Chocolate cheesecake

Yesterday we celebrated my roomie's birthday with a nice dinner at home and I obviously offered to make a birthday cake...

I really wanted to try making a chocolate cheesecake and let me tell you it's easy and yummy! Only remember! you have to make it one day in advance so that it cools properly!

 

The recipe comes inspired from Emeril's New York Style Chocolate Cheesecake. I'm not sure if it's an adaptation because I changed a few things but the idea is there and my recipe is as follows.

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon cocoa powder

To assemble the crust break the graham crackers into crumbs. I put them in a ziploc bag and crushed them using a rolling pin (mess free!). To the crumbs add the tablespoon of cocoa powder and mix well. In a bowl melt the butter and stir in the mix. Generously butter your springform pan and add the crumbs to the bottom. Press them down to form the crust (measuring cup works great for this). Set aside.

For the cheesecake:

2 1/2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1 plain non-fat yogurt*
8 ounces melted bittersweet (you can use semisweet) chocolate
1 cup granulated sugar

*The recipe calls for sour cream but I didn´t have any and the yogurt substitution worked pretty well. 

Preheat oven to 350 F
In the microwave, or in a double boiler, melt the chocolate and set aside to cool.
In a bowl, mix together the cheese and sugar until creamy (be sure to have the cheese at room temperature before you start). Mix in the vanilla extract and the eggs one at a time. Add the melted chocolate and then the yogurt. (The recipe called for the flour first but I didn't read correctly and I added it at the end. It worked just fine). Stir in the flour and mix until combined.  Carefully pour the batter in the springform pan.
Bake for 1 hr until set. Let cool in the oven for about 1 hr. This is supposed to prevent cracking. Mine cracked anyway. Transfer to the fridge and cool overnight.

For the garnish

Prepare a ganache adding 1/2 cup of boiling heavy cream to 1 cup of chocolate (whatever kind rocks your socks) and mixing until the chocolate dissolves. Cool slightly and then pour on top of the cheesecake. Works wonderful to cover any cracks.  Cool in the fridge. If desired, decorate with fresh strawberries.