Time-less Cherry Cheesecake

When you need a simple and elegant solution for a potluck or even for your own dinner party but don't have enough time. Gather the following items:

• 1 Frozen Cheesecake (pre-sliced if possible)
• 1 can Cherry Pie Filling (the goopy kind)
• Pretty cake plate
• Pretty pie server
• Pretty crystal or ceramic bowl
• Pretty serving spoon

Yes, I repeatedly specified "pretty" serving pieces. That's an important part of this fake. Store-bought foods always always always look better when taken out of their original packaging. By putting the cheesecake on a pedestal with the cherries in a cut glass bowl next to it, it becomes something that is more than the sum of its store-bought parts.

Do this when you know ahead of time that you'll need a dessert but that you won't have the time to spend in the kitchen preparing one. It's best to buy the cheesecake the day before, so it can thaw overnight in the fridge (it's kind of hard to pull off a successful fake when the cheesecake is still frozen in the center).

This really isn't a cost-cutting idea (decent quality cherry pie filling is no bargain), or even a last minute bail-out (due to the frozen-ness), it is primarily a time-saving device. Will everyone know that it's a fake? Certainly. But just like canned white peaches in champagne, they'll all be too busy enjoying it to care!