Monday, January 24, 2011

Mascarpone Cheesecake with Fresh Strawberry Drizzle

I FINALLY found Mascarpone cheese in Dubai! Can I get a Hallelujah?! 

All thanks to Wajiha (@wajihasaid) who pointed out that she always found some in Carrefour. I searched and asked around and surely, I found tubs full of them. Unfortunately they only had one brand available but thankfully, it tastes pretty good!




 

I had initially used Tyler Florence's recipe for The Ultimate Cheesecake. I used mascarpone cheese instead of cream cheese and omitted the sour cream. That was a big mistake. It might seem obvious but I had no previous experience with mascarpone and never realized what a big difference it had in texture compared to cream cheese.

The recipe should yield a good thick, creamy batter that will bake nice and fluffy in the oven after 45 minutes. But all I got was a liquid mixture. I decided to ignore it and just go for it. 45 minutes later, all I see is the same liquid mixture which is just slightly baked on the sides. I thought, "Alrighty... Maybe it's because the cheese is different. Another 10 minutes" So ten minutes later, still nothing. Then mom decided to save the day and suggest that I scoop out the mixture and cook it in a large saucepan with some corn starch. It turned out to have more of a pudding texture which explains why it looks a bit droopy.





I also made fresh strawberry drizzle for the topping. My first time, too. Watched a few baking shows and saw how easy it was to make so decided to give it a shot.




I was surprised at how good it turned out, I really didn't expect that kick that it had in it. The lemon zest went really well with the mascarpone cheese. I suggest you don't try making it the way I did with this recipe, search for some good mascarpone cheesecake recipes and give it a shot, it's worth it!

11 comments:

  1. To all those of you read this,

    I had some of that. IT WAS DIVINE.

    :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks great. I love it when I find a blogger from Middle - East!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow that looks so goooood. And those strawberries yummm

    x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you! I especially loved the strawberry drizzle, was very easy to make! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. That looks divine! so baking today, will keep you posted :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. That looks divine! so baking today, will keep you posted :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow that looks so goooood. And those strawberries yummm

    x

    ReplyDelete
  8. This looks great. I love it when I find a blogger from Middle - East!

    ReplyDelete