Goat Cheesecake

I'm not doing much to debunk the assumption that all we do around here is eat dessert.  Not that there's anything to debunk.  We certainly eat a lot of dessert.  I made a pie on Wednesday, and if the pie pan were a clock (with pie hands, obviously), it would say it's about 10 o'clock.  Which is, coincidentally, a perfect time for a slice of pie.

But if you make a pie on Wednesday, what can you do on Thursday?  There's nothing left to do but make a cheesecake, really.  I'm pretty good at whipping things together.  I've been known to put a piece of cake (frosted and all) in front of my wife about an hour after she says something like "I'd really like a piece of cake."  I throw together gourmet desserts the way some throw together brownies from a box.  Sometimes, I really do feel like an athlete in the kitchen.  Everything must be perfectly timed, and I move swiftly and efficiently through the steps.  I even wash dishes as I go, so when the cake goes in the oven, I have a clean kitchen.

But as far as whipping together desserts quickly goes, this one takes the cake (ha... takes the cake).  We're talking fancy here.  This is no ordinary cheesecake.  We've got some goat cheese going on.  Mascarpone.  We're whipping our yolks and our whites separately, and we're topping it all off with berries (and some bunting, why not?).  This is a cake for a celebration (if not a cake to celebrate).

A good friend of ours has had a pretty tough year.  So when she was offered not one, not two, but three awesome jobs in great cities, I was ecstatic for her.  And when she decided to jet down to Berkeley for the weekend, I knew a cake was in order.  And nothing says congratulations like a goat cheesecake just bursting with berries.  Goat cheese lends some seriousness to a cheesecake.  It's a little more grown up, a little less sweet, and it offers complex flavors not found with a cream cheese base.

And it may prevent the daily baking of dessert.  Maybe.

(I regret that I only have one picture of this lovely cake to offer you.  I uploaded all my pictures off my camera and onto my computer, and then my computer up and quit on me for good.  This may mean a slow down in posts over the next few weeks, as I build up my backlog again.  It really was a beautiful cake.)

Goat Cheesecake
Makes one 9-inch cake

1 1/4 c sugar
6 eggs
1 lb goat cheese, softened
1/2 lb mascarpone, softened
3 T flour
2 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
berries, for topping

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, and butter a 9-inch springform pan.  Sprinkle some sugar inside the pan, and shake to distribute.  Put the pan aside.

Separate the eggs.  In the yolks, add 1 cup sugar, and beat until thick and pale yellow.  Add the goat cheese, mascarpone, flour, and vanilla, and mix until smooth.  Mixture will be very thick.

Add the salt to the egg whites, and beat until stiff.  Slowing add the remaining sugar will continuing to beat.

Fold the egg white mixture into the cheese mixture.  Do not over mix.  Pour into the prepared pan, and place the pan inside another dish (I used a skillet; you can also use a baking dish or roasting pan).  Pour hot water into the larger pan until it is halfway up the springform pan.  Cover the whole thing with foil, and bake 40 minutes.

Take the foil off, and continue to bake another 10 minutes, or until the cake has set.  Let cool in the water bath until cool enough to touch, and then cover and refrigerate until firm (preferably overnight, but a few hours will suffice).  Cover with berries before serving.