Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is chocolate cheesecake made of? ›

Chocolate Cheesecake Ingredients

For the crust: Chocolate cookie crumbs, butter, and white sugar. For the filling: Heavy whipping cream, chocolate chips, cream cheese, white sugar, cocoa powder, eggs, and vanilla extract.

Cold ingredients are a big no-no when it comes to cheesecake. If your ingredients are cold you will have to mix them longer which will whip too much air into your batter. If the cake has too much air, it will rise too much in the oven and then the middle will sink when cooling. Nobody wants a sad, sunken cheesecake.

Eggs: Three whole eggs hold the cheesecake together. I also add an extra yolk, which enhances the cake's velvety texture. (Whites tend to lighten the cake, which is actually fine — if you don't feel like separating that fourth egg and don't mind some extra airiness in the texture, just add in the whole egg.)

Personal preference plays a significant role in choosing between no-bake and baked cheesecake. No-bake cheesecakes are quick, easy, and perfect for those who prefer a lighter, chilled dessert. On the other hand, baked cheesecakes require more time and effort but offer a more classic, rich, and decadent experience.

A traditional cheesecake is a lesson in simplicity. Made with just three simple ingredients; cream cheese, sugar and eggs, it's one of the more popular styles of cheesecake.

This recipe makes a classic New York-style cheesecake with a buttery graham cracker crust and rich, dense filling made from cream cheese, eggs, sugar, sour cream, vanilla, a hint of lemon, and a few tablespoons of flour. Cream cheese is the key ingredient, so I recommend using a good brand, like Philadelphia.

When making your filling, overmixing can lead to incorporating too much air into the batter. Once baked, the air bubbles will burst, and the cheesecake will fall and crack. THE FIX: The number one reason why you'd overbeat your batter is because you're having dificulty incorporating cold ingredients.

Eggs and milk have high protein and moisture content, and they're the primary ingredients in cheesecake, so when cheesecake is left at room temperature, conditions are ripe for bacteria to multiply. According to the USDA's Food Keeper App, cheesecake should be consumed within 5 to 7 days of refrigeration.

Cheesecake is clearly a different animal from bundts or cupcakes, but sour cream has a place here too! Combined with even more densely rich cream cheese, sour cream actually tempers the star ingredient a touch, softening its texture. It also adds another layer of tangy flavor and moisture to a cheesecake.

Sour cream supports the underlying tang of the cream cheese, but, if overdone, it takes over as the dominant flavor. You need a little of each -- cream for texture and sour cream for flavor. With our ingredients settled, we focused in on how to keep the cheesecake from baking up grainy and cracked.

What happens if you add too much lemon juice to cheesecake? ›

Nigella found that adding just 1 teaspoon of lemon juice gave the right balance. You could add a few drops extra if you wish but be careful as too much acid could start to curdle the other ingredients.

Sour cream adds tanginess and moisture, so if you use too much, it can make the cheesecake too tangy and the additional moisture can make it runny.

Regular cheesecake relies on heavy cream and sour cream to thin the batter and create a silkier, creamier texture. New York cheesecake is heavy on the cream cheese which is why it's so dense and rich. Extra cream cheese isn't the only thing that makes New York cheesecake so special.

It's high in calories, sugar, and fat, so it's important to limit cheesecake in your diet, just as you would any dessert. However, there's nothing wrong with enjoying this dessert from time to time as part of a healthy, well-rounded diet.

New York-style cheesecake:

Undoubtedly the most popular type of cheesecake in the United States, New York-style cheesecake is rich and dense with a cream cheese base. It is usually baked in a springform pan.

Cheesecake typically has about the same calories as an iced chocolate cake and roughly 30 per cent fewer calories than a chocolate mud cake. It also has on average 2-3 times as much calcium, less sugar and more protein than either kind of chocolate cake.

By Merriam-Webster's definition, cake is a bread-like dessert that's baked from a thick batter. And cheesecake's qualities don't fit that bill. On the other hand, while cheesecake is closer to a pie given its crust and filling structure, it doesn't quite fit alongside those types of flaky desserts either.

Cheesecake is just one of the desserts that falls into the category of having “cake” in the name despite possibly not being a cake at all from a pure definition standpoint. Cheesecake is typically made with a cheese like ricotta, cream cheese, or Neufchatel (a creamy French cheese).

Cheesecake is Technically a Tart

So, what we have is a dessert consisting of a pastry shell, a thick custard-like filling that can be sweetened with vanilla extract, limes, strawberries, chocolate, blueberries, or even pumpkin.