Mandarin-orange cheesecake - Mandarínu-ostakaka

This is a lovely cheesecake, rich and smooth. It is commercially available in Iceland. I just love it, and I'm grateful for The Icelandic Dairy Produce Marketing Association for providing the recipe for the public. The cake is relatively cheap when you buy it ready-made, but I think making it yourself adds to the enjoyment of eating it.
While this is not a Christmas recipe per se, it is so time consuming that I would only ever make it for special occasions like Christmas or a special birthday party.

Serves 10-12 (or 6-8, depending on how much self-control you have :-)

1 2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
5 tbs sugar
5 tbs butter, soft
90 g lemon flavoured gelatine
1 cup boiling water
500 g cream cheese, unflavoured, softened at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup cream, whipped (measure before you whip)
1 can (480 g) mandarin orange sections
1/2 cup juice from mandarin oranges
2 tbs lemon juice
2 tsp unflavoured gelatine powder OR 2 sheets unflavoured gelatine

Mix together cracker crumbs, 5 tbs sugar and soft butter. Press into the bottom and slightly up the sides of a spring mold (22 cm in diameter). Bake for 8 minutes at 175°C. Remove and cool.
Dissolve the lemon gelatin in boiling water. Cool. Be careful, you don't want it to set completely!
Mix together cream cheese, 1/2 cup of sugar and vanilla essence. When the lemon gelatine is about half-set, mix carefully into the cheese mixture, little by little. Fold in the whipped cream and pour into the mold over the crumb shell. Cool for about 1 hour.
Drain the mandarin oranges well, reserving 1/2 cup of the juice. Add lemon juice. Warm up the juice and dissolve the flavourless gelatin in it. Cool, stirring occasionally.
Arrange the orange sections on top of the cheesecake in a pattern. Gently spoon or brush the mandarin gelatin over the top. Cool until set.
Remove the sides from the mold and serve.

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