Mango Cheesecake

Today was my mom's birthday. For several years now I have been in charge of baking everyone's birthday cake. Unfortunately, my very unadventurous family always requests my New York Cheesecake. Plain, no topping, no garnish, no sauce... just pure, unadulterated cheesecake. While this has given me the opportunity to perfect my NY Cheesecake recipe, it's getting a little boring baking the same thing 4 times per year when my mind wanders to the multitude of fancy cake recipes I could be trying out. So... I was thrilled this year when my mom asked me to make a mango cheesecake for her birthday! And whaddyaknow...I'm happy to say that we have found a new family favorite! This mango cheesecake was exquisite. Everything from the vibrant orange color to the shiny mango mirror glaze on top and the slivered almonds along the side... It was so pretty. I never knew mango and cream cheese could go so well together! The cake recipe is from Nigella Lawson from the Food Network but the mango mirror, red piping gel and almond decorations are my contribution.





**TIP Re: Make your own Piping Gel** You can make your own piping gel easily by following the recipe below. It's so much cheaper and more customizable then the little tubes you buy in the store. For 1 cup of piping gel, combine 1 tbsp gelatin powder with 1 tbsp hot water. Stir to dissolve then mix in 1 cup of light corn syrup. Divide into desired portions and color with food coloring. I have successfully halved and quartered this recipe for smaller batches.

Mango Cheesecake
Makes one 9" cake | Adapted from Nigella Lawson

Crust
2 cups crushed digestive biscuits
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted

Cake
3 pkg (8 oz each) cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar (or to taste, depends on how sweet your mango puree is)
2 cups mango puree
1 tsp lemon juice
4 large eggs

1/2 cup slivered almonds, for decorating

Mango Mirror
1 tsp gelatin powder
1 tsp hot water
1/2 cup mango puree

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Wrap your spring form pan with foil around the bottom and outside to prevent water from getting in when you put it in the water bath to bake. **Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature before you begin. I usually take them out of the fridge and put them on the counter at least 1 hour before I start baking.
2. Prepare crust: Mix all crust ingredients and press into a lightly greased 9" spring form pan, pressing slightly up the sides of the pan.
3. Cake: In a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and mango puree until smooth. Add sugar then taste the mixture to see if it needs more sugar. I use canned mango puree which has sugar added so I use less than you would if you made your own mango puree from fresh mangoes. Add lemon juice then eggs, one at a time. Scrape down bowl often and beat until smooth but do not over beat.
4. Bake in a water bath - a large tray filled with hot water - for 1 hr 20 mins or until only about 1" in the center jiggles. Turn the oven off and let cool in the oven with the door open. Refrigerate overnight before decorating/serving.
5. Mango Mirror: Dissolve the gelatin in the hot water and stir it into the mango puree. Cool to room temperature or slightly cooler then spread over chilled cheesecake.
6. When mirror is set, press slivered almonds around the sides and pipe red dots on top or decorate as you wish.