UM HI HAPPYย MONDAYย I'M SO EXCITED! I. Made. A triple chocolate cheesecake. It's AH-MAZING! I honestly never feel more accomplished than when I successfully make a cake, especially a cheesecake.
Now the awesome thingย about cheesecake is pretty much whatever variation you make, the tips for success are still the same! Here's a quick copy paste from my dark chocolate raspberry cheesecake:
Tip 1: Be careful when adding the eggs. Do not over mix! If you do, this can add too much air to the batter and cause instability during baking, leading to unsightly cracks. And make sure to add the eggs one at a time.
Tip 2: Leave the oven door popped open with the heat off after cooking for an hour to let the cheesecake cool down. If you take it out of the oven, the temperature decline can be too much for the filling and again cause cracking on the surface of your cheesecake.
I absolutely ROCKED this triple chocolate cheesecake by the way. No cracks down the middle!!!
See?? No cracks! But of course I had a fail safe just in case I cooked it a smidge too long and a delicious fail safe at that! Let me introduce, chocolate ganache.
Ummm basically heaven. Chocolate ganache is melted chocolate and heavy cream whisked to smooth, shiny perfection. I like to add a pinch of espresso powder to my ganache, it depeens the flavor of the chocolate for extra deliciousness. It sets up nice and thick, perfect to cover any cracks on the top of your chocolate cheesecake!
Plus, sprinkle the ganache with a ton of chocolate shavings and you've got nothing to worry about.
Now go cure that chocolate craving with a triple chocolate cheesecake. Trust me, it'll keep the sweet tooth away for days!
Triple Chocolate Cheesecake
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 cheesecake 1x
Description
The creamiest, richest cheesecake with three layers of chocolate: dark chocolate crust, chocolate filling, and a chocolate ganache topping sprinkled with both milk and dark chocolate shavings
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 1 cup finely crushed graham crackers
- ยผ cup white sugar
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ยฝ cup cocoa powder
For the Filling
- 24 ounces cream cheese
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ยฝ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate morsels (about 1 ยฝ cups)
- ยผ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- ยฝ bar dark chocolate, ยฝ bar milk chocolate, thinly sliced into shavings for garnish
For the Ganache
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate morsels
- ยพ cup heavy whipping cream
- ยฝ teaspoon espresso pwoder
Get Recipe Ingredients
Instructions
Make the Crust
- Preheat oven to 350หF. Grease a 9-inch spring form pan. Cover the sides with foil to protect against the water bath used to cook the cheesecake.
- In a medium bowl, combine crushed graham crackers, sugar, butter, and cocoa powder together until thoroughly mixed.
- Using a flat-bottomed surface, press the graham cracker mixture onto the bottom of the pan.
- Place the pan on a middle rack in the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool. Lower the heat to 325หF.
Make the Filling
- Scald heavy cream (should be steaming but not boiling) in the microwave or stove top. Pour cream over chocolate morsels and let sit for 10 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Note that this chocolate mixture will seem quite thick. Not to worry, it is not the ganache and will set up perfectly for your filling!
- Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer or a hand mixer and a large mixing bowl, add the cream cheese and mix on a medium speed until smooth.
- Add the sugar slowly and mix until smooth.
- Add the sour cream, vanilla extract, and salt and mix until smooth.
- On a slow speed, add the eggs one at a time, mixing until just combined. Slowly pour in the chocolate cream mixture untilย justย combined.
- Slowly pour the filling mixture on top of the cooled crust.
- Place the foil covered spring form pan in a roasting pan and put on the middle rack in the oven. Fill with water half way up the pan (do not fill past the foil or the water will get into the filling!).
- Bake for 60 to 75 minutes, until edges are set and the center of the cheesecake is still slightly jiggly.
- Leaving the cheesecake in the oven, turn off the heat and pop the oven door open an inch for another 60 minutes, to let the cheesecake cool down slowly and reduce the chance of cracking.
- Take the cheesecake out of the roasting pan and chill in the fridge overnight.
Garnish Cheesecake
- To remove the cheesecake from the pan, run a paring knife around the sides. Open the pan and remove the ring.
- To remove the bottom of the pan, briefly heat up the underside above a stove burner or using a creme brรปlรฉe torch. Gently slide a knife or spatula underneath to release the bottom and slide off onto the serving plate.
- Make the Chocolate Ganache:ย Scald heavy cream (should be steaming but not boiling) in the microwave or stove top. Pour cream over chocolate morsels and let sit for 10 minutes. Whisk until smooth and shiny. Whisk in espresso powder. Let cool until warm but not hot to the touch.
- ย Spread ganache over the top of the cheesecake, leaving a little bit of room around the edge to avoid dripping. Sprinkle ganache with chocolate shavings. Cut a slice and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
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