Decadent Death-By-Chocolate- Espresso Cheesecake
Recipe by: Bobbi Jo Lathan
Recipe type: Dessert
PREP TIME
45 mins
COOK TIME
1 hour
TOTAL TIME
1 hour 40 mins
(THIS TIME DOES NOT INCLUDE RESTING TIME AND REFRIGERATION TIME)
INGREDIENTS
For Crust:
Non-stick vegetable cooking spray (I use Carlini)
6 tablespoons unbleached flour
2 teaspoons instant espresso (I use Café Bustelo)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter (unsalted)
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate (chopped)
½ cup sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For Filling:
1 cup bittersweet chocolate morsels (I use Ghirardelli)
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
1 ½ tablespoons instant espresso
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eight-ounce packages of cream cheese (softened)
1 ¼ cups sugar
4 eggs (large)
For Topping:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons coffee liqueur
¾ cup powdered sugar
Chocolate shavings or chocolate-covered coffee beans (for decorations)
INSTRUCTIONS
For Crust:
1. Preheat your oven to 325ᵒ and let’s make the crust.
2. Get out your 9-inch springform pan and grease the bottom and the sides of the pan with your cooking spray.
3. Now, get out your scissors, cut some parchment paper into a 9-inch circle, and place it inside the bottom of the springform pan. Then, lightly spray with your cooking spray.
4. Get out a little mixing bowl and stir together the flour, instant espresso, and salt, and set aside.
5. Now, you can either nuke the butter and the chopped bittersweet chocolate together in your microwave for 1 minute (on Medium), take out of the microwave after 30 seconds and stir to mix the chocolate, and stick back in and nuke for another 30 seconds or so until it’s blended and smooth. Then, take it out and whisk in the regular sugar and the light brown sugar until blended. Then let it cool for 10 minutes.
6. OR, if you’re like me and not a big microwave fan…Just get yourself a little saucepot, stick it on your stove burner, and melt the butter on low. Once it’s melted, add the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted and blended, smooth and creamy. Stir in the regular sugar and light brown sugar until nicely blended and set aside for 10 minutes to cool.
7. Once the mixture has cooled for 10 minutes, whisk in the egg and vanilla extract until blended. Then add your flour, espresso, and salt mixture and stir until well blended.
8. Now, pour the entire mixture into the bottom of your prepared springform pan and bake in your preheated oven at 325ᵒ for 20 minutes. Then, remove it from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack while we make the Filling.
For The Filling:
1. If you use a microwave, do so on Medium in a microwave-safe bowl for 1 minute, the chocolate morsels. Take it out, stir, and place back in for another minute or 1 minute and ½ (stirring again at 30-second intervals) to completely melt the morsels. Let it cool for 10 minutes. While it’s cooling, get out your measuring cup and add and stir together the heavy cream, the instant espresso, and the vanilla extract.
2. If you use a saucepot, just melt the chocolate morsels over low heat, stirring until melted and smooth; then, once it has cooled a bit, add and stir or whisk in the whipping cream, espresso, and vanilla extract. Set aside a minute while we mix the cream cheese.
3. Get out your hand mixer, and in a large mixing bowl, beat at a medium-low speed the softened cream cheese with ¼ of the granulated sugar until smooth. Then, add the melted chocolate cream espresso mixture and beat at low speed until that’s blended. Then add the eggs, one at a time, until all blended nicely. Then, pour the cream cheese-chocolate-espresso filling into the springform pan, right over the pie crust that you already prepared in the bottom of your pan.
4. Bake in your 325ᵒ oven for 50-55 minutes to 1 hour, or until just the very center of the cheesecake barely jiggles and the cheesecake is almost set.
5. Then, when done, remove the cheesecake from the oven and, very gently, run a knife around the edges of the cheesecake to loosen it from the sides. DO NOT REMOVE THE SIDES OF THE SPRINGFORM PAN YET!
6. Allow the cheesecake in its pan to cool on a wire rack for at least 2 hours. Then, cover the cooled cake in its pan with some plastic wrap or aluminum foil and place it in the fridge for at least 8 hours.
For The Topping:
1. Once the cake is ready to be served, get out a medium-sized mixing bowl and beat the 2 cups of heavy whipping cream at medium speed with your hand mixer until frothy. Then, add in the coffee liqueur and the powdered sugar, a little at a time, until you have created soft peaks. Dollop the fluffy cream onto the top of your cheesecake, along with some sprinkled shavings of chocolate, or decorate with some chocolate-covered espresso beans.
2. Serve to all your guests and watch their eyes open wide with delight, and listen to all their ooohs and aaahs the moment they dive into your decadent and incredibly dee-lish-us chocolate espresso cheesecake!
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