i wrote this 4ish years ago and never posted. should i try again – posting and baking?

recipe experimentation comes at a price – mental and financial. this weekend i attempted a cheesecake with ricotta and mascarpone with a little sour cream. knowing that mascarpone has a different fat content level than cream cheese, i did a little math and thought i’d come up with acceptable ratios of cheese, egg and sugar. lemon and orange were zested. all ingredients to room temperature. ricotta cheese drained. spring form pan prepped.

mixing commenced – cheeses first, sugar, flavorings and lastly the eggs. the cake was baked for 45 minutes and left to finish in a cooling oven. no over baking in sight, or so i thought. wished i had taken that picture as soon as the oven was turned off! as the cake cooled, it deflated and started to weep. i hadn’t used a water bath but thought the oven temp was low enough. nope. the temp was off by 25-30 degrees. no big deal with a roast but a critical factor in custard baking. eggs curdled on the outer edges of the cake. those egg proteins weren’t loose, lush and creamy but tight and curdled. as i was headed to the trashcan, i decided to salvage the center of the cake. mixer at the ready, the center of the cake went in a bowl to whip it back to a creamy mass. a little whipped cream added and now there was a lovely cream cheese mousse. layered with some blueberries, it made a nice light dessert. a shame it took 3 hours to make a dessert that filled a 2-cup bowl.

lessons learned.