Lucky me, I got to taste test Jacqui Keseluk winning Recipe to Riches PC Rock n’ Peach Bliss Cheesecake! Jacqui was awarded $25,000 for beating everyone else in the cake category. If you would like to hear more about her experience on the show, check out my interview with her.
I absolutely love the packaging for Jacqui’s product. Using the whisk as a guitar and showing off her tattoos gives the cute little cartoon character of her some edge which is perfect. There were quite a few of her cheesecakes picked up by curious customers, which I was happy to see.
This is what you get when you open the box containing the cake. You get a frozen cheesecake in a plastic dome on a carboard plate completely covered and held together with plastic.
Silly me though, I did not realize there are special instructions for defrosting overnight. You are supposed to remove the overwrap from the dome, invert the cake and remove cardboard base. Then you were supposed to put a serving dish in its place and invert the cheesecake again. Then you were supposed to add the plastic dome, let it thaw overnight and remove dome.
Holy cow! And I did none of it. I must have been tired and/or distracted. I was just impressed I remembered to put it in the fridge overnight to thaw, LOL. Remember, I really am your typical consumer who misses things like this even when it is clearly written on the back. I mean it’s cheesecake, I did not think eating it was going to be a complicated process!
As a result, the bottom layer of the cheesecake totally stuck. Ah! That is why you should follow the instructions. Which is a shame (all my bad) because the graham cracker crust was one of the best I have ever had. I normally hate those crusts and this one was delicious.
The cake was wonderfully moist and the cheesecake super decadent, definitely not a low-fat cheesecake going on here. I thought the peaches sort of disappeared because of the strength of the caramel brandy sauce. I would have preferred larger slices of peaches but the small size made for easy and convenient devouring.
Now comes the controversial part. People are complaining that the cake from the store is very different from the recipe made on Recipe to Riches. Jacqui spoke with me about it during the interview and said the largest difference is the missing whipped cream that covers the cake which is then is covered with a caramel drizzle.
You can find the recipe from the show version here and they refer to it as a Multi-Layer Peach Cake. The original cake has a graham cracker crust and is topped with the cheesecake layer and slathered with peach filling. Then a cake layer is put on top, brushed with syrup and covered with a whipped cream frosting, decorated with a dulche de leche.
My blogging buddy Mardi from Eat. Live. Travel. Write. is an official Recipe to Riches blogger. She made adorable individual servings of Jacqui’s cake and they layers definitely do look different. The cheesecake layer is clearly on the bottom and is separated with what appears to be a peach filling and topped with a sponge cake.
When I look at the dessert I tried, there does seem to be a sponge cake but on the bottom directly underneath the cream cheese layer with no peach filling separating the two. Am I over analyzing? Normally I would say yes but because people are pretty upset that the cake appears to be so different than on the show, I had to analyze it myself. In the end, I can see their point.
Most important to me, is the flavour. How did it rate? I really enjoyed this cheesecake. I love peaches and although I am not a huge cheesecake fan, the caramel was divine. The brandy was not super strong so it will be accessible to typical consumers. That graham cracker crusts was fantastic. I loved how moist the cake was and I had never had another one like it before. Fascinating to combine cheesecake with a sponge cake, very original and unique.
The big judge for me was my husband. Cheesecake is Reg’s favourite treat in the world and he really liked it. For store-bought it is impressive and I would buy it. I give Jacqui’s PC Rock n’ Peach Bliss Cheesecake four out of five wooden spoons, even with the complicated instructions and the changes that seemed to have taken place when it comes to the cake. It is yummy and that is all that really matters to us!
I guess this one was a bit tougher to mass produce and sell frozen, despite being controversial, I think it looks pretty darn decent, can’t wait to try it.
You’re thawing drama cracked me up. Even though you’re not supposed to do it this way, whenever I bring home one of the PC cheesecakes, I immediately unwrap the whole thing, remove the cardboard, place on a dish with dome and leave at room temperature for a couple of hours and it’s ready to eat. So far I’ve never had any health issues eating it this way (I’m too impatient to wait overnight lol).
Yes I am extremely disappointed that the PC team took a gorgeous, unusual classy dessert and turned it into a rather ordinary cheesecake. The product as is, I would never even give a second look. The original? I would buy it all the time. The team should have known at the time that you cannot mass-produce the original version cake (especially the part about how you can’t freeze whipped cream in a “healthy way” – though why this would matter in such a sugar laden dessert, I am not sure) – I am curious as to how it ended up being chosen as the right product? Don’t get me wrong – I LOVED the original. The end result was disappointing.
Ava, thank you for letting me know that that is totally a normal way to eat cheesecake and that the rules are flexible, LOL.
Mardi, I really appreciate your feedback and comment, especially since you actually made the original dessert. It must appear to be so entirely different to you which verifies what I suspected. Poor Jacqui! Can’t believe they changed it so much.