Sunday 1 January 2012

Marbled Chocolate Cheesecake

One last decadent dessert, before returning to my usual style of baking, with lowered saturated fat content. This was made to use up the cream cheese bought 'in case' before Christmas. I chose this recipe because it suited the amounts of cream cheese and sour cream I had in the fridge. One change I made was to use gingernut biscuits and 2 teaspoons of cocoa for the crumb crust, instead of the Australian biscuits specified. The other change was a mistake - I inadvertently picked up half-fat sour cream, which was a bit of a worry when I realised (as I was pouring it on top of the cream cheese!).

Chocolate wouldn't be my first choice for flavouring a cheesecake, but when I asked FB what she would like, chocolate is what she chose! I was considering a refreshing lemon, or even a tongue-tingling ginger, but it was not to be.

This is the first time I've made a cheesecake in a full crumb case, rather than just on a base, and I'm pleased at how well it turned out, although I only just built up the sides high enough. The crumb crust was very thin, and it wouldn't hurt to use a few more biscuits - another 50g, perhaps - but a thin crust is easy to cut and keeps the calories down a little.

Another thing I need to learn is to recognise the end-point when cooking a cheesecake. When I opened the oven door at 1 hour, the mixture was still very wobbly, and 7 minutes later it was still wobbling a lot! However, after another 5 minutes the cheesecake was solid, which inevitably lead to cracking as it cooled, so the mid-point is where I should have stopped cooking and turned off the heat.

This overcooking, and the use of half-fat sour cream, didn't seem to affect the texture too badly - the cheesecake was still soft and creamy, with enough chocolate to give it a good flavour.

11 comments:

Chele said...

Great looking cheesecake, I always seem to 'over marble' my efforts and end up with something more like a mud pie so I am very envious! Happy New Year ;0)

MissCakeBaker said...

This looks like heaven on a plate! Happy new year!

Caroline said...

It looks delicious (I'm in cheesecake mode at the moment!!) - a great way to use up cream cheese and soured cream. I love the marbling - very attractive!

I know what you mean about the soured cream though - I have nearly bought Tesco half fat soured cream rather than full fat because the packaging is almost identical!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Your marbling looks very good!

Kate@whatkatebaked said...

Happy New Year! And what a delicious cake to celebrate with..

Baking Addict said...

Happy New Year! Great looking cheesecake - I've never made one with a full crumb case either. Love the marbling effect.

Katie said...

Wow that looks so attractive and tatsy. Love the striking look of the swirls and dark crust. Happy New Year :)

Snowy said...

Love the idea of the full crumb case. It looks delicious and very moreish!

celia said...

Suelle, you are, and always will be, the Queen of Marbling! The gingernuts sound like a nice alternative to the Choc Ripple bikkies...

Lucy said...

I love cheesecake but for some reason have never tried a chocolate version - this looks delicious! What a treat to start the new year.

Choclette said...

This looks beautiful. I really like baked cheesecake, but have still never made one myself.