Marscarpone Cheesecake

By LoriCaputo

Ingredients

• 70 vanilla wafers, finely ground (2 1/3 cups)
• 1 ¼ sticks butter, melted and cooled
• 20 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 8 oz mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
• ¾ cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tsp. each vanilla and lemon juice

Preparation

Step 1

Butter a 9 inch spring form pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together crumbs and butter and reserve ¼ cup of the mixture. Pat the crumbs onto the bottom and up the sides of the spring form pan (1 inch). Bake 10 minutes and let cool.

Beat together the cheeses and sugar until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, add extract, and juice, and combine mixture well. Pour mixture into a cooled crust and bake until the cake is set and puffed around the edges but still trembles slightly when the pan is shaken gently 25 – 30 minutes. Cool slightly in pan on rack for 20 minutes.

Stir together the sour cream, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt in a small bowl. Spoon mixture over the cheesecake, spreading gently and evenly, leaving a ¼ inch border around the edges of the cake.

Bake until topping is set. Sprinkle top with reserved crumbs and cook completely. Chill loosely covered for 8 hours.