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Chocolate cheesecake
I must confess – cheesecakes have been my long-time love, I first heard about this dessert from an episode of the series 'Friends' (remember how Rachel ended up with that cake by mistake and couldn't resist eating it). Now I have tried a bunch of cheesecake recipes, both baked and no-bake, and I want to present you with quite a good specimen, especially its little feature that makes this cake interesting for both kids and adults.
Preparation time: 140 minutes.
Ingredients
Show ingredients
- crumbly cookies 250 g;
- butter 75 g. (a little less than half of a 180-gram pack);
- cream cheese 800 g. (it's actually better to use 'Philadelphia' cheese, but I really like the special cheese for cheesecakes from Hochland);
- sugar, or better powdered sugar 200 g;
- sour cream at least 20% fat 200 g;
- cornstarch 1 tbsp;
- salt on the tip of a knife;
- vanillin on the tip of a knife;
- egg 4 pcs;
- milk chocolate 200 g;
- dark chocolate 100 g;
- roasted peanuts 150 g.
Instructions
- Mix the crushed cookies with the melted butter. Mix well and press into a springform pan so that the crumbs cover the entire bottom. Bake at 180-200 degrees for about 10 minutes.
- While the base is baking, let's make the cheese part. In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese with the sugar – mix until homogeneous, preferably by hand with a whisk. If you decide to use a mixer, do it on the lowest speed, and the mixture should have as few bubbles as possible.
- Add the sour cream, cornstarch, salt, and vanillin – mix everything thoroughly again. I had vanilla extract, I added 2 teaspoons of it. Now it’s time for the eggs, break all of them – mix carefully again.
- The next step is to divide the mixture into two parts and add melted dark chocolate to one. Additionally, melt the milk chocolate and add the nuts to it. It's best to melt the chocolate in the microwave, but it also works well on the stove, just use a low flame and stir constantly with a spoon or silicone spatula.
- In our pan with the prepared base, we pour the chocolate with nuts and spread it across the whole pan. Then take a ladle and alternately pour in the light cheese mixture and then the dark one. You need to pour exactly in the middle. You will get a surface with concentric circles of light and dark colors. You can leave them like that, or you can swirl with a toothpick. I made simple spirals around, another beautiful option is radial stripes from the center to the edges and back.
- Bake the chocolate cheesecake 'Zebra' at 120 degrees for 1.5 – 2 hours. The oven should be preheated, try to peek in there as little as possible during the process. You can easily check for doneness by touching it with your fingertip, the mixture should not sink and ideally should not leave any residue on your finger.
- Take out the chocolate cheesecake 'Zebra' and carefully detach the sides of the pan, helping yourself with a knife. The cheesecake is ready, you can leave it as is, or decorate it to your liking. I poured melted chocolate on top, decorated it with cream caps, and stuck a piece of chocolate bar into each cap, then drizzled caramel syrup over it.
Enjoy the gasps and sighs of your guests and, of course, the amazing taste of chocolate cheesecake 'Zebra'.
