Outside:



Inside:



General Comments:

As I dove head first into baking, one of my earliest purchases in my attempt to bolster my baking equipment arsenal was a springform pan. I vowed to give cheesecake a shot and then... didn’t get around to it for a while. A few weeks back (jeez, I am bad at posting my baking endeavors in a timely manner), I finally managed to bake my first cheesecake. Of course, it would have been foolish of me to start with a relatively simple recipe, so I ultimately committed myself to this one. That’s right, crust + 3 separate layers + a piped ganache topping. First cheesecake, first piped frosting, and first time I had to seriously question whether or not something this involved was worth the effort. In talking to my friend Erin about the amount of time that went into this particular baking creation, she created and shared the following, rather apt, graph:



While you may wish to debate the appropriate units for deliciosity (I think the ones Erin came up with work rather well), I’m guessing many of us would agree with the basic message -- if something takes a long time to make, it better be pretty tasty. Even then, we all hit a point at which it’s just not worth it. This cheesecake floated right around the vertical line in the graph. Ultimately, I decided to cross my fingers and hope the outcome would be worth the time commitment.

So, was it? Well, I think after the number of slices I managed to serve (its unwise to try to eat too much of this particular cheesecake in one sitting) and the number of people that tried it with strong positive feedback (one person said they’d happily pay 6 bucks for a slice of it at a restaurant), I’d say it was. The espresso flavor was strong without being overwhelming, the kahlua fudge/ganache layer + frosting was scrumptious, and the cookie crust, though rather difficult to cut with a fork, was tasty. So... if you want a cheesecake that is both pleasing to the eyes and the tastebuds and you’ve got ample time, I’d recommend giving it a shot.

Baker’s Notes:

First and foremost, this cheesecake requires some time. You need to chill the bottom ganache layer before you can add the cheesecake layer, then you add the cheesecake layer and bake it, then let it sit for a bit before you can add and bake the final layer, then you need to get the whole thing cooled down before you can add the ganache topping, and then.... you need to let it sit so that the ganache topping can firm up and the flavors can mingle. Ideally you should make it and let it sit over night before digging in. You’ve been warned.

Second, the cookie crust layer has a pretty substantial amount of chopped chocolate in it and when it was baked and chilled, it turned into a very hard chocolate + cookie stone-like crust. It tasted awesome, but was difficult to cut through with the side of a fork, particularly at the corner. Since the corners were the most difficult (you just had to abandon the fork and pick it up and eat it), I think its rather important to try to make sure you do a good job of spreading out the crust when you line the springform pan and try very hard to keep the corners thin.

Third, as I mentioned, this was the first time in which I had to pipe a decorative topping onto something. When I first put the ganache into the piping bag it was too firm and wouldn’t flow through the piping tip. Since I already had all the ganache in the piping bag (which had already proved to be a messy process), I tried to gently warm the ganache using the heat from the oven vent burner until I could actually work with it. This did the trick, but the consistency of the ganache in the pipping bag was not consistent and led to unpredictable ganache flow. Unpredictable flow led to some ugly parts in the decorative topping, which I tried to just accept, but still drove me a bit crazy (I might just be a little too OCD when it comes to stuff like that -- it still tastes the same, right?). My recommendation is that if you left the ganache topping sit for a long while before you pipe it on to the cheesecake, warm it up (very lightly) a bit first to make sure it will flow the way you want.

Recipe:

Crust Ingredients
1 9-ounce box chocolate wafer cookies or 9 ounces of homemade chocolate wafers
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
7 tablespoons hot melted unsalted butter

Ganache Ingredients
1 1/2 cups heavy or whipping cream
20 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup Kahlúa or other coffee-flavored liqueur

Filling Ingredients
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
1 1/2 tablespoons instant espresso powder or coffee crystals
1 1/2 tablespoons ground whole espresso coffee beans (medium-coarse grind)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons mild-flavored (light) molasses
3 large eggs

Topping Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

• Make crust: Finely grind cookies, chopped chocolate, brown sugar, and nutmeg in processor. Add butter and process until crumbs begin to stick together, scraping down bowl occasionally, about 1 minute. Transfer crumbs to 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 3-inch-high sides. Wrap plastic wrap around fingers and press crumb mixture firmly up sides to within 1/2 inch of top edge, then over bottom of pan.
• Make ganache: Bring cream to simmer in large saucepan. Remove from heat; add chocolate and Kahlúa. Whisk until chocolate is melted and ganache is smooth. Pour 2 cups ganache over bottom of crust. Freeze until ganache layer is firm, about 30 minutes. Reserve remaining ganache; cover and let stand at room temperature to use later for decorating.
• Make filling: Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350°F. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until blended. Scrape down bowl, making sure you get to the bottom, where little pockets of unmixed cream cheese love to hide. Beat in flour. Stir rum, espresso powder, ground coffee, vanilla, and molasses in small bowl until instant coffee dissolves; beat into cream cheese mixture. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition.
• Pour filling over cold ganache in crust — it will go nearly all of the way to the top, don’t panic. Place cheesecake on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until top is brown, puffed and cracked at edges, and the center two inches moves only slightly when pan is gently shaken, about one hour. Transfer cheesecake to rack. Cool 15 minutes while preparing topping (top of cheesecake will fall slightly, making room for topping). Maintain oven temperature.
• Make topping: Whisk sour cream, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl to blend. Pour topping over hot cheesecake, spreading to cover filling completely. Bake until topping is set, about 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer cheesecake to rack. Refrigerate hot cheesecake on rack until cool, about three hours.
• Run small sharp knife between crust and pan sides to loosen cake; release pan sides. Transfer cheesecake to platter. Spoon reserved ganache into pastry bag fitted with small star tip. Decorate with ganache as you see fit.

Credit: Original recipe is located here.

Tags: recipe, cheesecake, cappuccino, fudge, chocolate, espresso, ganache, graph

General Comments:

So, I’m going to try and keep this post short and sweet (though I’m not sure I’m capable of such a thing) because I am back-logged on posting my baking conquests. Hopefully if I slam out a couple few posts, I can get back on track.

This pie was one of my earliest baking adventures. I stumbled across it while scanning through the recipes on use real butter -- which, by the way, produced by a Colorado local seeking to perfect high altitude baking. The title alone was enough to grab my attention: chocolate. espresso. pecan pie. Didn’t really have to think twice about this one. At any rate, this pie turned out great. For those of you who might normally shy away from pecan pie because its just “too sugary," I think you should give this one a shot -- assuming you like chocolate and espresso. To me, the bitterness of the chocolate and the espresso serves to balance out the standard sweetness of a traditional pecan pie. This is one of my creations that never made it into the office, but can you blame me? Pies are clearly too small to share with more than a handful of people -- maybe next time I’ll make two.

Baker’s Notes:

Not much to note here, the recipe was rather straightforward. However, because I was lazy and wanted to save time (and I wasn’t yet confident in my baking abilities), I used a store-bought crust by Pillsbury. It did the trick, but the crust was definitely the weakest part of the pie. Oh also, I was somewhat shocked by it, but you really do put the pecans in before the filling and they float to the top all on their own -- crazy!

Recipe:

Filling Ingredients:

3 oz (85g) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 oz (60g) unsalted butter
4 large eggs
1 cup (330g) light corn syrup
1 cup (225g) sugar
1/4 tsp (2g) kosher salt
2 tbsps (6g) instant espresso powder
1 tbsp hot water
2 tbsps (30g) coffee liqueur
2 cups (230g) pecans, lightly toasted, coarsely chopped
1/2 (60g) cup perfect pecan halves

Directions:

• Prepare your pre-brought pie crust (you’re so lazy) by following the instructions on the box.
• Melt chocolate and butter over gentle heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, corn syrup, sugar, and salt.
• Dissolve the instant espresso in 1 tbsp of hot water.
• Add the chocolate, espresso, and coffee liqueur to the egg mixture and whisk to blend.
• Sprinkle the chopped pecans into the pie shell and arrange the pecan halves along the edge of the pie, but on top of the pieces.
• Pour the filling over the center of the pie. If the pecan halves begin to bandy about, just position them where you want them by hand.
• Bake the pie until the filling puffs, about 45 to 55 minutes (I think it took mine somewhere around 50 minutes). Also, after about 25 minutes, I took the pie out and put a foil ring over the crust so as to prevent the crust from over cooking.
• Transfer to a rack and allow to cool completely.
• You can refrigerate the pie for several hours making it easier to serve.

Credit: Pretty much directly followed this recipe, but skipped the crust making part.

Tags: pie, recipe, pecans, chocolate, espresso