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

 * 1⅔ cup graham cracker crumbs
 * 5 tbsp sugar
 * 5 tbsp butter, soft
 * 90 g lemon gelatin (Jell-O or Royal for example)
 * 1 cup boiling water
 * 500 g cream cheese, unflavoured, softened at room temperature
 * 1 tsp vanilla extract
 * ½ cup sugar
 * 1 cup cream, whipped
 * 1 can (480 g) mandarin orange sections
 * ½ cup juice from mandarin oranges
 * 2 tbsp lemon juice
 * 2 tsp unflavoured gelatin powder or 2 sheets unflavoured gelatin

Directions

 * 1) Mix together cracker crumbs, 5 tbsp sugar and soft butter.
 * 2) Press into a the bottom and slightly up the sides of a spring mold (22 cm in diameter).
 * 3) Bake for 8 minutes at 175 °C.
 * 4) Remove and cool.
 * 5) Dissolve the lemon gelatin in boiling water.
 * 6) Cool.
 * 7) Be careful, you don't want it to set completely! mix together cream cheese, ½ cup of sugar and vanilla extract.
 * 8) When the lemon gelatin is about half-set, mix carefully into the cheese mixture, little by little.
 * 9) Fold in the whipped cream and pour into the mold over the crumb shell.
 * 10) Cool for about 1 hour.
 * 11) Drain the mandarin oranges well, reserving ½ cup of the juice.
 * 12) Add lemon juice.
 * 13) Warm up the juice and dissolve the flavourless gelatin in it.
 * 14) Cool, stirring occasionally.
 * 15) Arrange the orange sections on top of the cheesecake in a pattern.
 * 16) Gently spoon or brush the mandarin gelatin over the top.
 * 17) Cool until set.
 * 18) Remove the sides from the mold and serve.