Photo by David Moore

SWEET SPOT

Calling this sparkling dessert a cheesecake is a bit of a misnomer. Sure, it has cream cheese, but what it doesn’t have is a heavy, dense texture. In fact, it’s practically light as a feather on the tongue.

That’s because pastry chef Heather Nasworthy, who has been whipping up gorgeous desserts at Carefree Station for the past two and a half years, whips the cheesecake base into a frenzy of fluffy mousse.

Nasworthy starts with an Oreo cookie crust moistened with melted butter and tops it with cream cheese beaten with whole eggs, sugar, vanilla and sour cream. She bakes the mini cake in a water bath at a very low temperature and lets it rest overnight to set up.

The next morning she removes the cheesecake from the baking mold and pours melted chocolate over the top, covering the whole cake. After the chocolate hardens, she dusts the top with edible gold dust and drizzles it with melted white chocolate.

She could stop right there and we’d be happy to break the chocolate shell to get to the cottony center, but Nasworthy paints the plate with a lustrous champagne sauce, made by reducing a whole bottle of champagne down to syrup and stirring in the pixie gold dust.

“This dessert started as a New Year’s Eve special but was so popular we added it to the regular menu,” she says.

At only $8.50, this 24-karat cheesecake is worth its weight in edible gold.

Details
Carefree Station
7212 E. Ho Road, Carefree
480-488-8182
carefreestation.com