Cheesecake w/ Fruit toppings : How to improve the taste.

The fat actually helps balance the sour and with the fat free cheese, that's not helping. Cheesecake should be enjoyed for what it is. If the fat is a major concern, eat a good cheesecake slice only rarely, but eat the best one possible.

Your berries were frozen, yes? You're not going to get sweet fresh fruit this time of year so if you used "fresh", that was also a problem.  Simplest would be to macerate the berries with sugar for a while to help balance their flavor and skip the jam entirely. Taste the berries before serving so you know if they need any extra help or should just be skipped entirely.

Jam tends have a flavor of its own that would compete with the fresh fruit's nuances, clouding what the fresh fruit brings to the equation.

And it strikes me too much as in the style of pie filling when its used on cheesecakes by some home cooks.  Makes the fruit look processed and dull and too sweet.

I like topping my cheescake with berries as well.  I put them in a sauce pan with a little sugar and a little bit of liquor like creme de cassis or cointreau, whatever you have on hand.  Heat them up for only a minute or 2, just until the sugar melts.  This way they don't fall apart completely and still have that freshness you're looking for.  They also release a lovely burgundy syrup so save the preserves for your toast another day :)

Fat free dairy products are horrible in my opinion.  Nature produces no such thing as a fat-free dairy product.  Please consider that when a manufacturer produces fat-free items such as skim milk, fat free cheese and yogurt, they have to add sugar in order to make up for the lost flavor so in reality you have an unnatural product with loads of added sugar - not exactly the healthiest thing in the world.  So I agree with phatch when I say, make a real cheesecake, enjoy one or two slices and give the rest away to neighbors or coworkers. 

When I make cheesecake I never use fat free cream cheese, I saw on the first reply that having the normal cream cheese balances out the tartiness.  I am not sure about that, I just remember back in junior high school foods class making cheese cake and my teacher had always said to use normal cream cheese.  I only treat myself to cheesecake every now and again so I will accept the extra fat from it.

I tend to also make a fruit topping, I use frozen fruit and I let it simmer for a little bit. I have added some sugar depending on what type of fruit I am using.  I also prefer to have my fruit topping a thicker consistency so I add a little bit of flour to it. 

Good luck with your next cheesecake! 

I also have made a toblerone cheesecake and it is really delicious.  The recipe I use is at the Cooking With Philadelphia website.  There is also a ton of other cheesecake recipes there.  

Bake it in a water bath .. it will never crack..

Maybe soak your fruits in simple syrup b4 putting them on top..  That might make it sweeter,  or brush the  fruits w/ some kind of  fruit jelly..

Fruit jelly is that one you put on toasted bread,  like Smuckers that is in the same isle as peanut butter and jelly.

Simple syrup is very simple.. water, sugar and vanilla then heat it up..  OR  you can use Torani Italian Syrups,  that one used in ITalian Cream Sodas or coffee that comes in so many flavors..

YOu are very welcome.. 

Fruit jelly in the UK is a clear fruit juice thickened with gelatine - what I believe is called jello in the USA.

But, just to confuse matters, any clear jam is usually called a jelly, eg quince jelly, bramble jelly.  British English can be extremely confusing - and some of the confusion has been exported to places like New Zealand and Australia!

This is what I was talking about:

Prettycake,

Your right on....

Bain marie and cheesecake always,  never a crack.

Petals.