Cheesecake

by Garrett

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Believe it or not, this is cheesecake. The flavors are all represented here in differing textures and (arguably) bizarre forms. The meat of the dish is a very light inflated cream cheese mousse. Set with agar and inflated using a cream whipper, the mousse, shown in the close up below, is very fluffy and porous, a very different texture than the traditional dense cream cheese custard.

Cream cheese mousse

One frustration I have with cheesecake is the graham cracker crust: It becomes dense and soggy after baking. Here the crust is appears in a powder and in large chunks to preserve its original flakey and crunchy texture. We also have some hand-made berries made from cherry and raspberry puree. You can eat the liquid-center orbs all at once and pop them in your mouth or puncture them to sauce the plate in a sweet and tangy fruit puree. Finally, for extra texture, flavor, and dramatic flare, crispy cherry leather is stuck into the cream cheese mousse.

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