Tired Of Overly-Sweet Cheesecake? Try Adding Bacon

Although cheesecake isn't quite pie or cake, its ambiguity is part of what makes it so appealing. A one-of-a-kind dessert that brings together some of the finest characteristics of many timeless sweet treats, a cheesecake is a love letter to pies, cakes, and cream-cheese stuffed pastries. Beyond its novelty, cheesecake comes in many shapes, sizes, and flavors, making it the perfect dessert for those who like to diversify their favorite sweet treats. Although a strawberry cheesecake is one of the more familiar iterations of the original prototype, adding bacon can change the cheesecake game.

Cheesecake is marked with rich and tangy notes that dance under an on-the-nose sweetness. Although those sugary flavors are a quick fix for an emergency sweet tooth, sometimes those sweet forkfuls can go from comforting to cloying. If you're bored of cheesecake with an ultra-sweet flavor, consider adding bacon. Packed with a heavy-handed umami punch and some smoldering, salty, savory goodness, bacon provides a luxurious-tasting cheesecake with a new dimension of flavor that makes for a more complex-tasting dessert. The meaty machismo of bacon tempers the sweetness of the dessert, giving it a more balanced flavor profile that keeps those classic cheesecake flavors at the center of the dish. Plus, crunchy bacon is the perfect textural contrast to the moist, creamy texture of a cheesecake, upgrading not just its flavor, but its mouthfeel too.

To make a bacon cheesecake, whip up an easy batch of bacon and chop the lot into small, bite-sized pieces before sprinkling them over your favorite cheesecake recipe. That's all it takes to make a sweet and savory cheesecake worth coming back to time and time again.

Bacon alone is enough to transform a sweet cheesecake from ordinary to extraordinary. But since you're already shaking things up, you might as well take it up a notch with additional ingredients that complement a bacon-kissed cheesecake.

Instead of regular bacon, try topping cheesecake with candied bacon coated in warming maple syrup and dusted with brown sugar, pulverized walnuts, and cayenne pepper for a subtle kick of heat. While you're at it, add a layer of creamy, sticky, peanut butter to keep the candied bacon from coming loose. Together, these ingredients culminate in a cozy, earthy, caramelized amalgam of flavor that gives sweet cheesecake a complete facelift. If the combination feels too overwhelming, opt for just one of the added ingredients.

Other options include drizzling bacon-topped cheesecake with golden caramel for a rich finish, or sprinkling dark chocolate for a pleasantly bitter bite. Don't hesitate to experiment with cinnamon, fresh figs, or a bourbon glaze. The world is your ... cheesecake? Discover which flavors and ingredients work best alongside your bacon-crested dessert and enjoy a cheesecake that's cozy but never cloying.