You will need three differently sized tins. Dip the strawberries on the day you plan to eat the cake, as they do not do well in the fridge.
Method
- To make the base: you will need three round baking tins of 23cm, 20cm, 15cm diameter approximately.
- Process or crush biscuits finely and add the melted butter. Mix to combine, adding a bit of cold milk if you need to hold it together. Press the crumbs into the three baking dishes — add 250g to the 23cm tin; 150g to the 20cm tin and 115g to the 15cm tin.
- Heat oven to 160°C and prepare the filling: soak the vanilla pod in warm water to soften, then scrape out the grains with a sharp knife. Beat the cheese and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat well. Spoon the topping onto the bases and bake for 45 minutes.
- Cool then refrigerate ideally overnight or at least for a few hours, so they set firmly.
- To decorate: Reserve a few strawberries and keep the stalks on — they will be for decoration. Hull the rest.
- Wash and dry the strawberries well with kitchen towel. Melt the three chocolates separately.
- Use a cocktail stick per strawberry to dip it into the chocolate then ‘plant’ it in the polystyrene half dome to set. If you do not have a dome, lay the dipped strawberries gently on baking paper. When they have set you can drizzle with another colour of chocolate if you like.
- To assemble the cake, place the medium cake on top of the large one and the small one on top of the medium.
- Decorate with the strawberries – as pictured — and eat the same day.