One of my favorite foods

Cheesecake!!

I have a soft spot in my little heart for cheesecake. I love the way it tastes and the texture of it and I love biting into it's rich cheesy goodness! Yup, cheesecake and I go way back. At my mom and step-dad's reception, way back in 1996, they had cheesecake as their wedding cake. It wasn't just any old cheesecake, it was made from a local baker who made the best cheesecakes around. I was just 11 years old and when I took a bite of that chocolate chip cheesecake, and I knew I'd found something special. Sadly, the local baker closed up his personal shop, so eating his cheesecake was no longer an option. I had forgotten about that particular cheesecake after a number of years, but then, I found out that this baker still baked his cheesecakes, but he delivered his baked goods to other restaurants. I now know of three local establishments that sell his desserts and cheesecake. In fact, as a birthday present, my husband took me out to a diner that sells his scrumptious desserts. I ordered the grasshopper cheesecake- mint cheesecake with chocolate chips, it was very good! So, being that I am so infatuated with cheesecake, you might think that I am a wonderful cheesecake baker and bake them all the time! Well, actually, no, I don't. I have only made five cheesecakes in my life, three of which were this week. I made two pumpkin pie spice cheesecakes (recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart) and one raspberry cheesecake with a chocolate cookie crust (recipe courtesy of a local baker whose recipe was featured in a local supermarket's bimonthly magazine). Here is the pumpkin pie spice cheesecake (if you have a penchant for desserts that are spiced with ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg, such as myself, then this is a cake for you!):



And here is the raspberry cheesecake:



I am disappointed in both, actually. The pumpkin cheesecake was not properly cooled before it was shoved into the refrigerator with plastic on top, so it has lighter water spots on it. I am not happy with the raspberry cheesecake because it DOES NOT look like the picture in the magazine. I had been priding myself in the fact that every time(3 times) I have made the pumpkin pie spice cheesecake (except for that first time when I forgot to add the two tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice!!) it has turned out almost perfect. So, this fourth time of making it, I was a little disappointed that the cracks were bigger on top and that I didn't have time to cool it properly. The raspberry cheesecake is horribly cracked and does not have as nice of a pink hue that the cake in the magazine does. But, this is all okay. Baking is one of my creative outlets, so I know that just because something does not come out well the first time, does not mean that I can't master it and get it perfect. I might not handle it very well at first but I think I am getting better...just ask my hubby about my outbursts when I first started making pie crusts.....or don't.

So, what desserts do you enjoy eating, or baking?