Double Chocolate Cheesecake

If you have read any of my blog posts so far, you know one thing about me: I love cheesecake. And I love chocolate. So together? Absolutely amazing... which results in this recipe: Double Chocolate Cheesecake, enrobed in a Dark Chocolate Ganche.

Theres no way around it: making cheesecake is tricky. It involves using a springform pan, which has a removable bottom, and sides with a latch on it. This allows you to let the cheesecake set, then take away the sides so it stands alone, but leaving the bottom for support. But I am jumping ahead, lets start at the beginning....

The crust! You can buy a pre-made graham crust, but its so much better to make you own. I used a box of chocolate wafers, and crushed them into a fine paste. This is alot easier if you use a food processor, but I like the old-fashioned way. And I don't have a food processor :)

Anyway, after you crush the cookies, I mixed them with one Tablespoon of sugar, and melted butter......

then pressed it into the bottom of the springform pan, after buttering-and-flouring the springform pan to prevent the sides from sticking. I baked in for about 5 minutes so it would set, and while I did that I started the filling.

The filling is basically cream cheese, more cream cheese than you could possibly fathom would fit in a pan- 24 oz. Thats 4 packages of cream cheese! This cake is delicious, but it is in no way a low calorie snack :) I mixed that with sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, and eggs to make the first part of the filling in my KitchenAid.

Then I mixed that with melted chocolate, and smoothed it on top of the cookie crumb crust, then baked it for about an hour, until the middle is just set.

When its done, it should look like this! Its ok if the top cracks a bit, because the topping will cover any mishaps or bumps.

Refrigerate the cheesecake for a few hours, or over night like I did. The cake will naturally deflate a bit, and cracks might develop. But now its time for the topping! You can top the cheesecake however you want, with any garnish. I decided to use a dark chocolate ganache, which is just a thick chocolate coating, to finish my cheesecake!

To make this ganache, I mixed dark chocolate, sugar and heavy whipping cream, and heated it until it formed a smooth chocolate paste.

Before using the ganache, its a good time to take the cake out of the springform pan. This should be done carefully, as the pan is what is holding the sides up. First slip a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the sides, then undo the latch, and gently wiggle the pan off the sides of the cake. Its ok if it doesn't look perfect, just smooth down any perfections and add the topping!

Then, after cooling the ganache a bit, I poured it on top of the cheesecake, smoothed it over the sides, treating the ganache like frosting.

Then, I topped the cheesecake with fresh raspberries, and chilled it over night.

Delicious! This was a perfect ending to a perfect Senior Project. And as I sit here eating a piece of this chocolate-y cheesecake, my only thought is: What do I bake next? :)

Coconut Rum Bread Pudding

This pudding reminds me of a trip to the Bahamas, where my family and I ate the richest coconut bread, fresh from a bakery in Nassau, then combined it with the only other ingredients we had in the house to create this easy-going, tropical dessert.

To start, I grabbed the three most important ingredients for the pudding: bread, coconut milk, and coconut rum. With this pudding, unlike other recipes, it's more than fine to experiment with ingredients, and amounts. This is why a bread pudding is so fun! I adapted a common bread pudding recipe to this tropical variation, and included cinnamon and vanilla, to balance out the added coconut flavor.

Now a little history about how bread pudding came to be: In the olden days, when the loaf of bread in the kitchen got stale, cooks would take the hard stale loaf, and soak it in eggs and cream to reuse the old bread, creating this creamy pudding dish.

To replicate this method, you take take your fresh loaf of bread and cut into generous slices of bread, and toast in in the oven at 200 degrees, for about 10 minutes.

Then, take the bread out of the oven, and slather it with butter, then cube it into one inch pieces.

You can cut the crust off the toast if you want a smoother texture, or leave them on, like i did.

Meanwhile, mix the liquid part of the pudding, which is eggs, coconut milk, sugar, cinnamon, coconut rum, and salt. Whisk it until smooth, then combine the bread cubes into the pudding, and once that is throughly coated, add dried baking coconut to the pudding, then gently transfer into a greased baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees until the pudding is set, about 30 minutes- however if you use a different pan the baking time can vary greatly.

So I wasn't tempted to eat it all myself (and I was!), I brought it to school to share with some friends. They approved, and their only suggestions? Double the recipe :)

Mmmm, Chocolate and Peanut Butter

There is nothing better than the combination of Chocolate and Peanut Butter. Or more specifically, the combination of those two ingredients in these Chocolate Cheesecake Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies!

When you have an icky week, nothing sounds better than something this rich and chocolate-y, but be warned, once you start eating these brownies, which taste like a sophisticated Reese's Cup, you might not be able to stop....

To start, you need semi-sweet baking chocolate, and peanut butter- for baking, make sure to use peanut butter that is made with only peanuts and salt, and make sure its the creamy variety, for the right texture!

This recipe is pretty straight forward: a chocolate brownie layer, topped by a cheesecake layer. The chocolate brownie layer can hardly be called brownie-like though, because it is mostly all chocolate! After melting your chocolate and butter together in a saucepan, being careful to stir consistantly so it does not scorch, combine your chocolate with flour, sugar, eggs and vanilla with a mixer, until the brownies batter is formed. Pour in bottom of a well greased brownie pan.

Now it's time for the cheesecake layer! Mix the peanut butter, cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and heavy whipping cream. Spread it over the brownie layer, reserve 1/3 cup of the cheesecake batter.

Because this dessert isn't rich enough, mix the reserved batter with 2 oz of melted chocolate, and add by heaping spoonful to the top of the pan.

Now take a skewer, or chopstick (like me!) and swirl the chocolate into a figure eight pattern into the batter.

Now bake until the edges are golden , and middle is set. Chill the cheesecake brownies in a fridge for at least an hour, or overnight as I did, so the cheesecake is firm enough to cut.

Because I made these brownies for my friend Kelsey, I brought them to school to see what she, and my other friends though. Verdict?

We all like them! Even after I made them pose for awkward pictures. Success!