Mandarin - Orange Cheese cake

Description
Mandarínu-ostakaka - Mandarin-orange cheese cake

This is a lovely cheesecake, rich and smooth. It is commercially available in Iceland. The cake is relatively cheap when you buy it ready-made, but I think making it yourself adds to the enjoyment of eating it. Serves 10-12.



Ingredients

 * 1 2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
 * 5 tblsp sugar
 * 5 tblsp butter, soft
 * 90 gr. lemon gelatin (Jello or Royal for example)
 * 1 cup	boiling water
 * 500 gr. cream cheese, unflavoured, softened at room temperature
 * 1 tsp	vanilla essence
 * 1/2 cup sugar
 * 1 cup	cream, whipped
 * 1 can (480 gr.) mandarin orange sections
 * 1/2 cup juice from mandarin oranges
 * 2 tblsp. lemon juice
 * 2 tsp	unflavoured gelatin powder OR 2 sheets	unflavoured gelatin

Directions
Mix together cracker crumbs, 5 tblsp. sugar and soft butter. Press into a the bottom and slightly up the sides of a spring mold (22 cm in diameter). Bake for 8 minutes at 175°C. Remove and cool. Dissolve the lemon gelatin in boiling water. Cool. Be careful, you don't want it to set completely! Mix together cream cheese, 1/2 cup of sugar and vanilla essence. When the lemon gelatin is about half-set, mix carefully into the cheese mixture, little by little. Fold in the whipped cream and pour into the mold over the crumb shell. Cool for about 1 hour. Drain the mandarin oranges well, reserving 1/2 cup of the juice. Add lemon juice. Warm up the juice and dissolve the flavourless gelatin in it. Cool, stirring occasionally. Arrange the orange sections on top of the cheesecake in a pattern. Gently spoon or brush the mandarin gelatin over the top. Cool until set. Remove the sides from the mold and serve.