Cheesecake on a chocolate base - a festive classic!

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Today I want to share a smooth, pleasantly vanilla cheesecake on a moist chocolate base. A simple dessert that will be perfect for your festive table.

 

The cake looks like a lot of work, but it's not true at all. Prep work for the cake shouldn't take you more than an hour. Chocolate layer comes out fluffy and moist, and there is a light coffee note in its flavour. Cheesecake is pleasantly vanilla and smooth, and adds some extra moisture to the chocolate base. All of that under a flavourful, simple chocolate glaze that brings extra sweetness to the dessert.

You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.

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List of ingredients (18 x 28 cm baking tin)

Chocolate base

  • 1 tbsp instant coffee
  • 50 ml hot water
  • 180 g cake flour
  • 30 g (~3 flat tbsp) dark cocoa
  • 1.5 tsp baking powder
  • 200 g butter
  • 100 g sugar
  • 30 g vanilla sugar
  • 3 large eggs

Cheesecake layer

  • 2 large eggs
  • 100 g sugar
  • 80 g butter
  • 500 g low salt creamy cheese, such as ground curd cheese
  • 1 instant vanilla pudding (I'm using sweetened version this time, 60 g packet)
  • 1 tsp vanilla paste

Chocolate glaze

  • 100 g dark chocolate (72%)
  • 100 g whipping cream (36%)

Method

  1. Put 1 tbsp instant coffee into a small bowl and cover it with 50 ml of hot water. Stir through the contents of the bowl shortly, until coffee dissolves. Set it aside to cool completely.
  2. Sift 180 g cake flour, 30 g dark cocoa and 1.5 tsp baking powder through a fine sieve to remove any lumps. Stir through the mixture with a whisk next to distribute everything evenly.
  3. Put 200 g soft butter into a separate large bowl. Add 100 g fine white sugar and 30 g vanilla sugar. Cream butter for a few minutes with an electric mixer, until butter becomes light and fluffy,  and sugar dissolves completely. It is worth scraping down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula from time to time to ensure everything combines as expected.
  4. After you've got the right texture add 3 large eggs to the butter. Do it slowly, one at a time, and mix the contents of the bowl after each one until batter becomes roughly uniform. Around 30-40 s per egg should be enough.
  5. Add cool coffee solution directly into the batter and stir it in until distributed. Batter will become grainy at this stage. It's normal, everything will come together after you add flour.
  6. Add dry ingredients to the batter. Do it in a similar way as in the case of eggs: in three batches, a few tbsp at a time, mixing it in each time with a silicone spatula.
  7. Transfer ready cocoa batter into a baking tin, 18 x 28 cm. The baking tin should be greased and lined with baking paper. Spread the batter across the surface of the baking tin and even out the top. Set the baking tin aside as you move on to the cheesecake layer.
  8. Pour two large eggs into a large bowl and add 100 g fine white sugar. Beat the contents of the bowl with an electric mixer until eggs become light and fluffy, and sugar dissolves. Once you've got the right texture add 80 g cool melted butter to the eggs. Pour butter in in a slow trickle while mixing the batter with an electric mixer at medium high speed. Once you've used all of butter, the batter should thicken slightly and get a bit of shine.
  9. Add 500 g low salt creamy cheese to the batter. You can use full fat curd cheese that you've ground three times or dedicated cheesecake cheese. In the latter case make sure it's not too watery or it could make the batter too runny and the cake won't turn out well. Add cheese a tbsp at a time, and mix each batch in with an electric mixer until smooth.
  10. Once you've used all of cheese add 1 packet instant vanilla pudding and a generous tsp of vanilla paste. Mix the batter for the last time with an electric mixer until vanilla gets distributed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula.
  11. Transfer cheese batter onto the cocoa batter and spread it evenly across the surface. There is enough cheese to cover the cocoa batter completely and form a thick layer. Stir through the batters with a wooden skewer to create a pretty pattern inside.
  12. Bake the cake in an oven preheated to 180 deg C, no fan, for 50-55 minutes, until beautiful and golden. If the cake browns too quickly, you can cover it with a piece of aluminum foil or baking paper. Turn off the oven after 50 minutes, wedge the oven door ajar and keep the cake inside for about an hour, until it cools down slightly. Take it out of the oven then and cool it completely.
  13. Prepare the chocolate glaze to decorate our cake. Put 100 g chopped chocolate (72%) into a small bowl and add 100 g whipping cream (36%). Put the bowl into a microwave for 15 seconds, take it out, stir through its contents and return it into the microwave for another 15 seconds. Repeat these steps until uniform, thick chocolate glaze forms.  If you don't have a microwave oven, you can prepare the chocolate glaze in a water bath.
  14. Pour chocolate glaze on top of cool cake and spread it evenly across the top. You can also decorate the cake with almond flakes, ground nuts or grated white chocolate.
  15. Enjoy!

Approximate nutritional value

100 g

  • 404 kcal
  • Carbs: 32 g  
  • Fat: 27 g
  • Protein: 9 g
  • Fibre: 1 g

1 slice (recipe makes 15 slices)

  • 416 kcal
  • Carbs: 33 g
  • Fat: 28 g
  • Protein: 9 g
  • Fibre: 1 g

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