Cherry Cheesecake

I know my last few blogs have been hurried and brief. That's because I have been so busy lately. Cooking is not my only talent - I've been sewing a dress the past week or so and also preparing for a bake sale. The dress is for a Christmas party this weekend and the bake sale is the brainchild of my girlfriends at work and myself who wanted to do something to give back and have a reason to bake, all at the same time. We started 6 years ago with a wee little table or two in our work area with proceeds from the bake sale going to the Children's Hospital in Toronto. Now, 6 years later, our bake sale is the stuff of legends and there are legions of people lined up. It's about 7x six foot tables jam packed full of home baked goods. The bake sale has taken on a life of it's own. It is at this point it's own entity. The truly amazing thing is that over the past 6 years we have managed to donate over $12,000 to the Hospital. Can you believe that??? Through the power of a cookie we are literally helping to save lives. It really blows my mind when I think about it. And it also goes to show you that you can make a difference just by doing the smallest of things.

Anyhow, I made this cheesecake for our bake sale and I had numerous reports back that it was amazing, so I'm quite pleased about that. It really was pretty simple to make. I was making fudge and squares and this cake the night before the sale (the cookies I made ahead of time and froze them). So it was great that this recipe was so straight forward. First I made the crust which is digestive biscuits and butter. Then I made the cheese part - whip cream, vanilla, icing sugar and cream cheese. Oh, and lemon juice. I thought I'd be the hero and hand whip everything. That lasted about 2 minutes before I went downstairs and got my kitchen aid mixer. It was this moment in life I realized a) what a good investment those mixers really are, and b) how much respect I have to people who lived in the age when such items either did not exist or were unattainable by the middle class. Those were some strong women making cheesecakes. Definitely not someone I'd talk back to. Actually maybe that's what's wrong with the stories of off these sassy teenagers and children these days. You see your mom making her cheesecake with a sissy mixer and you think - God that woman can't even whip cheese. But if your mom's standing in the kitchen whipping cheese around a bowl like it ain't no thang then you think to yourself 'I'd better do what this woman says or else she could take that massive forearm muscle and back-hand me across the face which would hurt like a bugger but not leave a mark...' . I don't know, maybe I'm on to something, maybe I'm not. But either way I'm just an Aunt so I can use a stand mixer all I want.

Also either way, parent or not, mixer or not, I suggest you try this cheesecake. It's light, creamy and a no bake dream.