Mark your calendar and remember it again next year, for today is National Cheesecake Day! It is one of the tastiest days to celebrate!

From plain to topped with fruit to chocolate crusted and everything in between, cheesecake can be served up many different ways. Anyway you slice it cheesecake is a favorite among dessert lovers. In fact according to TLC’s “How Stuff Works,” cheesecake is among the top 5 most popular desserts in the United States. We believe it’s because it tastes so good!

Historic Records indicate that people enjoyed cheesecake as far back as 770 BC, when the dessert (or something like it at the very least) was served to Olympic athletes in Greece.

Fresh raspberries add a beautiful, elegant hue and the sweet-tart flavor of the berries is the perfect contrast to  the rich chocolate cheesecake.  Simply summed up – it is worth the indulgence.

Decadent Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
Driscoll’s Decadent Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

2  packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
2  packages (8 ounces each) 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4  large eggs
2  packages (6 ounces each) Driscoll’s Raspberries
2  ounce bar of semi-sweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 325º. Butter bottom and sides of a 9-inch round springform pan.

Beat cream cheeses in a large bowl of electric mixer until smooth. Beat in sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla, starting on low speed then increasing to high, until thoroughly mixed.

Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping edges well after each addition. Pour into pan.

Bake about 1 hour and 10 minutes or until just barely set in center. Edges may crack slightly. Turn oven off and leave in oven 1 hour with door ajar. Remove from oven and cool completely.  Cover and chill at least 8 hours. Run a knife around edge and remove rim.

Top cheesecake with raspberries. Hold chocolate bar over cheesecake; firmly slide a sharp vegetable peeler along edge of chocolate allowing shavings to fall on cake.

Serves 16.

Lighten Up:
Use four 1/3 less fat packages of cream cheese, or two 1/3 less fat and two fat-free packages. Cheesecake will be denser.

Healthy Tip:
Calorie and fat content of this cheesecake can be adjusted by using regular, low-fat, or fat-free cream cheese.

MF&L Staff at Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine.