A CHEAP AND CHEERFUL CHEESCAKE, BUT IT'S 'BERRY' LOW IN FRUIT! (Ross Strawberry Cheesecake 370 gram)

Member Name: totalserenity

Product:	Ross Strawberry Cheesecake 370 gram
Date:	20/04/09 (319 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: HANDY TO HAVE IN THE FREEZER IF YOU NEED A DESSERT FOR A FEW PEOPLE WITHOUT THE HASSLE OF MAKING ONE

Disadvantages: NOT A GREAT QUALITY PRODUCT, THE FRUIT IS FRUGAL AND THE SUGAR'S TOO SWEET!

Right it's time for a 'cheap and cheerful' cheesecake write up about an established product that yours truly just last week suggested to dooyoo as a new subject to review...

Surprisingly made by 'H.J.Heinz' - this 'Ross' brand name 370 gram 'Strawberry Cheesecake', 99p for a small dinner plate-sized frozen dessert that is technically supposed to serve six.

However, here in totalserenity's cavernous 'real world' portion sizes this will serve four troglodytes quite comfortably, thank you very much! (Squirty cream as a standard extra, but 'somehow' seems to miss the Weight Watcher's 'Tracker' Radar...Ahem!)

So here we have a pretty-in-pink square recyclable cardboard box, with a delicious-looking but quite slender in depth, photo of a lusciously drizzled in fruity sauced, creamy, crunchy-based, but quite calorific sweet.
There are several fresh strawberries just to one side, as an extra enticement as to how lovely the contents of the container should actually be.
With the RRP of a ridiculously inexpensive 99p, showing in the bottom left hand corner of the front illustration - along with the BBE date stamped in the bottom left hand side of the packaging.

My particular one has a very good future BBE date of Jul 2010; not that I would keep a dessert with dairy content in the freezer for that long anyway, for obvious reasons.

On the back we find a description of the sweet treat stating it is: 'A combination of crunchy biscuit base, cheesecake filling and a fruity topping with slices of strawberry' (Note the 'singular' use of the last word, as we will come back to that later...Oh yes!).

Instructions are given to defrost the dessert at room temp for 2-2&1/2 hours, by lifting the product from it's neat foil container, and standing on a serving plate (don't worry, dooyoo'ers, you can lick any residue off the plate from the sticky strawberry sauce later when no-one is looking!).

The contents include gluten, wheat, egg, milk, plus may contain traces of nuts and Soya...not much leeway given there then for any allergy suffers!

The bad news, as with all puds of this nature, are the high calorie/fat contents so let's get the grim readings over with as quickly and painlessly as possible, hmm?
Per 100 gram it is 282 calories, accompanied by a whopping 22.8 grams of sugar; plus 12.5 grams of fat - including saturates of 4.5 grams in total.

The 'good' news, if any, is the 0.3 gram salt content. Nuff said.

There is a 'Ross Guarantee' regarding the cheesecake reaching the consumer in perfect condition (well it may arrive that way, but the carnage-like consumed aftermath is no pretty sight, I can tell you!), in addition to printing a 'Freephone' Careline number in case of any queries (Again, later down the review...!).

Soooo, time to get jiggy with the actual taste of this scrumdiddlyumptious goody then - my favourite bit of reviewing!

Well, as I mentioned earlier it is rather a slender offering as far as the depth of the cheesecake goes, probably 1inch - but we have to remember the whole, fattening concoction is less than a quid!

The 'Sweet meal' golden biscuit base (equalling 9% of this particular foodstuff's total ingredients), is palatable with its crunchy texture, but alas, incredibly sweet - even for me, as you can almost hear the raw sugar content crunching beneath your teeth!
Next comes the middle section which is light cream in colour, and quite tasty in natural
flavour. Plus I found it to be unexpectedly rich in its 'cheesiness' due to a 6% skimmed milk soft cheese content; including yogurt for added body and thickness to the smooth, tasty texture.

Topped off with a pleasant, naturally fruity, quite runny, sticky red sauce - which is where the aforementioned 'single' strawberry comes in...because 'Cor blimey' the manufacturer's weren't kidding!
To say the picture is a tad generous with its fruity slices is the understatement of 2009, dear readers - for sightings of the fabled, elusive 'Loch Ness Monster', are more common than the amount of strawberry slivers found within this syrupy concentrate!

Which of course leads me nicely to the 'Freefone' number that I again, mentioned earlier...Perhaps a quick call to find out what's happened to the other pieces of fruit enroute from the factory to the shop?

Did 'the' individual strawberries make a run for it like the 'Ribena' berries do in the adverts?!

I am not joking when I say there must literally be 'one' juicy red fruit sliced ridiculously thinly, and then scattered around the top.

Yes, yes, yes, I know what some of you are going to say: 'You get what you pay for Rebecca', and you are quite right!

Nevertheless, as a backup emergency-cheap-frozen make-do-and-mend option for a quick after dinner sugar buzz, then it is okay this dessert from Ross, you know.

And all in all, it's not a bad tasting item, if you like this sort of thing.

Any remainder left over can be kept safely in the fridge for a good 24 hours, just wrap it in Clingfilm to preserve its freshness...and to prevent that pesky last micro-sliver surreptitiously slipping off the plate and sliding into 'strawberry oblivion' with the rest of its absent friends...

Summary: I WOULD GIVE THIS TWO AND A HALF STARS IF POSSIBLE. THERE ARE BETTER CHEESECAKE OPTIONS OUT THERE.