Serves 10 – Ready in 1½ hours, plus chilling & cooling
This baked cheesecake is a must for chocolate lovers – it has a really rich flavour without being too sweet. It’s perfect to serve as a dessert or sweet treat over the weekend as you can make it in advance. Keep the cooled cheesecake covered in the fridge for up to 2 days. Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before serving.
Ingredients
- 225g digestive biscuits, finely crushed
- 75g unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 200g good quality plain chocolate, broken into pieces
- 400g soft cheese, such as Philadelphia
- 100g caster sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 medium eggs, beaten
- 300ml soured cream
- Cocoa powder to dust
- Chocolate sauce, to serve (optional)
Method
- Mix together the crushed biscuits, melted butter and cocoa powder and press evenly into the base of a well buttered 23cm round spring-form or deep fluted flan tin. Chill the base in the fridge.
- Preheat the oven to 170C, 325F, Gas 3. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water then remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl beat together the soft cheese, caster sugar and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in the eggs then fold in the soured cream. Spoon about half the mixture over the chilled biscuit base.
- Gently fold the melted chocolate into the remaining mixture (it will be quite thick) and drop spoonfuls of this mixture on top of the vanilla layer.
- Using the blade of a thin knife gently swirl the chocolate mixture through the vanilla mixture. Place the tin on a baking sheet and bake for 45-55 minutes, until the filling has just set. Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake to cool in the oven.
- Serve the cold cheesecake sliced, lightly dusted with cocoa powder and with a drizzle of chocolate sauce, if liked.
Tip: For a chocolate orange version add the zest and juice of orange to the soft cheese mixture instead of the vanilla extract.
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