CHEESE and cake are two of life's greatest indulgences.
Pair them up and you've got yourself one irresistible dessert.
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Zaaki Espresso in Mayfield is famous for its cheesecake. Baklava cheesecake, to be precise. Owner Penny Saris is the creator of the perfectly balanced dessert, which combines the subtle sweetness of the nutty, Middle Eastern pastry with creamy, delicious cheesecake.
It has become the coffee shop's signature dish and has developed a faithful following of devotees.
"I'm Greek and my husband is Jordanian, so we serve a lot of Middle Eastern food and I think people come in looking for something different," Saris says.
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"I make all of the cakes in the shop, so I thought 'Why don't we try something unusual?'. I put the recipe together, we tried it to see how it went and it took off. It sells like crazy and it has a following.
"We get people that come in and they won't buy coffee, they won't buy food, they'll just come for baklava cheesecake."
Here's five places to try cheesecake:
Zaaki Espresso, 402A Maitland Road, Mayfield
It's a coffee shop first and foremost, but the baklava cheesecake has become Zaaki's most famous resident. The cafe opened five years ago and the baklava cheesecake has been on the menu for four-and-a-half of those years. And people still can't get enough of it. Owner and cheesecake queen Penny Saris uses cream cheese for the filling, which has a layer of baklava spread in the middle and also sprinkled on top. The cake is finished with a drizzle of sugar syrup on top.
"When I first started I planned to have it available at random, maybe once a week or something like that, but people started coming in asking just for baklava cheesecake in the shop every single day," Saris says.
She estimates they sell at least 100 ("Maybe even more," she says) individual serves each week ($5 each). She also makes a chocolate version which has a chocolate base and dark chocolate mixed in with the baklava. Whole cakes can be ordered as well at $45 for the traditional and $50 for the chocolate version. Keep an eye out for their Turkish delight pistachio cheesecake as well.
Happi Kitchen, 3/18 Throsby Street, Wickham
Wholesome homemade food and ready-made meals are the focus at Happi Kitchen, but there is room for indulgence too.
Like the cafe's sister shop in Kurri Kurri, Happi Chicken, the kitchen is famous for its elaborate cheesecake creations. They make both chilled and baked varieties, all in-house, and the cakes can be ordered as a whole or served individually by the slice (note: they are big slices). There's always a wide selection in the cabinet to choose from, most of which are inspired by other sweet treats - Golden Gaytime, Oreo, Malteser (literally entirely topped with Malteser balls), Aero, Snickers, Mint Slice and Tim Tam, all of which are finished off with loads of garnish - think along the lines of a mini mountain of crushed Tim Tam biscuits for the latter.
For something more traditional, there's strawberries and cream cheesecake on the menu as well as a moreish caramel cheesecake which is smothered with a thick layer of smooth, rich caramel.
Mama-P, 142 Pacific Highway, Charlestown
If you're after cheesecake, minus the cheese, Mama-P at Charlestown has eight vegan-friendly, raw cheesecakes on the menu: double choc fudge, choc mint, Snickers, salted caramel, rainbow, Neapolitan, raspberry vanilla and Top Deck.
Whole cakes can be ordered in advance or purchased straight from the fridge, or drop in to the wholefoods cafe for an individual serving. Using nuts to replicate the "cheesecake" component, the dairy-free cakes are rich, decadent and elaborately garnished, without the added calories of a regular cheesecake. Snickers bar fans should check out their cake version which combines a sticky almond base with a caramelised peanut butter centre finished with creamy chocolate cheesecake filling and topped with delicious edible garnishes. It's naughty, but nice.
Perfect Shot Cafe, 461 Hunter Street, Newcastle
A photography gallery and coffee shop in one, Perfect Shot Cafe is also home to some pretty impressive homemade cheesecakes. The cafe has two on rotation each day, with the offering switching up week to week.
Owners Amanda and Daniel Courtney make everything in-house, with one on cooking duties and the other in charge of topping the cakes.
"My wife makes them and I decorate them, so it's a team effort," Daniel says. "We love to make cheesecakes. My wife makes really amazing baked cheesecakes and we have the photography gallery, but we wanted an extra thing for customers to come in for. People love them."
They are yet to repeat a flavour (although their cinnamon cheesecake topped with apple sauce, apple crumb and cinnamon sugar puffs is returning due to requests from customers), having turned out flavours such as Toblerone, Wagon Wheel, lemon and blueberry, Nutella, strawberries and cream, and honeycomb crunch since opening.
Cakes are available by the slice or choose a smaller cheesecake "bite" for $2 to go with your coffee. Perfect Shot Cafe is open every day from 7am on weekdays and 8am on weekends.
Sabor Dessert Bar, 2342 Broke Road, Pokolbin Among the 50-plus desserts on the menu, you'll find Sabor's cheesecake range. There's caramel, blueberry, Snickers, Mars Bar, Oreo cookies and cream, raspberry white chocolate, pistachio and mascarpone (all matched with a glass of wine) as well as the indulgent lychee and raspberry cheesecake which is encased in a raspberry glitter glaze and topped with berries and chocolate. For the indecisive one, Sabor also offer a cheesecake tasting plate with six different mini baked cheesecakes, each topped with a mini macaron. Match it with a glass of Petersons sparkling semillon.
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