fresh-tasting product.
Verdict: Hard to fault
Star rating: ****
