Did somebody say cheesecake?

Apparently, I’m now famous on the interwebs? Or should I say infamous?

I’ve spent the last couple of days obsessively reading through as many Daring Bakers blog posts as possible. I am postively overjoyed, overwhelmed, (overstimulated?) by all the amazing renditions of my cheesecake which have hit the blogosphere. Seriously, y’all are INCREDIBLE people and I consider myself honored to soon be joining your ranks. Hopefully, as of tomorrow I’ll be an official member, privy to all the super-secret hush-hush forums and such. squeee!!!

When Jenny asked if she could borrow/use/abuse my cherished cheesecake recipe for the Daring Bakers Challenge, I honestly didn’t think much of it. I’d seen the Daring Bakers posts on her blog, and on a few others here and there, but never looked much into it. I thought it was just, maybe, like a few dozen blogs or something. Once I started getting reports back from Jenny about the response to my little recipe, I decided to look a little further into the whole thing to see what all the hoopla was about. And guess what – I’m hooked. I caught the bug. I signed right up then and there. And to tell you the truth, I’m still a little daunted by the whole thing, but at the same time, I’m excited and can’t wait for my first challenge! How excited am I? SO EXCITED THAT I’VE DECIDED TO JUMP THE GUN! HOLY SHEETCAKE!

As I said, I’ve spent the better part of three days reading blogs about cheesecake. This has made me… how shall I put it…. FREAKIN’ HUNGRY, DAMMIT. It’s also kicked my culinary imagination into overdrive, thinking of all sorts of new cheesecake ideas (maple-nutmeg with pecans! bananas foster brulee! avocado-strawberry with candied walnuts!)… suddenly I had a brainwave: If everybody else is posting on their blogs about my cheesecake, then SO CAN I! Mwahahahaha! [insert evil cackle here]

Obviously, a situation such as this calls for a brand-spankin’-new Abbeycheesecake flavor. I ain’t gonna rest on my laurels around you folks, I can tell you that much. So out to the grocery store I went, in search of inspiration. I’d planned to take pictures along the way as I cook, but of course I forgot to charge the camera (bad blogger! bad!), so you’ll have to make do with shots of the finished product.

They are in the oven RIGHT NOW, and smell pretty farking fantastic, so you’re just gonna have to wait for the final reveal and verdict tomorrow. You can’t rush perfection, ESPECIALLY cheesecake perfection. Anyhow, the next post will include the official writeup of my unofficial first Daring Bakers post, as well as some musings on the recipe, why I created it in the first place (funny story, really!), and some thoughts that have come up as I peruse all your blog posts.

Tonight I will leave you with just a teaser of the flavor combo that is to come tomorrow:

Blackberries

Mint

White Chocolate

Coming soon! No, really this time!

I keep promising to actually START this damn blog one of these days… and I will. I promise! Cross my heart and hope to have my next souffle fall. But seriously, this isn’t easy for me – I’m not a blogger or journaler by nature. As a little girl I always wanted to keep a diary, but without fail, every diary I owned was discovered and read by my snooping older sister. No matter where I hid it, she found it. That fear of embarrassing discoveries turned me off the idea of journaling at a very young age. I’m now trying very, very hard to break that habit. So bear with me while I figure out how to do this. One of the problems for me with food blogging in particular is that a lot of what I cook is impromptu and improvisatory – I don’t measure, I don’t write it down. I taste, judge, revise, and create as I go. That’s a hard habit to break, and I’m not sure if I want to. Baking should be easier, since rarely do I venture off-recipe so drastically… Anyway, we shall see.

My dear friend Jenny (of JennyBakes) has begged my infamous cheesecake recipe from out of my brain, and promises it will soon have a global following. I approve of this! 🙂 And hey, it is finally inspiring me to actually work on this damn blog that I set up ever so long ago.