Sugar Savvy

Years ago, I vividly remember watching MTV’s Making the Band, and P. Diddy (or whatever name he was going by back then) made the contestants make the trek from Manhattan, across the Brooklyn Bridge to Brooklyn, to go fetch him some cheesecake from Junior’s.  An act both to test the contestants level of commitment and to satisfy a craving.  The folks at Junior’s Cheesecake recently offered me samples of their chocolate ganache covered, heart-shaped cheesecake.  They didn’t need to ask twice.

A few weeks ago, I got the chance to sample Eli’s Cheesecake, the popular spot in Chicago that got to make a cheesecake for one of President Obama’s inauguration balls.  This cheesecake?  Completely different.  Let’s start at the bottom.

The crust is not the graham cracker crust that you typically find on cheesecakes.  Instead, it’s like a very thin, thin layer of sponge cake.  Such a thin layer that it’s barely there, yet held up as a crust surprisingly well.  And the cheesecake?  Thick, dense and oh so creamy.  True New York style.  This particular cheesecake had a chocolate ganache covering it, and mini chocolate chips all around the sides, perfect for your own little Valentine’s Day celebration.  I loved the addition of the chocolate ganache but truth be told, it was not as rich as I would have liked it.  A little bit more sweet would have been perfect to balance out the heavy and less-sweet cheesecake filling.

No matter how you slice it, it’s a perfect way to spend an evening of romance, or just because.  Hey, if it’s good enough for P. Diddy…

Junior’s Cheesecake has been producing their masterpieces since 1950, so they know that they’re doing.  But if you can’t get to Brooklyn to get your own cheesecake, you might want to pick up one of their two cookbooks to create your own little slice of heaven at home.