They say genius is part inspiration, part perspiration, and therein lies the story of Maida Heatter’s Bull’s Eye Cheesecake.

“I was driving along one day and I had a sensation that something tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Cheesecake, oatmeal, two colors.’ The idea just came to me,” says Heatter, who lives in Miami Beach and devised the recipe some years ago for one of her dozen dessert cookbooks.

Maida Heatter's Bull's Eye Cheesecake was created through trial and error in the Heatter's home in Florida.

But after many failed attempts, she gave up on making a two-toned, two-textured cheesecake and mailed the cookbook manuscript to her editor.

“On the way home from the post office I thought, ‘I’m going to try it without the oatmeal,’ and it worked beautifully.”

It kept on working until one day a few years ago. “It didn’t form the rings, the chocolate just clumped together; it didn’t have a smooth top. I tried it countless times.”

She called Kraft to ask if they’d changed their cream cheese; she searched supermarkets for packages with different lot numbers, but nothing helped. Mystified and frustrated, she gave up again.

Then, not long ago, Heatter decided to give the recipe another shot. Bull’s eye! She taught her housekeeper to make it; her housekeeper taught her 9-year-old daughter. It’s worked like a charm every time.

“I’m delighted,” Heatter says. “It’s a thrill to see it form those circles by itself. … I think this is one of the most exciting and satisfying of all the baking recipes I know.”

Maida Heatter’s Bull’s-Eye Cheesecake

Butter

32 ounces Philadelphia brand cream cheese, at room temperature

1/4 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1 teaspoon powdered (not granular) instant coffee

2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Vegetable oil spray

About 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

Adjust a rack 1/3 up from the bottom of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees. Butter a round, 9-by-2- or 8-by-3-inch pan, including the inside of the rim.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cheese until soft and smooth. Beat in the sour cream, then the vanilla and almond extracts and the salt, then the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl and beating after each addition until incorporated.

You will have about 6 cups of batter. Place half in another bowl. Add the granulated sugar to one bowl and the brown sugar to the other. With a rubber spatula for each bowl, stir for about a minute until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has thinned.

To the dark mixture, add the coffee and, through a fine strainer, the cocoa. Stir until they have dissolved and there are no visible specks.

Spray the bottom of the buttered pan with vegetable oil.

You will have a scant 4 cups of each mixture. Pour a scant cup of one (it doesn’t matter which) directly into the middle of the pan; it will spread to cover the bottom. Pour a scant cup of the other mixture directly into the middle of the first; it will spread out, too. Repeat, alternating colors, with the remaining batter (for a total of four additions of each mixture). You will see the bull’s-eye pattern form.

Put a large pan (such as a roasting pan) in the oven. Handling the cake pan very carefully in order not to disturb the design, place it in the large pan. Pour hot water into the large pan to about half the depth of the cake pan. Bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Set the cake on a rack to cool. (The top, which rises during baking, will sink to its original level.) Let it stand three hours at room temperature before unmolding.

Cover the top of the cake pan with plastic wrap and then a plate. Hold the cake pan and plate firmly together and turn them over. Remove the pan. Sprinkle the crumbs over the cake.

Cover the cake with a serving plate and carefully turn it over again, leaving the cake right side up. (Don’t press down on the cake; it is still soft.) Refrigerate to chill thoroughly. For the neatest slices, put the cake in the freezer for four or five hours before cutting and wipe the knife blade after each cut. Makes 10 servings.

Per serving: 456 calories (69 percent from fat), 34.9 g fat (21.2 g saturated), 187 mg cholesterol, 9.9 g protein, 26.9 g carbohydrates, 0 fiber, 371 g sodium.