With Valentine's Day only 8 days away, I hope you are ready for the onslaught of all things pink and red. One of my favorite desserts is cheesecake, and this recipe is fairly simple because there is no baking required other than the graham wafer crust.

A few quick notes before I get into the ingredients though: I used a silicone mold for the heart but found this cheesecake didn't set quite as solid as a regular baked recipe would, so I threw it in the freezer for half an hour before removing it from the mold. Also, I skipped the crust altogether because I was using the silicone mold, but I'm including it in the recipe in case you would prefer to make more of a traditional cheesecake.

Click on the link below, the full recipe can be found after the jump.

Cherry Cheesecake

Crust
1.5 cups chocolate graham wafer crumbs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup melted butter

Blend the crumbs and sugar together in a bowl, then add the melted butter. Stir until mixed then press into a 9" springform pan or pie plate. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes, remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Filling
1 pkg (250g) cream cheese
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup whipping cream

With electric mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add sweetened condensed milk and continue beating until well blended. In a separate bowl, beat whipping cream until stiff. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until well blended. If you want your cheesecake tinted, either add a few drops of food coloring, or add some pureed cherries to the filling mixture (which is what I did).

Spread mixture over cooled crust and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Garnish with your choice of chocolate shavings, cherries, whipped cream, or berries.