August 13, 2010

baking experimentation..

pops-in-law's birthday was this week so i decided to bake a cake. (really, what else do i have to do with my time after marriage and jobless?) while perusing the dessert buffet at brunch , pops-in-law told me he really loved cheesecake. so of course i took note and decided to make a cheesecake.

now i could be a good daughter-in-law and make a good ol' fashioned cheesecake with 4 pounds of cream cheese, 2 cups of sugar, and a gazillion gratifying calories, but it feels like everyone in the house is watching their weight AFTER the wedding. *sigh* so i found a sort of healthy recipe from the mmm.. lady: mango cheesecake with basil lemon syrup.

of course i have problems following recipes to a tee.. so here are the changes i made on the fly:
- biscotti crust? i did the standard graham cracker crust
- whole milk ricotta cheese? i could only find skim milk ricotta cheese
- mango puree? i used mango rus.. it's basically mango pulp, right?
- sugar? i used 1/4 cup regular sugar and 1/4 cup splenda

with all that was going on the day before pops-in-law's birthday, i was only able to make the crust and mix all the ingredients together. i put the mixture in the fridge for a few hours while we were out then baked it when we got home. i let it sit for a few hours in the fridge to set before we cut it. that kind of didn't help.. the cake was more mousse like than cheesecake. so it didn't really sit nicely in the plate. AND the cake was really sweet considering i only put 1/2 cup of sugar. maybe i shouldn't have added any sugar at all since the mango rus may have had sugar in it already.

oh well, despite the muck up.. it's the thought that counts, no?