Cheesecake is one of those desserts that bring back childhood memories like faded flashbacks — of stomping on Graham crackers in plastic bags on the kitchen floor, of licking the batter off wooden spoons, and of sneaking bits from the refrigerator like a geologist slicing samples from a guarded site. Just because now we're the adults handing our kids the spoons doesn't make cheesecake less of an obsession.
Dorie Greenspan's cheesecake is a marvelous version of the dish, a ridiculously creamy mascarpone-enriched cake with berries that can be sneaked inside if you like surprises, or loaded on top if you like your berries to be decoration as well as ingredient.