Cheesy Foursome

It’s more cake again today, I’m afraid. Are your teeth aching already from all the sweetness of the previous two days? Well, just bear with me; no more cake posts after this – for the next few days at least – I promise.

My friend showed up at my door the other day, bearing a box of mini cheesecakes; and since I was not one to turn down any sort of dessert without a perfectly good reason (such as maybe being ill and completely bed-ridden), I accepted the sweet gift with much joy; never mind my beginning-of-the-week-decision to eat healthy and cut out all desserts for the next two weeks.

These mini cheesecakes were from the Marriott Hotel. I had never tasted Marriott’s cheesecakes. For some reason, it simply never occurred to me that they might do very good cheesecakes. Apart from the Ritz Carlton, I tend to buy my cheesecakes from non-hotel sources. I don’t even particularly like the Hilton cheesecakes very much, even though half the country raves about them being the best in town. I find them too rich and dense for my tastes. I can barely manage half a slice, and even that small amount usually leaves me with a decidedly uncomfortable, heavy-as-a-rock, indigestible lump of rich cheesiness sitting in the pit of my stomach for the rest of the day. And that’s not a feeling I enjoy.

But these ones looked prettily dainty and elegant…

(And yeah, he had already popped one into his mouth before I could even reach for my camera; thus the gaping space in the box!)

There were four varieties for me to savor: raspberry, Oreo (my usual favorite flavor for cheesecakes), strawberry/blueberry and New York-style.

“These are raspberry cheesecakes”, I said in a tone that hinted, “you should know I don’t like raspberries in any form”.

“They’re for me and the rest of the family who might want to taste the cheesecakes”, he said in a tone that implied, “you mean you are going to eat everything all by yourself?!”

“Oh… ok… would anyone like some cheesecake?” I asked.

And yes, the rest of the family did want some cheesecake too.

“These cheesecakes are so small and cute”, I said in a tone that suggested, “how come there are only 8 mini cheesecakes meant for so many people”. (My “many” being four people in total.) But these were truly very small cheesecakes; almost bite-sized. Well, okay, not quite bite-sized; I exaggerate. But definitely 2-mouthfuls-sized cheesecakes; or for someone with a daintier bite, like yours truly, 4-mouthfuls worth of sweet delight to every mini-cheesecake.

“I thought you said you are on a diet?” came the rejoinder.

I gave one of my “looks” – you know, the “well, why did you buy the cheesecakes then?” look – and proceeded to cut each small cheesecake into half, so everyone could taste a tiny piece of each flavor (minus the raspberry version for me, of course).

I’m usually a sucker for Oreo cheesecakes. It does not matter how wide an array there is in front of me or how delicious other cheesecakes may look, if Oreo cheesecake is among the choices available, almost always (not always, but very nearly) I would plump for the Oreo.

It used to be that I absolutely adored the Baker’s Inn’s version. That was about 4-5 years ago. Nowadays, I have yet to find one that I particular love. Could this be a candidate to fill the Oreo cheesecake void in my life? Could this be the start of a brand new, long-lasting relationship, I wondered?

This Marriot-made version wasn’t too bad at all. The Oreo crust and crumbled topping were slightly too moist, but at least they weren’t cloyingly sweet. The cheese filling was very nicely soft, smooth and fluffy with just the right amount of denseness – plus, with none of that temple-aching sweetness. The rich cheese flavor was nicely counterbalanced by the fairly light, fluffy texture. The only thing missing were the chunks of Oreos in the filling; but I guess with such a small sized cake, that probably wasn’t practical.

Over all, not too bad at all. I would have happily eaten one whole mini cheesecake by myself; maybe make that two whole mini cheesecakes by myself. But that was before I tasted this…

Ah! This was a stunner. It took my breath away; and I wasn’t expecting it to, which made it even more breathtaking I suppose (if you can follow the logic of that). The colors were very pretty: the cheery, bright summery redness of the strawberry slice, with the quiet cool suaveness of the blueberry, juxtaposed against the pure, smooth creaminess of the cheese. A perfect splash of color against an elegant pale yellow canvas.

Yet, I was expecting something fairly ordinary tasting; it looked like it was simply a regular baked cheesecake topped with a couple of fresh fruits for aesthetic effect. But oh, I was so wrong. One bite and a “mmmmm… wow!” escaped, unbidden, from my lips. This was good!

It wasn’t just any regular baked cheesecake; this was a lemony baked cheesecake. And it was good! (Oh, have I said that already?) The lemon notes were fairly subtle, yet distinct, and oh so elegant. Very nicely balanced; nothing jarring, nothing obvious – just a delicate zesty tang that was absolutely delightful!

The texture of the cheese filling was also lighter, smoother, fluffier than the Oreo one. It was melt-in-the-mouth tender, with just the right amount of denseness and richness. Very nice indeed! Now this, I could have a whole big piece of!

This looked like an approximate of a New York-style cheesecake, with an added swirl of chocolate decoration on the top. Meeting my palate straight after the lemon-berry cheesecake, it had a hard act to follow; and it didn’t quite manage to rise to the occasion.

It wasn’t a bad cheesecake. Not at all. In fact, it was a fairly good version, as far as New York-style cheesecakes go – or more accurately, New York-style cheesecakes according to my taste preferences. The texture was somewhat heavier than the rest of the cheesecakes in the box, but decidedly lighter than most other versions of New York cheesecakes. There was a nice fluffiness to the dense filling which made it highly more-ish.

Still, I was more infatuated with the lemon cheesecake. That was something I would buy for myself from the Marriott. Of course, I would hardly complain if people decided to show up at my doorstep with more of the stuff! The other two cheesecakes (that I tasted) were good too; they were definitely worth a taste-run.

There’s also something to be said for buying mini versions, rather than regular cheesecakes. They’re great! They allow you to split the guilt and spread it throughout the day. (Portioned-out, bite-sized packets of guilt, what would Freud have said to that?) You don’t have to eat an entire slice of cheesecake in one go – which is usually a rich and heavy experience by most standards. Besides, it’s a lot more fun (I think) to walk by the fridge and sneak out a small cheesecake every few hours or so. It makes the entire day so much more pleasurable, don’t you think? A day filled with small, elegant mouthfuls of luscious, sweet treats. How nice!

And how remiss of me to have completely overlooked the Marriott as a source of good cheesecakes. Well, no more. It has been added to my little “food black book”.

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
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