Chocolate Cream Cheesecake

If you have read my previous post last month, I said that I have excess of marcarpone cheese.. I've been procrastinating all these while.. Hence, I've been baking excessively this Christmas week cos I wanna use up all the mascarpone cheese and also for the gathering I have at work.. And of ocurse trying out new recipes from the new books that I have.. Weee~

I never tried making chocolate cheesecake before.. Hence, you should know what happened... I made a new recipe from the new book that my sis bought for me.. The author is a Malaysian if I'm not wrong or Singaporean.. I don't know.. It's called Cheesecake Seduction by Catherine Lau...All her cheesecakes look fabulous and mouth watering.. It's very inspiring actually... However, what I don't really like about the book is that it's not very detailed.. hence making it hard for me to decipher the steps.. I have to think properly and experiment on my own.. But other than that, it's a great book.. Go get it if you can... Support Asian cooks and Bakers!! hehe..

Chocolate Cream Cheesecake (taken from Cheesecake Seduction by Catherine Lau)
(my notes in red)

TOPPING
200ml whipping cream
50ml milk
250g dark chocolate, chopped

FILLING
10 egg yolks
2 eggs
60g brown sugar
500ml milk
300ml whipping cream
2 tsp instant coffee powder
250g dark chocolate, melted
250g mascarpone cheese, stirred gently until smooth

BASE
30g butter, diced
60g dark chocolate
1 tbsp brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp instant coffee powder, mixed with 1 tsp hot water
2 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda, sifted
40g ground hazelnuts

Directions:
TOPPING
1. Heat cream and milk over gently simmering water. Add chocolate. Stir until smooth.

2. Pour two-thirds of topping into a deep 20-cm round cake pan. Cover and refrigerate. Set aside remaining chocolate.

Filling
1. Preheat oven to 160 deg C. Whisk egg yolks, eggs and brown sugar for 2 minutes. Set aside.

2. Combine milk and cream in a pan over low heat. Bring to the boil and remove from heat immediately. Stir in coffee powder and chocolate. Stand for 5 minutes. Slowly pour chocolate mixture into egg mixture while stirring until combined. Strain then leave to cool.

3. Stir in mascarpone into chocolate mixture until smooth. Slowly pour mixture on chocolate topping in cake pan. Place pan in water bath. bake for 50 minutes. (I need to bake quite long.. almost more than an hour..and I had to increase the temprature higher for the last 15 minutes or so. The point is, you need to bake till the  batter is firm enough to hold the base later.. so that it won't sink.. I'm assuming that it will sink it its still in liquid-y state).

Base
1. Combine butter and chocolate. Stir over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in brown sugar, egg, milk, and coffee mixture, one at a time. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well. Spoon into a piping bag with a large plain nozzle.( I didn't use a piping bag.. Just spread it with a trusty spoon or spatula. Try to make as leveled as possible)..

2. Remove cake pan from oven. Pipe mixture on filling. Bake for 15 minutes or until centre of base is firm. (I did a toothpick test with the base). Remove and cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

3. Carefully run a knife around the edge and invert cheesecake onto a serving plate. Warm remaining chocolate topping and serve with cake. Decorate as desired.

I made half the recipe as usual.. I used 70% chocolate for the whole recipe.. and the cheesecake wasn't sweet at all including the topping.. Hence, I would recommend using milk chocolate or not-so-dark chocolate for the topping at least... I think you can opt out the coffee if you don't want to bitterness tang inside the filling..

This recipe produces a soft cheesecake.. not cakey at all although it's a baked cheesecake.. It's not really like custard.. More to creamy.. Overall, I think it's a lovely cheesecake for all dark chocolate lovers.. You can tweak the recipe a bit for a slightly sweeter cheesecake..

~Another day is going by..
I'm thinking about you all the time~