Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate (plus a little coffee) Cheesecake

Its a miserable cold week in Feb. This the the antidote. It is chocolate on every layer, exactly what you need. It’s amazing – crunchy chocolate base, smooth chocolate middle, and runny chocolate topping. I added some coffee to the topping to cut through the chocolate just a little bit. 

Let's get this cake a cookin'

Now, I don’t know if I was just being stupid, but I originally tried to add melted chocolate to the cheesecake mixture to make it all chocolatey, but the mixture was so cold that the chocolate clumped and wouldn’t mix evenly at all. So, this is a second try with cocoa powder which works beautifully.

This does take a little bit of time to assemble in full but it is really worth it, and you can prepare it the night before and allow to chill in the fridge, so it’s a good party dessert!

The key to the amazing texture of this cake is cooking it in a water bath, which isn’t hard, just takes a little bit of preparation.

Ingredients for the Base

• 175g chocolate digestives
• 40g butter, melted

Ingredients for the cheesecake

• 330g marscapone
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 2 large eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 100ml sour cream
• 2 heaped tbsp cocoa dissolved in 3 tbsp hot water

Ingredients for the coffee glaze

• 50g dark chocolate
• 60ml cream
• 1 tbsp coffee
• 1 tsp golden syrup

Method

For the base, bash the biscuits until crumbs, and stir through the butter.

Press this into a springform cake tin (approx. 20cm) and place in the freezer.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

For the cheesecake, beat the cream cheese, then stir through the sugar and cornflour. Beat in the eggs, one by one, followed by the yolks.

Stir through the sour cream, and finally mix in the dissolved cocoa powder. You will have quite a runny mixture in the end.

Boil a kettle

Remove the tin from the freezer, and wrap the outside in 2 layers of strong foil. You want this to be watertight.

Place the prepared tin in a roasting tray and place on the oven shelf. Pour in boiling water to 2-3cm deep.

Pour the cheesecake mix into the tin and carefully introduce into the oven.

Bake for 50 minutes. The top should be set but it should have a wobble.

Once it is cooked, open the oven door a crack (I place a wooden spoon in the door to open it just a little). Allow to sit in the oven for an hour.

Remove from the oven and let cool for a few hours, then place in the fridge overnight to chill through.

Before you’re ready to serve, prepare the glaze by adding all the ingredients into a saucepan and heating gently until melted.

Take off the heat and allow to cool and thicken slightly.

Drizzle over the cheesecake and throw some sprinkles on for good measure.

Place back in the fridge until you’re ready to serve!