Creole Cream Cheese Cheesecake

12 oz. Creole Cream Cheese
4 (8 oz.) Philadelphia cream cheese
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 T. vanilla
3-4 T. cream
1/2 tsp. lemon zest

Preheat the oven to ~330 degrees.

Mix the Creole Cream cheese with the Philadelphia cream cheese in a strong mixer; beat on medium high until light and fluffy pouring the sugar slowly and scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. Add the eggs in a little at a time, all the while mixing.

Slow the mixer down and add the vanilla, cream and lemon zest. (I like to taste the batter at this point...even with the raw eggs just to see if I need to adjust the flavor.)

Prepare a water bath for the cheese cake by pouring the batter into a 8" springform pan. Wrap the springform pan in foil so that water cannot seep in during the cooking process. In a 12-14" round cake pan pour 4-5 cups of hot water. Place the wrapped springform pan into the larger cake pan and put into the oven. Bake for at least 70 minutes. Check the cheese cake to make sure that it's not browning on top. When the cheese cake comes out it should "jiggle" (like Jello). As it cools it may crack a little but not too much. Allow to cool about 10 minutes before removing the foil.

Take the springform pan out of the hot water and out of the foil. Let it cool for at least an hour. Place in the refrigerator overnight. DO NOT REMOVE THE SIDES OF THE SPRINGFORM PAN UNTIL THE CAKE HAS GOTTEN COLD!!!!

An hour or so before serving remove the sides of the springform pan and top with a glaze if desired.