Ooooh.....it's a CAKE!

Yes, indeed, it IS a cake.  It is the fruits of the labor of love that was Operation Cheesecake.  My friends, I have such a thing for cheesecake.  What is it, I faintly, perhaps, very very faintly, hear you ask, about cheesecake that makes me weak in the knees?  Let me count the ways...

 
Menu:
New York Style Cheesecake (#9)

Raspberry Syrup (#10)

I decided on a New York Style cheesecake, with just that ephemeral hint of lemon, as my first endeavor with this rather fragile cake.  The process is cumbersome, and I made and baked the cake on Monday evening.  I followed the directions exactly, as this dessert I was not willing to settle for the sub-par Beef Barley fiasco of Sunday night.  No way, no how.  

I had one lofty goal: no cracks in the cheesecake.  Lofty it was.  For although the cake did not crack whilst baking in the oven, which fooled me into thinking success, my beautiful cake cracked in the cooling process.    Yet, as I pulled the aluminum from the top of the pan to see this crack, I learned something of great importance. 

I didn't care!  It was such a beautifully creamy looking circle of my favorite après meal dessert, I could think only of the moment I drizzled it with homemade raspberry syrup and tasted a hefty forkful. 
The cheesecake was already out, warming slightly from the chilly fridge, when I was getting the raspberry syrup together.  (As a snobby aside: The aroma from the berries' juices cooking on the stove is better than any overwhelming Yankee candle you can buy at Hallmark.)  However, because both guest and I were staring at the cake, there was no room for patience to let the syrup cool and congeal, causing my drizzle to be less then Martha Stewart here. 

So, instead of making dinner to go before the cheesecake, which I swear was part of my original plan, my dinner-turned-only-dessert guest and I went from happy hour straight to....a slice, or two, of cheesecake.

And, no regrets have we, because scrumptious it was indeed.  Thank heavens for the half of cake left in the fridge. 

290 to go...