chocolate caramel cheesecake
The last time I made this chocolate caramel cheesecake, a lot of teddy bears had to die, but I swear, I had never set out for blood (crumb?). These things just happen.
Let me explain. The store was out of those Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers typically used to make crumb crusts and my husband coyly suggested I use Chocolate Teddy Grahams instead. (He has a soft spot for those chemistry sets of a baked good; I allow them into our apartment only for malicious purposes.) I had to admit that they’d be a decent substitute. Plus, we could have some fun while we were at it.
And, oh, what fun we had.
In the end, they made a surprisingly tasty crust, but the cheesecake stole the show, as cheesecake is wont to do. And I know, I know, everyone’s got a chocolate cheesecake recipe that they or their cousin-in-law swears by, but I’m going have to, yet again, brashly step forward and pronounce this one better than all of them. I’m that gauche. It’s not the teddy bears, though, or the chocolate: it’s the caramelized sugar. That’s the real brilliance of this recipe, as it gets you wondering why you’ve been adding plain old sugar to cakes when you could have first cooked it into a toastier, richer syrup? The taste difference is noticeable in its depth. There’s something more there, even if people can’t immediately place it, and for me at least, that tucking of superior flavors into typical foods is one of my favorite parts about cooking.
Making caramel is a chore, especially this one as it demands you break down the sugar twice. But this small inconvenience is all trouble the cake will bring you. The rest is painfully simple: chocolate, sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Be warned, however: this is not a cake you get away with only making once. In fact, a certain Teddy Graham-loving husband of mine has really not shut up about it since, so for his birthday last week, I went at it again. This time, no teddy bears were harmed but as much as it pains me to admit this, I think they made for a better crust. Must be that day’s supply of calcium.
Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake
Recipe from Epicurious.com
Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 9 3/4 hr
1 crumb-crust recipe (recipe below)
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
8 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
1/2 cup sour cream
3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Make crumb crust as directed in separate recipe, using chocolate wafer cookies instead of graham crackers.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Cook sugar in a dry heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, stirring slowly with a fork, until melted and pale golden. Cook caramel without stirring, swirling pan, until deep golden. Remove from heat and carefully add heavy cream (mixture will vigorously steam and caramel will harden). Cook over moderately low heat, stirring, until caramel is dissolved. Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate until smooth. Stir in sour cream.
Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy, then beat in chocolate mixture on low speed. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla, beating on low speed until each ingredient is incorporated and scraping down bowl between additions.
Put springform pan with crust in a shallow baking pan. Pour filling into crust and bake in baking pan (to catch drips) in middle of oven 55 minutes, or until cake is set 3 inches from edge but center is still slightly wobbly when pan is gently shaken.
Run a knife around top edge of cake to loosen and cool completely in springform pan on a rack. (Cake will continue to set as it cools.) Chill cake, loosely covered, at least 6 hours. Remove side of pan and transfer cake to a plate. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Cooks’ note:
Cheesecake keeps, covered and chilled, 1 week.
Makes 8 to 10 servings
Crumb Crust
Recipe adapted from Gourmet, 1999
1 1/2 cups (5 oz) finely ground cookies such as chocolate wafers [I actually double this; I can never get enough cookie.]
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
Stir together crust ingredients and press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of a buttered 24-centimeter springform pan. Fill right away or chill up to 2 hours.
Makes enough for a 24-centimeter cheesecake.
I’ve never had a cheesecake that didn’t crack. EVER. What’s the secret? Oven too hot, cooked too long, are my guesses. But nothing ever works for me.
Has it been a year since the Teddy Graham Crusade? (Ha.) I can’t believe it.
My cheesecakes always look like Buffy stopped in and slashed them. I’ve heard opening the over door an inch at a time to cool the cake reduce likelihood of cracking. (There’s a funny story, actually, about a friend of my mother’s who did this and then the dog opened the door the rest of the way and ate the cake!) Anyway, I tried that trick this time, and although the crack is smaller than last, still there! The cakes where you use a sour cream topping at the end usually cover this nicely.
You, know, I did not even notice yours cracked. I think it looks beautiful! I love the colors. The dots also really pull your eye away from anything else.
I always make ones that have a topping to hide the million and one imperfections.
I’ll try the oven door thing. Thanks!
(Have you ever heard of baking it in water? I saw that on TV once, but I’ve never tried it.)
Oooo, that cheesecake looks sinfully good! And I love that picture with the teddy bear (I ‘haw’-ed so loudly my brother thought I was choking!), so cute :)
As for the cracking, I’m with Abby, I always use a waterbath to bake my cheesecakes and I’ve never had one crack on me yet :)
oh it seems a bit cruel killing all those innocent little teddies, but I guess when you look at the end result, its worth it!
The cake looks gorgeous and im sure that it tasted just as good as it looks. You almost wouldn’t want to cut into the cake, but then that would be defeating the whole purpose. i guess what im trying to say that its very very pretty : )
my mum and i have tried baking cheesecakes in water before and it works really well. doesn’t crack at all. if you can stephanie alexanders book ‘the cooks companion’ it has a great description of how to do it.
My caramel never got that bubbly on moderate low heat - was everyone else using the moderately low heat setting? It just sort of slowly turned darkish gold immediately rather than bubbling.
This was an amazing cheesecake! It was absolutely delicious, and the only desert at tonights huge thanksgiving dinner that got completely eaten up, and many people said it was one of the best deserts that they had ever eaten. I really loved your suggestion of using teddy grahams; the crust was really, really tasty, and it was much more enjoyable to grind up little bears than boring round, flat, wafer cookies. Thanks also for the suggestion to double the crust; this was the first time I’ve ever had a cheesecake crust that was able to come up the sides of the pan, which, admittedly made it harder to cut, but tastier, and prettier.
I also thought it was interesting, but this was the first cheesecake that I’ve ever baked that did crack at all on top. I didn’t add any water bath like many suggest, either, though it did leak enough oil into the baking dish that I thought someone had put some water into while I was gone…
LOVE this cheesecake. I have made it in the past (off epicurious) and it was delish although it would have liked it better with just a touch more caramelly goodness. There are only 2 ways I have had success with a cheesecake not cracking. The first one is the hot water bath as others suggested, with the water reaching about halfway up the pan. The other thing that has worked is to use half mascarpone cheese and half cream cheese (I don’t know that the mascarpone cheese would be a good flavor in this one though). Oh, I almost forgot…I have heard this works but never tried, when the cheesecake is almost set turn the oven off and leave it in there. It will continue cooking to creamy perfection but there won’t be a big temperature change to cause cracking.
that poor little teddy graham!!!! seriously, that’s a little bit of a shocking photo! i’m sure the end result makes up for it though. :-)
This is one cheesecake I have made repeatedly for years. I doctor it up with a Grand Marnier Ganache or a simple chocolate ganache and finish it off with swirls of caramel on top. It is supremely smooth, creamy and incredibly light.
The recipe says to cook the caramel after you melt the sugar…how much caramel do you use?
You use all of it.