Chocolate Velvet Cheesecake
No water bath needed to make this easy to follow recipe for chocolate cheesecake.
Ingredients
Base Ingredients
- 130 g (1 + ½ cup) cookie crumbs (e.g. BeBe, Digestive biscuits, Graham crackers, etc.)*
- 80 g (⅓ cup) butter, melted**
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
Topping Ingredients
- 600 g cream cheese at room temperature
- 280 g (1 ¼ cup) castor sugar
- 2 tablespoon cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 eggs at room temperature
- 90 g (⅓ cup) sour cream, at room temperature
- 200 g dark chocolate melted
- 200 g about ¾ cup cream (40%), whipped
Instructions
- Line the bottom of a 9 inch (23cm) spring-form cake tin with baking paper and grease the sides with butter or oil. Preheat the oven to 160C (325F) fan bake.
- Combine cookie crumbs, butter and cocoa powder. Mix until combined then press into prepared tin.
- In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, sugar, salt and cocoa powder together with a spoon until smooth (do not use a mixer). Beat in 1 egg at a time (by hand), making sure each egg is well incorporated (be careful not to over-mix). Add vanilla, sour cream and chocolate and continue mixing until combined.
- Pour chocolate cream cheese mixture over the cookie crumb base and place in oven along with two oven-proof ramekins of water. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the edges of the cheesecake come away from the cake-tin and the centre is ‘jiggly’. Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven for at least an hour with the oven door ajar. Once the cheesecake has completely cooled, remove from the oven and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or overnight). Gently cooling the cheesecake this way prevents "shocking" the cheesecake and causing cracks.
- Transfer the cheesecake onto a serving plate and top with the whipped cream plus a sprinkling of chocolate shavings and cocoa powder if desired.
Notes
* To get cookie crumbs, either blend them in a food processor or place them in a bag and bash them with a rolling pin.
** Depending on what cookies/crackers you use, you may need more or less butter. Add enough butter until you reach ‘wet sand’ consistency.