Wow, this cake looks delicious! I don't like goat cheese though

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Until now, I don't think I've ever needed to pair the words "goat" and "cake" in a sentence. I don't know about you, but if I've got a cake anywhere in the vicinity, I don't particularly want a goat hanging around.

The seeming incongruity of goat-cheese cake is kind of like the juxtaposition of the words "hippo" and "soup," or maybe the marriage of "rat" and "candy." Not charming images, right? So I understand if you're feeling a little wary.

Goat cheese, though, is quite civilized. It's like a happy cross between cream cheese and sour cream--kind of soft, beautifully white, and just a little tangy. It's the perfect base for a simple variation on the traditional creamy cheesecake, but without the heaviness. And I hesitate to even lump this recipe into the cheesecake category because it's kind of a unique hybrid; besides the cheesy factor, it also contains fluffy beaten egg-whites that get folded into the batter, as well as a very small amount of flour.

Essentially crustless, the cake's golden edges are the result of a sugar-dusted pan. Ribboned with fresh mango sauce and garnished with a few perfect blackberries, this makes for a pleasing little dessert. So, is it a cheesy cake . . . or is it a cheesecake? Is it a goat-cheese cake, or a goat cheesecake? We may never know. It's just good and, in the end, that's all we need to know.

As for the recipes . . .

I adapted this cake recipe from Emily Luchetti's book, Classic Stars Desserts, and the mango sauce recipe from Nick Malgieri's book, Perfect Pastry.
What did I change? Well, I tweaked the basic flavor of the cake by prohibiting all lemoniness; the original recipe includes both zest and juice, neither of which I was in the mood for. Also, I decreased the amount of sugar in the cake slightly and compensated for that by adding in one heaping tablespoon of clover honey, just because I love the warm taste that even a small amount of honey can lend. I increased the amount of vanilla by 50 percent because honey and vanilla love each other. (Seriously, they do.)

As for the mango sauce, Malgieri's recipe called for a tiny bit of white rum, which I didn't include. Had I had some of that on hand, however, I probably would have used it. And, as is my habit, I reworded the instructions considerably for both recipes.

You don't need much time to slap this together, all in all, but I do recommend you chill the cake for a while before serving it. Beware that once it's completely cold it'll look a bit shrunken, like in the picture just below, but don't let that scare you. All is well.

I think the mango sauce tastes best well chilled, too. And the blackberries, of course, aren't what I'd call mandatory, but they do dovetail nicely with the other flavors and, heck, they're just so darned cute. Splurge on a small-package of nice ones, yes?

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