This month The Food Channel launches its “Cheesecake of the Month” feature. We’ll present a new recipe each month in 2011 for America’s favorite dessert.
Is that a fair statement, that cheesecake takes the cake as this country’s best-loved dessert? We think so, and yet it’s one of those dishes that many people avoid making at home.
“People love to order cheesecake as the finish of a great restaurant dinner,” says Food Channel Chief Culinary Officer Judy Sipe, “but many people feel it’s too hard to make at home, and it’s really not.”
For our January selection, Sipe has chosen a New York style cheesecake with a tart citrus-y syrup made with orange and grapefruit. “The syrup serves as a nice counterpoint to the cheesecake’s natural sweetness,” she says. And, Sipe points out, oranges and grapefruit are in season right now, so it’s the perfect time to try this recipe.
The recipe calls for seven packages of cream cheese. “But it makes a BIG cake,” Sipe explains. And, don’t worry, she says, if your cake cracks. “It happens to the best of us,” she says. “Just put a little more of the orange-grapefruit syrup where it’s cracked. No one will notice or care.”
This cheesecake is all about flavor. We sampled it here in the Food Channel kitchens, and just about everyone agreed it was the best-tasting cheesecake we’d ever experienced. It’s genuine, classic New York style, decadent and divine.
Try it and see for yourself. Or try one of the other recipes below.
Check out the rest of our cheesecakes of the month.
January: NY Style with Orange and Grapefruit Syrup
February: Double Chocolate Cheesecake
April: Creme Fraiche Cheesecake
June: Strawberry-Rhubarb Swirl
August: Italian Ricotta Cheesecake
September: Brulee Cheesecake with Lavender Honey
