Chocolate and coffee cheesecake

It was a week after the book (Week.End.Eats) was done, but the fridge was full of different ingredients. Packages of cream cheese, butter, cream, and yoghurt, all to be cooked (as we rarely eat these things alone) and enjoyed by a family of 20, yet, at that time, there were only four of us. I stood there looking at the shelves, attempting to minimise the list of things I desired to make. Strawberry jam cheesecake, blueberry cheesecake, maybe honey cake (I made that one, too), streusel cheesecake. What made me go in the chocolate and coffee direction is still a mystery to me, and I'll leave it there. I took the ingredients out, waiting for them to get to room temperature, and hours later, I whipped, mixed, blended, and poured. And I waited. And, even after 13 books and endless cheesecakes, I waited for it as if it were my first cheesecake ever.


base:
180 g coffee or vanilla cookies (better coffee)
70 g melted butter

filling:
200 g milk chocolate
800 g cream cheese, room temperature
1 vanilla pod, seeds only
3 allspice, ground
25 g cornstarch
140 g golden caster sugar
3 egg yolks, room temp
2 medium eggs, room temperature
25 g cacao powder
40 g ristretto, cooled
250 g sour cream, room temp
1/4 tsp sea salt

to serve:
caramel or strained sour cream and/or raspberries (I prefer the first)


Heat the oven to 200° C from the top and bottom. Place the rack one level below the middle. Line the bottom of a 23 cm diameter cake pan with parchment paper. Prepare the base. Butter the sides of the pan.

Process the cookies so they are quite fine, and place them in a bowl. Add the butter and mix. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan about 5 mm thick. Bake in the oven for 15 mins and then remove.

Melt the chocolate over a bowl of simmering water (water can not touch the bottom of the bowl). Melt until the chocolate is melted. Take off the steam and let it cool a bit.

Place cream cheese, vanilla, and allspice in a mixing bowl and beat for 1-2 mins. Add starch and sugar and beat for another 1-2 mins until blended. Beating on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating each one in well and scraping down the sides.

In the chocolate bowl, add sour cream, coffee, and cacao. Mix.

Turn the mixer on low and add the chocolate mixture and salt. Mix everything well on low speed just until fully incorporated, not longer.

Pour the filling into the pan. Place the pan into the oven and bake for 15 mins. Lower heat to 140° and bake for 1 h 15 mins. The middle has to be a bit jiggly. Remove from the oven and let it cool until it reaches room temperature. Only then, not earlier, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 12 hours for the flavors to meld.

When the cake is cool, pour the caramel or cream over and serve. Cut small pieces as the cake is very dense and filling.