Chocolate Cheesecake

Nigella Lawson’s incredible chocolate cheesecake.

This was my first chocolate cheesecake ever. After taking the first bite I was speechless. As I am now! I really have no words to describe how unbelievably good this cake was.

I am a big fan of Nigella Lawson, I have almost all her books and there are quite a few recipes I cooked out of them. I love her books not only for the recipes but also because they are so readable, you don’t feel like you’re just looking through a cookbook, it is more than that. I like the way she uses the language, the way she talks about her recipes, she always finds the best words to describe taste and texture of food. In my opinion that is the key to her success. There many other great cooks out there, but just a few have the talent to describe their recipes the way Nigella Lawson does.

And because I think I can hardly do this cheesecake justice when describing it, I will just use Nigella’s own words to describe it, two sentences actually, but such good sentences, there is no way in the world I could find better words: “If you’d ever told me that I’d write a recipe for chocolate cheesecake, I’d have denied it in horror. In theory, the cheesecake purist within me shudders at the idea of something so unorthodox, but for some reason I made one and I found that I shivered only with delight”.

I shivered with delight as well and so did every person who ate this cake. Nobody has ever had a chocolate cheesecake before, so they were all looking rather skeptical. But of course, they all had to give it a try (or suffer my displeasure 🙂 ) and they were all awed. I could not recommend this cake strongly enough.

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Chocolate Cheesecake

Prep time:  30 mins

Cook time:  1 hour

Total time:  1 hour 30 mins

Ingredients

• 125 g/ 4.4 oz digestives
• 60 g/ 2.1 oz butter
• 500 g/ 18 oz cream cheese
• 100 g/ ½ cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• 150 ml/ ⅔ cups sour cream
• 1 teaspoon lime juice or more to taste
• 150/ 5.3 oz dark chocolate
• For the glaze:
• 75 g/ 2.6 oz dark chocolate
• 125 ml/ ½ cup double cream
• 1 teaspoon golden syrup

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 20 cm/ 8 inch springform with a double layer of strong aluminum foil on the outside.
2. To make the crust of the cake, melt the butter. Place the digestives and the butter in a food processor and process until you get wet crumbs. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan and place in the fridge until you make the filling.
3. Beat the cream cheese until smooth and creamy and give the sugar to it. Add the eggs and the egg yolks one at a time, whisking well after each one.
4. Add the sour cream and the lime juice and beat well.
5. Place the finely chopped chocolate in a small metal bowl that would fit on top of a pan. Pour water in the pan, place the bowl with the chocolate on top but make sure that the water doesn't touch the bowl. Heat the water gently, but do not let it come to a boil. Melt the chocolate, stirring often.
6. Pour the melted chocolate into the cream cheese mixture and fold it in gently until everything is smooth again.
7. Place the prepared springform into a roasting tin. Bring water to a boil in a kettle and pour the water in the roasting tin to come 2 – 2 ½ cm/ ¾ – 1 inch up the side of the cake pan.
8. Bake for about 1 hour until the cake is lightly browned on the edges and the center just set on top, but still a bit wobbly underneath. Remove the aluminum foil and let cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate. Unmold and glaze before serving.
9. Place the cheesecake on a large serving platter before glazing it.
10. To make the glaze, place the finely chopped chocolate, double cream and golden syrup in a small pan. Heat gently while stirring all the time but don't let it come to a boil. When the chocolate is almost melted remove from the heat and continue stirring until the mixture is smooth. Let it cool for a few minutes, then pour the glaze over the cake. Serve the remaining glaze on the side.

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