Cream cheese, the star of American cheesecakes, rarely makes even a cameo

appearance in French backers’ spectaculars, and when it does, it’s billed as

“Philadelphia,” a name derived from Kraft’s well-known Philadelphia Brand Cream

Cheese. In this recipe, Pierre, who’s always looking for new foods or ways to make

familiar foods seem new, uses the “Philadelphia” in a most un-American but dazzlingly

delicious way – it forms a thick layer of extra-creamy mousse interlaced with griottes,

small, tart cherries (I used canned peaches instead). The mousse is smoothed across a

soft, chewy, brown sugar–sweetened almond cakes and topped with a crunchy almond

streusel so good it deserves a “best-of-class” blue ribbon. The cake in not formal, but

it is very chic, and as right for a dinner party as for a midafternoon nobble. “This cake

is full of sensations: It’s smooth, creamy, and moist, but there’s also a little crunch

from the streusel. I love it when a cake has these kinds of contracts”-P.H. 

Adapted from Desserts by Pierre Herme