Cheesecake in Paradise

Last week I had friends over for dinner and was so happy with how my dessert turned out, I had to share it with you. Even though I’m a classically trained pastry chef, it never ceases to amaze me when eggs, sugar, flour and butter mix together and become something else entirely.

I’ve been making cheesecakes at work that consistently fall short- they crack on the surface, or leak out the pan when baking, or the center is too soft when the top turns out just perfect.

That’s why I am delighted with this cheesecake recipe from joyofbaking.com. I scaled down the recipe since I only had a pound and a half of cream cheese. This made the cake much flatter and cooked faster, but it also made a smoother texture than the dense cheesecakes I’m used to. The site also offers lots of tips on how to prevent those common cheesecake pitfalls.

I served it with blood orange sauce- just juice reduced to 50 percent, no sugar added. Here are pics before it was devoured in one sitting.

Added with blood orange sauce. Can I rename it Brooklyn Cheesecake?

Go here for the recipe. This may be the only cheesecake I make from now on.