Friday, April 1, 2011

Heavenly Chocolate Cheesecake


It's no secret... I love me a good cheesecake!
I laugh and tell folks that there MUST be a special place in Heaven where
all they serve is cheesecake! mmmm...

This weekend I had the privilege of trying out a brand new recipe for
chocolate cheesecake.   I've never made a chocolate cheesecake!  I know...crazy! LOL
This recipe was simple but not for the faint of heart.
It took 2 1/2 whole whoppin' pounds of cheesecake to make it.
But man...oh man...is it good!

I'd like to thank LPC Interiors blog for her posting of this extra delicious recipe!
You can check out her blog HERE.  I omitted her lemon zest.  I am not a lemon
fan at all, especially in cheesecake.  But if you are, feel free to add 1 T of it
in the filling part! :)

Chocolate Cheesecake

Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 T sugar
6 T butter (melted)

Filling:

5 8 oz packages cream cheese - at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 whole Extra Large eggs - at room temperature
2 egg yolks from 2 Extra Large eggs - at room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
8 oz chocolate chips - melted (I bought a 12 oz bag and used the extra for the drizzle!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crust:  crush graham crackers in a gallon size ziplock bag with a rolling pin.  Add sugar and melted - but cooled butter to the bag and rub back and forth to mix with your hands.  This keeps from making a big mess and dirtying up a bowl!  Pour into a 9" springform pan.  With your hands or the back of a metal spoon, press crumbs into the bottom of the pan and about 1" up the sides.  Bake for 8 minutes.  Cool to room temp.

Raise oven temp. to 450 degrees.  For the filling, cream cream cheese and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer on medium high until light and fluffy.  Reduce speed to medium and add eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well.  Scrape down the bowl and beater, as necessary.  With the mixer on low, add sour cream, vanilla, and melted chocolate.  Mix thoroughly and pour into cooled crust.

Bake for 15 minutes.  Turn oven temperature down to 225 degrees and bake for another 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Turn oven off and open the door wide.  The cake will not be completely set in the center.  Allow the cake to sit in the oven with the door open for 30 minutes.  Take the cake out of the oven and allow to sit at room temperature for 2-3 hours until completely cooled.  Wrap and refrigerate overnight.  Enjoy!

This cheesecake recipe did not disappoint.  My husband and co-workers agreed it was the best chocolate cheesecake they had ever ate!  If you don't like chocolate, leave that part out and use all the other ingredients.

I added a simple chocolate glaze by mixing the remaining chocolate chips (melted) and about 2 tsp of butter melted together on the stove.  I poured this into a glazing bottle and drizzled over the cake after adding some cut strawberries to the center.

1 comment:

Jenn said...

You sinful woman...I LOVE cheesecake but it instantly goes to my rear end! lol

I've never made 'real' cheesecake, I've always done the no bake kind but I have to admit, this sounds DELICIOUS! I might have to break this one out for our next party...otherwise I'd eat the whole thing myself and end up weighing 400 pounds! lol

~Jenn