Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberry or Strawberry

dsc05371This is my third attempt at finding a chocolate cheesecake recipe and I think I found the right one. After trying two previous types, Jesse and I have decided to create our own by merging things we liked from both recipes and try to come up with one really good one. And I have to say, it worked out really well.

Here’s the recipe with my few changes…

Chocolate Graham Cracker Pie Crust:
This time, for the graham cracker crust, we’re using the recipe from Terri’s cheesecake.

Ingredients:
8 tbsp butter
1-1/2 cups crumbs (about 21 squares)
4-1/2 tbsp sugar
2-1/4 tsp heaping cocoa

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
  2. Mix all ingredients together and pour into spring form pan. Bake at 375 F for 8 minutes.

Chocolate Cheesecake:
The first time around, the raspberry extract was barely there. So this time, I doubled the amount. Also, the two previous cheesecakes I tried used different kinds of chocolate and some people did prefer one over the other. With that thought in mind, we’re mixing the chocolate. The first attempt used baking chocolate bars and the second used semi-sweet chocolate chips. This time around, I’m using half the chocolate bars and half of the chips, so we’ll still end up with the same amount of chocolate.

I don’t know how much 8oz of chocolate chip actually is, but I used about 2 cups and that seemed to make the cheesecake a little too brittle.  So it’s definitely 2 cups.  If anyone finds out, let me know.

We still haven’t figured out how to stop the top from cracking while it’s cooling down.  If there’s a way to prevent this, we would like to know so please drop us an email.

Ingredients:
8oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
8oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 – 8oz pkgs cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup milk
4 tbsp raspberry extract
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
Sifted powdered sugar (optional)
Sifted unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)
Fresh berries (optional)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. Melt 1 pound chocolate in a heavy saucepan over very low heat, stirring constantly; cool. For tips on melting chocolate, I would check out Hershey’s guide, it’s the one I use.
  3. Beat melted chocolate, cream cheese, the 1/2 cup butter or margarine, 1/3 cup milk, and extract in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until combined. Add whole eggs and egg yolk all at once. Beat on low speed just until combined.
  4. Pour filling into the springform pan. Place the pan in a shallow baking pan on the oven rack. Bake in a 350 degree F oven about 55 minutes or until 1 to 2 inches of outside edge appear set when shaken gently.
  5. Remove springform pan from baking pan. Cool cheesecake in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Use a small metal spatula to loosen cheesecake from sides of pan. Cool 30 minutes more. Remove sides of pan. Cool 1 hour; cover and chill at least 4 hours.

Raspberry/Strawberry Sauce:
We actually made both types of sauces and we cam to a realization, the strawberry topping is better than the raspberry.  We did the mashing right this time and Jesse smashed all the raspberries and strawberries through a strainer.  However, Jesse really doesn’t like the raspberry topping and much preferred the strawberry.

Ingredients:
12 oz. pkg. frozen raspberries or strawberries in syrup
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. cornstarch
3 tsp. cold water

Directions:
Mash raspberries through strainer, throwing away seeds. Add sugar to raspberries and heat in saucepan to almost boiling. Mix cornstarch with cold water. Add cornstarch mixture little bit at a time to raspberries, stirring constantly, until mixture starts to thicken. Cool in refrigerator and serve with just about anything.

August 23, 2008 · jackie · No Comments
Tags:  Â· Posted in: Cakes & Pies

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