This cheesecake is a little different than most cheesecakes thanks to its addition of mascarpone. If you don’t know what mascarpone is - don’t worry, you aren’t alone! It is essentially an Italian cream cheese. It is one of the main ingredients in the cream portion of tiramisu (which if you like tiramisu, check out this recipe!). When compared to American cream cheese, it has a more buttery taste (which is no surprise since it has a higher butter content than cream cheese), which leads to a richer, creamer texture. In this cheesecake we are using equal quantities of cream cheese and mascarpone, and guys let me tell you - it will simply melt in your mouth. I didn’t add too much additional flavoring to the cheesecake itself because I wanted the cheeses to shine and not get overshadowed. However, I did add some fun extra flavoring to the crust. Rather than a simple graham cracker crust, this cheesecake has ground almonds mixed in with the graham crackers!