Birthdays are all about making people feel special. I love birthdays, my birthday and the birthdays of the people that I love. My husband’s birthday was yesterday, so despite it being a Monday, I tried to make it as festive as possible. Luckily we have our daughter to pitch in with the festivities and her excitement over it all makes any birthday boy feel like a king.

Since his favorite food group is dessert and his favorite dessert is cheesecake, I made him a chocolate swirl cheesecake from the my Magnolia Bakery cookbook, a gift from a friend visiting from New York. I am always a little worried about baking American desserts with Italian ingredients, but despite the liquidity of the eggs, which was disconcerting as I dropped the chocolate “swirl” into the batter and put in in the oven swishing, the eggs did what they are supposed to do and hardened, keeping everything intact and beautiful, although more Pollockesque than swirly.

I left the cheesecake to cool in the oven overnight, and for the first time, the crack in it was only about an inch long, and not splitting the whole cake open. I have to say that since I have started making more cheesecakes, to the delight of my husband, I am starting to like them more and more. I can’t let him eat the whole cake by himself, though my daughter was licking her plate yesterday evening and would be happy to help him finish it off, she has the same sweet tooth that her father has.

Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

from The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook by Allysa Torey & Jennifer Appel

Crust

• 5 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs

Filling

• 2 pounds (4 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, softened
• 1¼ cups sugar
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Topping

• 3 tbsp heavy cream
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 325°F.

To make the crust: In a small bowl, combine the butter with the chocolate wafer crumbs. Press into the bottom of the buttered 10-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on rack.

To make the filling: In a large bowl, on the low speed of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until very smooth. Gradually add the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time. To ensure that the batter has no lumps and that no ingredients are stuck to the bottom of the bowl, stop the mixer several times, and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Stir in the heavy cream and the vanilla.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and set the pan on a baking sheet.

To prepare the topping: In a small saucepan over high heat bring the heavy cream to a simmer. Add the chocolate, turning heat down to low and stirring constantly until chocolate is completely melted. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Drop this mixture by the teaspoonful on top of batter. Using the tip of a sharp knife, swirl chocolate mixture into batter, forming a decorative pattern.

Bake until edges are set and center moves only slightly when pan is shaken, about 1 hour. At the end of the baking time, turn off the heat, and using a wooden spoon to keep oven door slightly ajar, cool cake in oven for 1 hour before removing. Cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.

Remove cake from the refrigerator at least 15-30 minutes before cutting and serving.

Makes 1 10-inch cheesecake.

Three Years Ago: Supplì

~ by italicious on October 9, 2012.

Posted in chocolate, dolci, eggs, formaggi, Uncategorized
Tags: cheesecake, chocolate