NEW YORK STYLE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

“Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it I wash my mouth out with chocolate.”

― Charles M. Schulz

 

300 people like For the Reluctant Chef! Celebrating today with a history lesson on cheesecakes!

That the ancient Greeks came up with what we today call the cheesecake makes me marvel at what a glorious and evolved race they were. The Greek physician Aegimus even wrote a book on the art of making cheesecake. Like their ideas on philosophy and politics I think people realized the Greeks knew what they were talking about and before you knew it everyone had gotten on board the cheesecake train.

The basic cheesecake is made of fresh cheese, eggs, sugar and topped sometimes with fruit or chocolate but almost every country has it's own interpretation. New Yorkers use heavy cream or sour cream and twice bake their versions while the French have come up with a much lighter cake made of Neufchatel Cheese and gelatin as the binder. South Americans like to top it up with marmalade (guava in Brazil and strawberries in Argentina) while the English, Australians and Belgians don't bother to bake their adaptation. The list goes on since cheesecakes are made on every continent (that has people) and almost every country.

This is a recipe for a rich, creamy and utterly delicious New York style chocolate cheesecake:

   

What you’ll need:
 

For the base


125 gm digestive biscuits

60 gms butter

1 tbsp cocoa powder

For the filling 


175 gms dark chocolate

500 gms cream cheese

150 gms caster sugar

150 ml sour cream

1 tbsp custard powder

4 eggs

4 egg yolks

1 tsp cocoa powder

1 tbsp hot water

For the glaze (optional)


75 gms dark chocolate

70 ml cream

 

How to:
 

1. Smash the crumbs, cocoa and butter together to make a crumbly dough.

 

2. Press into an ovenproof dish evenly to make the base and pop in to the freezer.
 

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
 

4. Put the water to boil and melt the chocolate.
 

5. Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, custard powder. Then the eggs, the yolks and the sour cream. Finally the cocoa, hot water and melted chocolate. Beat till smooth.
 

6. Put the dish into a bigger dish that you can fill up halfway with just boiled water. Pour in the cheesecake filling. Bake with the hot water bath for about 45 minutes (till the top is firm).
 

Note: Cheesecakes are really dense and continue to cook even after you take them out of the oven. The water bath helps to spread the heat evenly so they cook better and don't crack up. You'll see from the photo that mine went ahead and craked anyway but don't worry it will continue to be scrumptious.
 

7. Let it cool out in the open and then let it set overnight in the fridge.
 

8. If you want to have a glaze on top of the cheesecake - melt the chocolate and cream and whisk till its smooth.

 
 

9. Drizzle the chocolate on top of the cheesecake and serve.