July 21, 2020

Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake

This decadent and rich chocolate cheesecake is the ultimate dessert for any chocolate lovers. With a chocolate cookie base, chocolate cheese filling, and chocolate topping, it’s a chocolate explosion.

Despite its complicated appearance, this cheesecake can be broken down into steps that are actually fairly simple. There’s few techniques here and there that need to be maintained, but they’re nothing that can’t be handled.

To make the cheesecake, I would definitely suggest to reserve time a day before you need it so that it has proper time to set and chill before you decorate and present it. Also, make sure to have room in the fridge!

This is a baked cheesecake, not a fridge set cheesecake, meaning it has eggs and goes in the oven. I’ve also worked this recipe to make for a lighter cheesecake, as chocolate typically lends for a more dense texture.

Another great thing about this cheesecake is the balance of sweetness, which is through a mix of bitter/semisweet chocolate, salt, and sugar.

Ingredients

For the crust:

15 Oreos, or 6 packs of mini Oreos
3 tablespoons butter, melted
pinch of salt

For the cheese filling:

2 1/2 lb cream cheese, 5 8-oz blocks, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
7 eggs, whole, room temperature
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups water (bain-marie)

For the ganache:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
12 oz chocolate chips

For the decorations:

1/4 cup hazelnuts, roasted + 10 additional hazelnuts
Cherries
6 oz chocolate chips
Leftover ganache (see recipe)
1/4 cup sugar
2 Oreos

Instructions:

For the crust:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Put all of the Oreos, cream included, into either a plastic bag or a food processor. Pulse or beat with a rolling pin until you have fine crumbs but not complete dust. Then, combine the crumbs with the melted butter and salt. The goal is a mixture that you can squish into a shape in your hand, but will still stay fairly loose. *
Pour the crumb mixed with the butter into a springform pan, which is essentially a pan that has removable sides. This is super important, as another pan will not let you remove the cheesecake in the end. Spread the crumb mix out evenly over the bottom, and use your fingers to press it down firmly. Then, bake it in the oven for 8-10 minutes until set. Cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes.*

For the cheese filling:

Preheat the oven to 450°F. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the softened cream cheese and the sugar. Beat on high speed for 5-6 minutes until light and fluffy, making sure to scrape down the bottom every once in a while. *
One by one, add the eggs on medium speed, scraping down the bowl between every 2-3 eggs to help it mix evenly. Then, add the sour cream, vanilla, salt, and cocoa powder. Mix just until combined, making sure no lumps are left at the bottom.
Pour the mix into the springform pan with the baked crust, leveling off the top. Whenever I make this cheesecake, the mix fills the pan right up to the top.
Prepare the Bain Marie. A Bain Marie will help the cheesecake cook evenly and will stop cracking from occurring. This french method is essentially to pour a little bit of hot water into a sheet pan at the bottom of the oven to help maintain the temperature. To do this, place a sheet pan on the bottom rack of the oven and pour in 2 cups of water. *
Carefully transfer the cheesecake to the middle rack or the rack right below it. Bake at 450°F for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 225°F and bake for another hour and 10-15 minutes. Try not to open the oven during the baking time, as the steam will help prevent cracking. At the end of the cooking time, you’re looking for a gentle wobble in the very center of the cake when you shake it, with the edges set.
Allow the cooked cheesecake to sit in the turned off oven with the door slightly open for about an hour. Then, remove it and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. *

For the ganache:

Heat the cream in a pan or in the microwave until it is very warm but not boiling. When you put your finger in it, it should be mildly uncomfortable.
In a bowl, place the chocolate. Then, pour the hot cream over top and let it sit for 5 minutes without stirring. Cover the top of the bowl.
Mix the ganache until it is smooth and luscious. Let it cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
Prepare the cheesecake for the ganache. Very carefully, run a knife around the edge of the pan. Then, take the side of the pan off gently. For glazing, prepare a sheet pan with 3 glass cups on top of it, then out the cheesecake (still on the metal base) on top. You are essentially creating a way for the extra ganache to run off the cheesecake during glazing.
When you’re ready, pour the room temperature ganache on the room temperature cheesecake, letting it run down the sides. Once everything is covered, immediately put the cheesecake into the fridge to let the ganache set up, at least 1 hour to overnight. I like to do all of the steps up to here and leave the cake overnight, then decorate the next day. With the remaining ganache that dripped off of the cake, place it in a bowl or container and into the fridge.

Decoration and assembly:

Prepare all of the different decorations:
For the chocolate shards: melt the chocolate and spread it over a piece of parchment. In a bag, crush the hazelnuts until there are small chunks left. Sprinkle them over the melted chocolate and place the whole thing in the fridge until set. When set, use a knife to cut shards, as breaking it apart with your hands will likely melt the chocolate. Set aside, keeping them cold.
For the whipped ganache: Take the leftover chilled ganache from the glazing and whip with a hand mixer or whisk until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on high speed.
Other decorations: For the Oreo crumble, break apart the Oreos until they are crumbs. The cherries are simply left whole. For the hazelnuts, put 1/4 cup sugar into a pan and heat on low heat without stirring until you see a consistent caramel color. Being careful, individually skewer the 10 hazelnuts with toothpicks and dip in caramel, then put them on parchment paper until the sugar is set. Then, remove the toothpicks.
For assembly: Sprinkle the Oreo crumble in a circle around the edge of the cake. Then, put the whipped ganache into a piping bag with an open star tip and pipe flowers of various sizes in a circle around the cake, using the crumble as a guide. With no pattern, distribute the hazelnuts, shards, and cherries until you get a pattern that you like. Keep the cheesecake in the fridge for all of the chocolate not to melt. Slice when ready and enjoy!

Notes/Baking Tips:

The most important tip: use a springform pan, otherwise known as a pan with a removable bottom. Without this, it will be impossible to get the cheesecake safely out of the pan and it will fall apart.
For the cookie crumb base, I would recommend using Oreo cookies, because the cream filling will help bind the base of the cheesecake and make it less crumbly. If you choose to use a chocolate cookie/biscuit that does not have a filling, I would recommend adding a few tablespoons of extra butter to ensure the crust doesn’t fall apart.
For the cheese filling, it is super important to use room temperature cream cheese and eggs. If the cream cheese is not room temperature, it will be nearly impossible to mix it enough to get rid of all the lumps, and then the resulting lumpy cheesecake is not very appealing. It is super important to use room temperature eggs as that will ensure that the mix is smooth and won’t curdle.
Make sure that when you pour the cheese filling into the crust, the crust is room temperature or you could end up with scrambled cheesecake at the bottom.
When baking, I would definitely recommend the usage of the Bain-marie because it will help prevent the cheesecake from cracking.
Cooling the cheesecake first in the turned-off oven is also important because it will allow the cheesecake to cool gently and set, rather than shocking it and causing it to crack by a significantly cooler temperature.
Make sure the ganache is room temperature when you pour it onto the cheesecake, otherwise it will not stay on the cheesecake and it will slide right off.
After you are completely done and have everything decorated, it is highly important that this cake is kept in the fridge. It will otherwise melt and spoil due to the dairy/egg content, as well as the chocolate.

Bonus: I also made this cake for a friend’s birthday party, and decorated it a little differently. I decorated it with strawberries, additional oreos, and I made chocolate butterflies! To make them, I essentially placed a piece of parchment paper in an open book and piped the butterflies onto the parchment where the seam was, to get them to look more 3D rather than flat. Really, you could make anything out of chocolate!

Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake

This cheesecake is an explosion of chocolate, including a chocolate crust, smooth chocolate cheese filling, rich chocolate ganache, all crowned with chocolate decorations. It's a great balance between luxurious chocolate, creamy cream cheese, a biscuity base, and various textural decorations. It is certainly not the easiest cake to make in the world, nor the least time consuming, but it is absolutely doable and absolutely worth the effort.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 1 25

Cooling Time 4 15

Total Time 6 40

Course Dessert

Servings 16 people

Calories 670 kcal

Equipment

springform pan
stand/hand mixer
baking sheet or shallow baking dish/pan
parchment paper

Ingredients

Chocolate Crust

15 Oreo cookies or 6 packs mini Oreos
3 tbsp butter melted
1 pinch salt

Cheese Filling

2 1/2 lbs cream cheese 5 8-oz blocks, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
7 eggs whole, room temperature
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups water

Ganache

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Decorations

1/4 cup hazelnuts roasted
6-10 cherries medium (can be substituted for berries or left out completely)
6 oz semisweet chocolate chips
leftover ganache see recipe
6-10 caremlized hazelnuts see recipe
2 Oreos 1 pack minis

Instructions

Chocolate Crust:

Preheat the oven to 350º F. In a food processor or in a plastic bag, add the Oreo cookies. Then, either blitz or crush with a rolling pin until you have fine crumbs.
Add the melted butter and salt to the crumbs, and stir until combined. Pour the mix into a springform pan and press down until all the crumbs are stuck together.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, then cool until room temperature, about 15 minutes.

Cheese Filling:

Preheat the oven to 450ºF. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the softened cream cheese and sugar on high speed for 5-6 minutes. Scrape down the bowl once in a while to ensure it is fulling mixing.
One by one, add the eggs on medium speed, scraping down the bowl occasionally.
Add the sour cream, vanilla, salt, and cocoa powder and mix until combined. Pour the mix into the springform pan with the cooled crust on the bottom.
Prepare the bain marie by placing your shallow sheet pan into the bottom of the oven and pour in 2 cups of warm water.
Transfer the cheesecake to the oven carefully, placing it a few racks above the bain-marie.
Bake at 450ºF for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 225ºF and bake for another 70-75 minutes. Try not to open the oven during the baking, as the created steam prevents cracking and helps the cheesecake cook. See the recipe for a description of the wobble of the cheesecake at the end of the cook time.
Once done, turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake to cool with the oven door slightly open for one hour. Then, remove and cool until at least room temperature, about 2 hours.

Ganache

Heat the cream in a pan or in the microwave until warmed through but not boiling.
Add the chocolate to a heatproof bowl and pour over the cream. Without stirring, cover the bowl for 5 minutes. Then, stir until the ganache becomes luscious and smooth.
Let the ganache come to room temperature and prepare the cheesecake for glazing.
The setup is as follows: On the bottom, there is a sheet pan, then there are three glass cups on top, and on top will go the cheesecake. You're looking to create a system that will allow the cheesecake to be elevated and allow the excess ganache to drip off.
Remove the cheesecake gently from the pan by running a knife along the sides and releasing the pan. Keep the bottom of the springform under the cheesecake.
Put the cheesecake on top of the glazing set up and pour the ganache over, making sure to coat the sides. Once done, put the cheesecake into the fridge and cool for at least an hour.
Save the leftover ganache that dripped off the cheesecake in the fridge and let it cool with the cheesecake. This will later be used for decoration.

Decorations/Assembly

Prepare the decorations during the period of time the cheesecake is cooling and the ganache is setting.
Make the chocolate shards by melting down the 6 oz chocolate in a pan or microwave. In a bag, crush the hazelnuts until there are rough, small pieces left.
Pour the chocolate onto a sheet of parchment paper, and then spread it out until thin. Sprinkle over the hazlenuts and let it set in the fridge.
Once it is set, use a knife to cut shards or simply break the chocolate. Keep in the fridge, especially if it is a hot/humid day.
To make the whipped ganache, whip the leftover ganache that's been chilling in the fridge for about 3 minutes on high speed until light and fluffy.
For the Oreo crumble, crush the 2 reserved Oreos until you have fine crumbs.
For the caramelized hazelnuts, add the sugar to a pan. Cook it slowly on low heat without stirring until you achieve a caramel color, then dip the 10 hazelnuts skewered on toothpicks. Put them on parchment paper until the sugar is set. Then, remove the toothpicks.
For the actual decoration, sprinkle the Oreo crumble in a circle around the cake. Transfer the whipped ganache to a piping bag with an open star tip and pipe different sized flowers around the circle of crumbs. Randomly, add the cherries, chocolate shards, and caramelized hazelnuts until you are happy with the decoration.
Keep the cheesecake in the fridge until you're ready to eat. Slice when desired and enjoy!