Coffee is definitely one of my preffered tastes in desserts. The following cappuccino cheesecake is flavored with coffee and becomes such a great treat for Shavuot or for people who like their cheesecakes less cheesy in taste.

Photo: Natalie Levin
Cappuccino Cheesecake
For the crust:
- 100 grams plain biscuits or graham cracker
- 50 grams melted butter
- Pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp. instant coffee powder
For cheese and coffee filling:
- 250 grams ricotta cheese
- 225 grams cream cheese
- 100 grams sugar
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp. instant ground coffee
- 2 tbsp. boiling water
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolks
- 15 grams cornstarch
For mascarpone cream:
- 125 ml. heavy cream
- 125 grams mascarpone
- 1 tbsp. sugar powder
- 1 tbsp. cream stabilizer or instant vanilla pudding mix
- Cocoa powder for serving
- Crust: in a food processor grind biscuits to a fine powder. Add butter, salt and instant coffee and stir well until absorbed.
- Transfer the crumbs into the pans and press evenly to the bottom to create a thin base.
- Freeze for about 1/2 hour.
- Preheat oven to 170c degrees.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes, until golden. Cool.
- Coffee and cheese filling: in a large bowl, whisk ricotta cheese, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and salt until mixture is smooth.
- In a small bowl mix instant coffee and boiling water and add to the mixture into the cheese batter white whisking.
- Add in the eggs and yolk one by one while whisking between additions.
- Add cornstarch and whisk until blended.
- Pour the filling onto the baked crusts and fill up to 3/4 height.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 150c degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the filling is set at the edges, but still slightly soft in the center.
- Cool completely before icing and decoration.
- Mascarpone cream: in a bowl of a mixer, whip cream, mascarpone, sugar powder and stabilizer until you get a very stable whipped cream.
- Transfer the cream into a piping bag fitted with jagged piping tip and drizzle mounds of cream on top of the cakes.
- Sprinkle with a little cocoa powder and serve.
- Keep the cakes in a sealed container in the refrigerator up to 5-6 days.
- Gluten-free version: use gluten-free biscuits instead of plain biscuits.
- You can make the recipe in one 20 cm round cake pan. Baking time will be longer.

Photo: Natalie Levin