Mascarpone Cheesecake

I found this recipe on Epicurious. I came searching for a Mascarpone cheesecake after eating at one of my favorite Italian restaurants here in Oahu, called Baci Bistro. They had a mascarpone cheesecake that was so delicious that I searched for a recipe online as soon as I got home. If you look at the Epicurious link, you'll see that everyone who's made this cheesecake gave it 4 stars. That's very unusual on Epicurious. There's almost always someone who would dislike it. This cheesecake scored so high that I was very skeptical. The result...

I'm in love!!! I'm in love with this cheesecake...I don't think I've made a better cheesecake before in my life, and I don't remember tasting a better cheesecake in recent memory. I would use this recipe to challenge anyone's "best" cheesecake. This is absolutely incredibly divine!!! The texture is light, and the taste is rich without being overpowering. Just an overall beautiful cheesecake. Here's the recipe, with a few changes. I HIGHLY recommend it!!

Mascarpone cheesecake
adapted from Epicurious

For crust:
125g butter
40g sugar
150g flour

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Mix the flour and sugar together. Using fingertips or a pastry blender, work butter in the flour mixture until coarse meals form.
3. Lightly work mixture to form a dough. Press the dough into the bottom of a 8 inch springform pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely.

For filling:
20 oz cream cheese (2 1/2 eight-ounce packages), softened
8 oz mascarpone cheese at room temperature (about 1 cup)
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2" of vanilla bean
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt

Make filling while crust bakes:
1. Beat cream cheese, mascarpone, and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium high speed until fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla bean, lemon juice, and salt and mix at low speed until combined.
3. Pour into cooled crust and bake until cake is set and puffed around edge but still trembles slightly when pan is shaken gently, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool slightly in springform pan on rack, about 20 minutes.

Note:

• The original recipe uses a different crust, I didn't have the vanilla wafer that the original recipe calls for, so I made this shortbread crust. It's very delicious and easy to make.
  
• The original recipe uses 9" springform pan because it also has a sour cream topping. I chose to make the cheesecake without the topping, so I used a 8" pan to compensate for the height.
  
• The original recipe uses 1 tsp of vanilla. I had a vanilla bean waiting to be used, so I substitute the vanilla bean for the vanilla extract.