Zen and the Art of Cheesecake Maintenance

Until recently, I had been fairly ambivalent about cheesecake. It was never really my dessert of choice, but I'd been around the springform pan a time or two. Some specimens were better than others, but cheesecake's the type of thing that even when it's bad, it's still pretty good.

A couple months ago, I picked up a slice at my favorite Italian take-out place. Their cannoli are amazing, but were sold out that night (much to my luck).

That cheesecake was a revolution for me. It's very difficult to describe. The texture, the balance, the clean, even bright flavor... all were very different than any other cheesecake I'd ever had.

Since then, I've played around with a few cheesecakes at home. Luckily, I found an amazing recipe right off the bat and have done enough research to make some small, but substantial tweaks (both in ingredients and technique) that make it even better. People seem to like it. ;)

That basic recipe has become a great springboard for experimentation.

The most recent trial was a marbled dulce de leche version. Serious nommage.

Yes, I am a dulce de leche whore.