Mascarpone Cheesecake with Almond Crust

I want to send out a big thanks to everyone who takes time off to stop by my blog. It means so much! The cheesecake I made last night came out well. But do prepare it at least 7 hours in advance. Trust me it is worth every single hour. The deal is, is that this cake needs to set for a long time after it bakes. Last night I prepared the cake 3 hours before dinner. I read the recipe and it said the cake needs to be cooled on a rack for an hour after it baked and then it needed to set in the fridge for another 8 hours. Now, it takes about an hour to bake the silly thing and then an hour to cool on a rack, before it goes into the fridge. The silly impatient fool that I am, left it in the fridge only for about an hour or so. When I served it for dinner it was a little creamier than it should have been. It tasted good but I, being the weirdo that I am, fussed about how it was not perfect. This morning though, I was pleasantly surprised when I was greeted with a fully set cheesecake. It was moist, creamy, and melted in the mouth. Perfect! I just wish I did not go against the recipe last night and just made it earlier in the day. But like I said its not like it tasted bad last night, it was just that its texture was perfected by it sitting pretty in my fridge. About why I was late when it came to preparing my cake, I plainly got distracted by my lovely husband's want to buy me a food processor. We got one yesterday and it's the best thing that happened to my life. Well, besides marrying the man who bought it for me. Okay, I will stop this foolishness now and give you the recipe for this gorgeous cheesecake. I got the recipe on the food network website and it is by Giada De Laurentiis. I never knew much about her till I got to the states but judging from this recipe, she is really good.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 cup slivered almonds, lightly toasted
• 2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 (8-ounce) containers mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature

Topping:

• 1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (recommended: Nutella)
• 1/4 cup whipping cream

Directions

For the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Tightly wrap the outside of a 9-inch diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides with 3 layers of heavy-duty foil. Finely grind the almonds, cracker crumbs, and sugar in a food processor. Add the butter and process until moist crumbs form. Press the almond mixture onto the bottom of the prepared pan (not on the sides of the pan). Bake the crust until it is set and beginning to brown, about 12 minutes. Cool. Decrease the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

For the filling: Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, and sugar in a large bowl until smooth, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the lemon juice and vanilla. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Pour the cheese mixture over the crust in the pan. Place the springform pan in a large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake until the center of the cheesecake moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour 5 minutes (the cake will become firm when it is cold). Transfer the cake to a rack; cool for 1 hour. Refrigerate until the cheesecake is cold, at least 8 hours and up to 2 days.

For the topping: Combine the chocolate-hazelnut spread and cream in a small bowl. Heat in the microwave until warm, stirring every 20 seconds to blend, about 1 minute.

Cut the cake into wedges. Drizzle the chocolate sauce over the wedges and serve.