Chocolate Cheesecake

I made this for a friend having a party. Two times I've made this in the past and everytime it came out a disaster. The reasons were the same - water leaked inside the cake pan. This type of cheesecake baking needs a water bath wherein the cake pan is immersed in a larger pan filled with hot water. Of course to prevent the water from seeping in the cake pan you have to wrap it well with foil. First time I attempted this, the foil I had was too small/short so when I filled up the bigger pan with water I didn't realise it trickled in resulting in soggy oozing cake mess. Yuk! Three years later I tried it again, I made sure I bought a big roll of foil the one used for turkeys. No problem with that. But then after wrapping it, I was moving the wrapped cake pan on the kitchen table. I didn't realise (again!) that it created a small hole in the foil. Hence, I ended up with the same sorry soggy cake.

This time around not only I made sure I carefully wrapped and handled the cake pan, I even doubled the foil just to be sure. And thank goodness I am finally rewarded with a nice evenly baked chocolate cheesecake.

The only thing is when I had it, I forgot how strong the properly home baked cheesecake would taste. Unlike the store bought ones whose cheesy taste is very very mild. So for this you would need just a small portion coupled with whipped cream or ice cream.

Adapted from the US edition of Ladies' Home Journal issue of November 1993 (yes that old!).


Chocolate Cheesecake

225 g  (8 oz) semisweet or dark cooking chocolate
1/4 cup brewed coffee or water
1 cup chocolate wafer crumbs
1/4 cup butter - melted
3 x 225 g  (8 oz) cream cheese
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
Boiling water
Icing sugar and chocolate curls

1. Melt chocolates with coffee in a heat proof bowl (or double boiler) over gently simmering water.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F. Combine wafer crumbs and butter in a bowl. Press crumbs into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.
3. Beat cream cheese in a large mixer bowl until smooth. Beat in sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. At low speed, beat in chocolate.
4. Add sour cream and vanilla, beating just until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.
5. Wrap outside of the pan with double sheets of thick aluminum foil. Take care that there are no holes in the foil.
6. Place in a roasting pan in oven and pour boiling water in the roasting pan to come halfway up sides of springform pan.
7. Bake 55 minutes or until sides of cheesecake are puffed and center is just set.
8. Remove from water bath and cool completely on wire rack. (Can be made ahead. Cover and refrigerate up to 2 days).
9. Remove sides of the pan. Garnish top with confectioner's sugar and chocolate curls.

Note: You may substitute chocolate biscuits/cookies (such as Oreo) for the chocolate wafers.