• First, measure out your cream cheese into a medium bowl and set side to come to room temperature.
• Break up the white chocolate into individual pieces and melt in the microwave in 20 second increments until smooth. Set aside to cool.
  
• Finely chop the fresh strawberries.
  
• Place in a medium bowl and add 100g icing sugar, stirring the mixture until the strawberries are well coated in the sugar. Set aside to macerate for 25-30 minutes.
  
• It will look quite watery but don't worry, you will sieve this mixture once macerated.
  
• Pulse the digestive biscuits/Graham crackers in a food processor. If you don't have a food processor, place the biscuits/crackers in a large ziplock/sandwich bag and crush them with the end of a rolling pin. Use either method until you have fine crumbs.
  
• Melt the butter in the microwave in 20 second increments.
• Whisk the biscuit crumbs and light brown sugar togther in a medium bowl.
  
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• Add the butter to this mixture and stir with a spatula until well combined.
  
• Pour this mixture into your 20cm/8" springform tin and press down really firmly to pack the crumbs as tightly as possible. This will create a strong biscuit base! I use the base of a glass to press down on the mixture to make sure it's tightly packed.
  
• Place your springform tin in your fridge to chill while you make the cheesecake filling.
• Pour the cold double cream into the bowl of your stand mixer or medium/large bowl if using a hand whisk. Whisk the cream on high (8-10 in a KitchenAid mixer) until the cream is whipped up really thick. This takes about 1 minute on my KitchenAid mixer.

  It's crucial to make sure it's fully whipped and thick here as this will help to create a firm cheesecake!
  
• Transfer the whipped cream to a smaller bowl and set aside. You can now use this same large bowl for the next step; don't worry about cleaning it.
• Sieve the chopped strawberries to drain the excess strawberry juice.
  
• Try to get as much liquid out as this stage by pressing gently on the strawberries in the sieve with the back of a spoon.

  This is important as too much strawberry juice in the cheesecake mixture will prevent it from setting firmly!
  
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• To this large bowl add the room temperature cream cheese, sifted icing sugar, melted white chocolate and chopped, sieved strawberries. Swap your whisk attachment for your beater attachment and beat on medium (5-6 KitchenAid) for around 30 seconds until smooth and combined.
  
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• Now using a spatula or wooden spoon, gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture, as gently as possible. Continue until fully incorporated.
  
• The mixture will be quite thick so that your spatula should be able to stand upright in the mixture.
  
• Spread this cheesecake mixture into your springform pan that's been chilling in the fridge. Level the top as evenly as possible. The mixture will go almost to the very top of the pan.
  
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• Place the pan back in the fridge to chill for at least 12 hours, ideally 24 hours.

Decorating the finished cheesecake

• Once set, carefully release the springform pan and place the cheesecake carefully onto your serving plate. It helps to gently run a knife along the edge of the cheesecake crust to help slide it from the cake pan base.
• I've gone around the sides and top of the cheesecake with a palette knife (or you could use a normal knife) to smooth it out. I think this gives a nicer finish.
  
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• If you want to pipe cream on top, whip 200ml of double cream until just thick enough to be pipeable, but not over-whipped. On my KitchenAid stand mixer, I whisk the cream on high (10) for just under 1 minute, then change to slow (2) to watch it more carefully.

  If you want to put strawberries on top like in my photos, it needs to be relatively thick to hold the weight of the strawberries.
• Place the whipped cream into a piping bag with your choice of piping tip (I used a star tip here) and pipe swirls around the top.
  
• Store in the fridge. Best eaten within 3 days.