decadent chocolate cheesecake with chocolate cream
chocolate cream (recipe follows)
8 to 10 oz chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed
12 oz bittersweet chocolate (2 c chocolate chips)
20 oz cream cheese, soft (2-1/2 8 oz pkgs)
20 oz mascarpone cheese, soft (2-1/2 8 oz pkgs)
1 c sugar
1/4 c chocolate cream liqueur*
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
3 T flour
5 eggs (1 c)
2 egg yolks
The day before serving:
Prepare chocolate cream up to the whipping stage. Press chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs into bottom of a 12- inch springform pan and set aside. Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl set over a heavy saucepan filled with simmering water; stir until smooth, and set aside to cool.
Combine the cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, sugar, liqueur, vanilla, salt, and flour in a bowl and mix until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in cooled chocolate. Pour into the prepared 12-inch springform pan. On the bottom rack of the oven, place a large baking dish filled with boiling water. On the top rack, place the cheesecake, and bake at 350°F oven for 50 minutes. Turn off oven and let cheesecake cool in the oven for 1 hour. Refrigerate overnight.
The day of serving:
Whip chocolate cream, pipe onto cold cheesecake.
chocolate cream
1 c whipping cream
1/2 c chocolate chips
Heat cream to the boiling point in a glass bowl set over a heavy saucepan filled with simmering water. Pour cream over chocolate chips in another glass bowl, let set for 2 minutes, then stir until melted and smooth. Refrigerate 24 hours. Whip chocolate cream to stiff peaks. Garnish cold cheesecake.
to substitute for the mascarpone cheese:
Use 40 oz cream cheese, soft (5 8-oz pkgs), for the cream cheese and the mascarpone cheese, and add 1/2 c sour cream and 5 T whipping cream to the batter.
*This is the chocolate cream liqueur I found at my local liquor store:
cask & cream chocolate temptation cream liqueur
If you, like me, do not know your way around a liquor store, you ask someone to direct you to the shelf with the irish creme and the kahlua. And it should be right there. I tasted this before I made the cheesecake, and thought, “Yuck! How is that going to help the recipe!” The finished product, however, does not taste like there is liqueur in it; but this is a definite flavor component of the Barnes and Noble godiva chocolate cheesecake, if that is what you are going for. One bottle will make lots of cheesecakes. Unless, like me, you discover that it is good in coffee. Then I can’t vouch for certain how many cheesecakes you will get out of it. 🙂
