Mascarpone Cheesecake with Cherry Topping

When you think of cheesecake, I’m sure you think of a standard cream cheese cheesecake. They are delicious and the usual variety. I myself have several cream cheese cheesecake recipes on my site. This cheesecake though.. well it’s special. This is a mascarpone cheesecake with a cherry topping. A Rainier cherry topping at that.

Mascarpone cheese is an Italian cheese that’s similar to American cream cheese but has a much higher fat content which makes it much creamier and smooth. If you’ve ever had Tiramisu, it is used in the filling of that dessert. Even though it is a richer cheese than cream cheese, I personally find it less heavy when eating it. Using it in this cheesecake lends itself to an almost melt in your mouth texture that is perfect.

When making this, you still want some of the tang that cheesecake has so we do use a brick of regular cream cheese. This also helps firm up the texture of the cake as well.

If you’re looking for some traditional cheesecake recipes I’d recommend:

• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
• Vanilla Cheesecake with Lemon Raspberry Curd
• Piña Colada No Bake Cheesecake

Cheesecake Tips

When making the crust, I recommend buying Nabisco brand. Normally, I often buy store brand ingredients when cooking or baking. However, with these the store brand crackers were not quite as crisp, which made the crust seem a little softer. I personally like my cheesecake crust to have a bit more crunch. Personally I used a cinnamon graham cracker but you could use any flavor, or even substitute something like Biscoff cookies or Nilla wafers.

This mascarpone cheesecake is also very delicious on it’s own. You could easily forgo the fruit topping and add chocolate or caramel drizzle on top and it would be equally fantastic. You could also sub cherries for another fruit like your favorite berry or stone fruit. I love creating a base recipe that has toppings or fillings that can be easily swapped based on people’s preferences.

I baked this in a water bath, but that is an additional step that isn’t required. A water bath is when you surround your cake pan with water lending to a more even bake temperature. This often will help prevent your cheesecake from cracking on top. Now, a cracked cheesecake is JUST as tasty as a non-cracked one. But if you are serving this cheesecake and want it to be equally as beautiful as it is delicious, I’d recommend it.

If you bake your cheesecake in an 8 inch springform pan, you could put your pan inside a 9 inch cake pan before placing it in the roasting pan. If you don’t have a slightly larger pan, many people just wrap the cake pan in a few layers of aluminum foil. I have also used oven roasting bags, but instead of sealing the whole cheesecake inside, you wrap it around the bottom and sides of the pan and leave the top open.

Mascarpone Cheesecake with Cherry Topping Key Ingredients

• Mascarpone Cheese – Mascarpone cheese can often be a substitute for cream cheese, but they don’t taste exactly the same. Mascarpone is creamier, a little more mild and a little more sweet. I personally feel like it has a lighter feeling to it.
• Cream Cheese – The cream cheese is still necessary for this mascarpone cheesecake both for texture and to add that classic tang a cheesecake has.
• Cherries – While this mascarpone cheesecake is delightful on it’s own, the cherry topping is also a classic. You can use fresh Bing or Sour cherries, I opted for my FAVORITE cherry which is Rainier.