The Girl Who Ate Everything

Blogging about food and whatever since 2004.


I know I just said I wouldn't post as much about eating food, but I have to do it this time.

Cheesecake. This cheesecake here. [points at plate] This is the strangest cheesecake I have ever eaten. I bought it from a bakery on Bowery (possible called Swan Bakery) in search of something in cake form (I had gone into three other bakeries before then). I saw something called "French cheesecake" for $1.50. What made it French? The decorative red, white and blue plastic wrap around it?

The cheesecake is somewhat cakey for a cheesecake. The bottom is a layer of yellow cake, then cream, then cake, then more cream, topped off with a "skin" of something. The color of the top skin resembles creme brulee (oo, something French) although after eating it I don't know what it was made of. The cream has the slightest hint of cheesecake flavor that qualified the overall cake as cheesecake and not plain cake with a skin on top.

The real kicker is the bottom layer of cream; it has raisins in it. When I first saw little dark blobs I thought "Uh...those aren't chocolate chips." A poke uncovered their softness. Ah, raisins. In a cheesecake. Which is really cream with some cheese-esque taste. Huh? Raisins invaded the bottom layer of cream in my cake? Maybe this is French and I'm just ignorant but I think it's one of those unique Asian takes on a European dessert.

Overall, not a bad cake. I wouldn't buy it again but it wasn't bad. Light and not overly sweet, like most things from Chinese bakeries. I would correct the name though, it's as bit misleading. "Raisin cheesey cream cake" would be more correct, although it sounds a bit weird. Maybe they should name it Fred.


FangirlAmee / January 15, 2005 7:11 PM

The thing with Chinese bakeries, if they are selling something that isn't natively chinese like Tiramisu or Chessecake or even Fruit tarts, it really isn't faithful to the original recipe. Think of it as a Chinese interpretation of cheescake. Like they sell garlic bread, which is nothing like the garlic bread you buy in pizzarias.

Something random from the archives