I've used it in brownies, icing, ganache, cake pops, more cake pops and more ganache. And finally - and quite easily the best use of it so far - in a triple chocolate cheesecake.
I like baking with cream cheese (have I mentioned that before?!) and a new baked cheesecake recipe is something that I just can't resist. I have a recipe book full of them, which I'm slowly making my way through. But when I saw the pictures of a triple chocolate cheesecake on the net, it became an instant must-bake. And it conveniently uses up another 400g of chocolate (only!)
I have made cheesecake with melted chocolate before, but as delicious as it was, you felt after the first bite that you'd have to run the Comrades Marathon to atone for it!
So, I've changed a few things from the original recipe:
Firstly for the crust, instead of biscuit crumbs I just used cookie dough.
Secondly, the sugar. Cheesecake shouldn't be so sweet that you loose the subtle savoury undertones...in my opinion : ) so I routinely reduce the amount of sugar the recipe calls for.
Thirdly - this is something I usually do, too - I replaced the cream with buttermilk, just to lighten it up.
And, finally, I simplified the topping, just drizzling a bit of white chocolate, rather than making a glaze.
It turned out well, very well. The few slices left seem to be shrinking by slivers every time the fridge gets opened!
So, for the original recipe, go here. But for something lighter, but incredibly delicious, read on:
Triple Chocolate Cheesecake:
Oven temp. 150'C
Prepare a 20cm square pan (not too shallow) with baking paper: make a cross with the sheets extending above the sides of the pan.
Crust:
Basic or chocolate cookie dough* or 11/2 cups cookie crumbs and 55g butter
Filling:
3 x 250g tubs of firm low-fat cream cheese
2/3 cup sugar
2 TBS corn flour
3 large eggs
3/4 cup Buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
120g white chocolate (and some extra for dribbling over the baked cheesecake.)
120g milk chocolate
120g dark chocolate
*If you are using cookie dough as your crust, depending on how thick you want your crust to be, you will need at least 600g raw dough.
Roll it out, cut it to size and place in the prepared pan. Bake for approx.15 minutes at 180'C. Allow to cool.
(Or mix cookie crumbs and melted butter together, press firmly into the bottom of the pan, and bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool. )
Then reduce the oven temp. to 150' C
For the filling:
With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the cream cheese sugar and corn flour until smooth.
With the mixer on medium on low speed, add the eggs 1 at a time. Scrape down the sides of the mixer between additions of egg.
Add the buttermilk and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
Divide the batter evenly between 3 bowls.
Melt the chocolate separately.
It takes about 2 1/2 min on low power in the microwave to melt the chocolate. Don't use 100% power!
Add the white chocolate to one bowl of batter, the milk chocolate to another, and the dark chocolate to the third.
Pour the milk chocolate batter over your crust in the pan.
Spoon the white chocolate batter over this one and smooth carefully - taking care not to mix the layers together.
Then repeat with the dark chocolate batter.
Place in the oven and bake for 1hr. Cool in the oven with the door slightly ajar.
Drizzle melted white chocolate over the surface of the cheesecake (or see the original recipe for a dark chocolate glaze).
Refrigerate at least 3-4 hours, or overnight before serving.
To remove from the pan, lift up by the extended edges of the baking paper.
Cut into square/ rectangular portions.
Put aside a slice to savour in peace one your guests have left ; )
Unfortunately the photo's I've taken don't do it justice - in terms of appearance, I just couldn't slice it cleanly enough not to smudge the colour between different layers . Next time (and there will definitely be a next time, and a next for making this one...) for cosmetic sake, I will put the white chocolate layer between the milk and dark chocolate ones, as in the recipe.
Enjoy!
xxM
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