Small Batch Cherry Cheesecake

My mother, God bless her, loved cheesecake. It was one of her favourite desserts. She was only the size of a bird, so tiny that a good breeze could have easily blown her over, but she did like to eat. I don't know what her secret was to keeping her slim figure. I remember her asking me about seven or 8 years back did I have a good cheesecake recipe. I did and so I shared it with her. I don't know if she ever made it or not. I like to think that she did, and that she enjoyed it.

Of course with her lung cancer operation and all of the complications she had afterwards, her days of cooking were pretty much over, although by all counts she did have a fairly healthy appetite right up until she passed. Her tastes had changed however and the things she liked to eat before, she no longer enjoyed. Funny how that goes. I suppose it was the dementia.

Cheesecake is not something I make really often. With there only being two of us, a full-sized cheesecake just is not practical anymore. I will sometimes buy two slices in the shops, but they never live up to their promise. That's all I will say about that.

I once bought a frozen Cheesecake Factory one at Costco and that was very good. It was already cut into slices that you could just take out and eat as and when you wanted them. But it was huge and cheesecake is something we only want once in a very blue moon, so again, highly impractical as I ended up giving most of it away. You can't keep these things in the freezer forever.

This quick, easy and delicious baked cheesecake recipe I am sharing with you today ends all of those problems. It is the perfect size for the smaller family!

You bake it in a 9-inch X 5-inch loaf tin. It cuts perfectly into 6 smallish wedges. I say smallish, but really they are all any one person really needs to be eating of such a rich dessert.

A delicious swirl of tart dark cherry preserves is baked into the cheesecake . . . I used an Italian brand. (Crosta & Mollica) It has lovely big bits of cherry in it, and I don't find it to be overly sweet.

If you don't like cherries, you could use peach jam, or blueberry jam . . . strawberry, raspberry . . . any kind of jam you want or desire.

I think you could even use lemon curd if you wanted to . . . now THAT would be extremely dangerous for me. Todd might not even get a look in, I am that greedy when it comes to lemon. Sad but true.

It works out fine however because he isn't really fond of lemon anything so he doesn't really mind if I snuffle up all the lemon goodies.

Anyways, back to this dessert. Its gorgous. Its simple to make. It is quick to make.

And it is just the right size for us. If I had some sour cream I would have topped it with some and it would have been even better.

If you are a smaller family looking for a tasty dessert, or even if you are a normal sized family wanting something that isn't going to be hanging around for days, I hazard to guess that this dessert would be perfect for you.

Yield: 6 smallish servings

Author: Marie Rayner