Baked Chocolate Cheesecake

Baked Chocolate Cheesecake

by | Feb 5, 2018 | 10 comments

Introducing the best baked chocolate cheesecake ever!

I cheated on my usual baked chocolate cheesecake recipe. There, I said it! I know, I know! I’m a bad, hideous, terrible person! For years I’ve been using one ridiculously amazing cheesecake recipe and it is my go-to for everything. It’s a white chocolate cheesecake that has been pimped out with blueberries, lavender, raspberries, cardamom, coffee and even saffron.  But this baked chocolate cheesecake? Damn is it good.

Just look at it’s velvety, silky smooth texture! Is it weird that a cheesecake gets me this excited? Probably, but I don’t care because this recipe is a revelation.

If you’re one of those people who don’t like baked cheesecake, it’s probably because you haven’t had a PROPER baked cheesecake. Overbaked cheesecake is the WORST and there are a few things you can do to avoid getting that horrid, crumbly, chalky texture…

  1. Bake it in a bain marie (water bath) until it juuuuust quivers. It should have a jelly wobble to it. Then it’s ready! Don’t bake it for a second longer.
  2. Avoid it cracking by turning off the oven and allowing your cheesecake to wallow in its warm bath until completely cool. Take it out too soon and the temperature difference will cause it to split down the middle. If that does happen, just cover it up with raspberries and pretend it never happened – no one will ever know!
  3. Never serve a cheesecake cold. NEVER EVER. That’s generally why it will be chalky and stick to the roof of your mouth. Allow it stand at room temperature for 1 hour and it will be all soft and mousse-like.

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Chocolate Cheesecake

Yield: Serves 8-10

Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients

  • CRUST
  • 200g coconut biscuits
  • 100g salted butter, melted
  • 50g The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder
  • CHEESECAKE
  • 675g full fat cream cheese, softened
  • 375g sour cream or plain yoghurt
  • 220g Natura Sugars Soft Brown Sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 450g 70% dark chocolate (I use the brand AFRIKOA), melted
  • 50g butter, melted
  • 2 tbsp The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder, sifted
  • Fresh raspberries and edible flowers, to decorate

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius or 160 degrees if you're using a fan-forced oven.
  2. Grease and line a 22cm round springform cake tin and wrap the outside in foil.
  3. Prepare a large roasting tray large enough for the cake tin to fit inside, fill halfway with water and place in the oven while it preheats.
  4. To make the crust, place the biscuits, butter and cocoa powder in a food processor and process until fine. Press into the base of the lined tin.
  5. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes then remove and allow to cool completely.
  6. To make the cheesecake, place the cream cheese, yoghurt and soft brown sugar in the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth.
  7. Add the eggs one at a time, blending in between each addition.
  8. Add the melted chocolate, butter and cocoa powder and blend well.
  9. Pour into the prepared baking tin and smooth the top.
  10. Place the cheesecake into the bain marie (the water should be hot by now) and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the cheesecake wobbles slightly.
  11. Turn the oven off and allow it to cool inside for 30 minutes.
  12. Then remove from the oven and allow to cool at room temperature until the water is completely cool.
  13. Remove from the bain marie, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours (or preferably overnight).
  14. Remove the cheesecake from the fridge an hour before you want to serve it.
  15. Decorate with fresh raspberries and edible flowers to serve.
https://thekatetin.com/baked-chocolate-cheesecake/

Triple Chocolate Tart with Sea Salt

Triple Chocolate Tart with Sea Salt

by | Jun 30, 2017 | 0 comments

My grandmother always told me to eat my beans, she never said I could have them in cocoa form! And just to be safe, I’ll have 3 kinds of ‘vegetables’, you know, for a balanced diet 😉 While you’d maybe think it’s strange to combine salt and chocolate – they are a match made in heaven. The sweet white chocolate, creamy milk chocolate and bitter dark chocolate combined with the sea salt is just sublime. And the best part? You get to go all Jackson Pollock on it afterwards!

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE TART WITH SEA SALT

Makes 1 large tart

 

Chocolate pastry

¼ cup The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder, plus extra for dusting

200g cake flour

125g butter, chilled and cubed

½ cup icing sugar

3 egg yolks

2 tbsp ice cold water

 

Filling

300ml cream

105g butter

100g each The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate, Milk Baking Chocolate and White Baking Chocolate (300g in total), chopped, plus extra to decorate 

Pinch of sea salt

 

Place the cocoa, flour, butter and icing sugar in a food processor and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Gradually add the egg yolks and just enough water to form a dough. Flatten into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour. Roll the pastry out to 5mm thick and line a 25cm loose-bottomed tart tin, allow the pastry to roughly hang over the sides (we’ll trim it later) and prick the base with a fork. Refrigerate again for 30 minutes then bake blind* at 180C for 15 minutes, remove the paper and weights and bake for another 10-15 minutes until crisp. Trim the pastry edges with a sharp knife and allow to cool. Place the dark, milk and white chocolate each into a medium bowl. Place the cream and butter in a saucepan and heat until just below boiling point. Pour 135g of cream/butter mixture into each type of chocolate and allow to stand for a few minutes to melt. Stir until smooth. Pour the dark chocolate into the pastry case and place in the fridge to set. Once firm, pour over the milk chocolate and set again before pouring over the white chocolate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set completely. Decorate with extra chocolate, if desired and sprinkle with sea salt.

 

 

 

TIP *Baking blind refers to the process of placing baking paper inside the lined tart tin the filling the tart with baking beads, beans or rice to weigh it down and prevent the pastry from puffing up.

Quadruple Chocolate Melt ‘n Mix Cake

Quadruple Chocolate Melt ‘n Mix Cake

by | May 5, 2015 | 0 comments

A melt ‘n mix white chocolate cake sandwiched together with whipped dark chocolate ganache and drizzled with THREE kinds of chocolate sauce. Why? Because I can. And because 4 types of chocolate exist and I couldn’t choose my favourite (it’s like choosing a favourite child!) so I used them all. And because it’s International No Diet Day. Yes, I know every day on TheKateTin is no diet day…

I once heard a dietician say (bet you NEVER thought I’d be quoting a dietician – ha!) that if you’re going to cheat while on a diet, then do it properly! Half cheating just results in more cheating. But don’t fear, there is no half cheating with this cake. I didn’t call it a quadruple (bypass?) cake for nothing!
 
The melt ‘n mix white chocolate sponge is a revelation – it’s so delicious and tastes just like a milky bar. YUUUUM! It’s quite sweet so I balanced it out with a whipped dark chocolate ganache so there’s a bit of bitterness. But all that balance kinda jumped out the window when I got to the top of the cake and decided to go all Jackson Pollock on it with white, milk and caramel chocolate. Oh well. My intentions were good! Does that count?
 
As for those of you who are feeling any sort of guilt at eating said cake? I’ll leave you with this sweet quote from Jeanne Ray:
 
“A slice of cake never made anyone fat. You don’t eat the WHOLE cake… You have a slice and what it reminds you of is someplace that’s safe, uncomplicated, without stress. A cake is a party, a birthday, a wedding. A cake is what is served on the happiest days of your life”

Quadruple Chocolate Cake

Serves 12

 

Melt ‘n Mix White chocolate cake

185g butter

1 cup (250ml) milk

1 cup (250ml) castor sugar

150g The Kate Tin White Baking Chocolate, chopped

2 cups (500ml) cake flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

2 large eggs

 

Whipped ganache

100ml cream

200g The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate, chopped

50g The Kate Tin Milk Baking Chocolate, melted

50g The Kate Tin White Baking Chocolate, melted

50g caramelized white chocolate, melted (see TIP)

 

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and line 2 x 15cm cake tins. For the cake, combine the butter, milk, sugar and chocolate in a saucepan and melt over low heat. In a separate bowl, mix the cake flour and baking powder. Add the chocolate mix to the dry ingredients and whisk well, then whisk in the eggs. Divide the batter between the two cake tins and bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until golden and springy to the touch. A skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean. Turn the cake out of the tins and allow to cool completely, then slice each cake in half horizontally. For the whipped ganache, heat the cream until boiling then pour over the chopped chocolate. Allow to stand for a few minutes then stir until melted. Allow to set completely then using a hand mixer, whip the ganache until light and fluffy (careful not to overwhip or it will split!) Assemble the cake by layering the white chocolate cake alternately with whipped chocolate ganache. Decorate the cake by drizzling with the 3 different types of chocolate.

 

 

 

TIP To make the caramelized white chocolate, place broken up good-quality white chocolate on a baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil. Place in an oven preheated to 150C for 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes until a rich caramel colour is achieved. If the chocolate is lumpy, simply blend it in a food processor or pass it through a sieve. If it’s too thick, add a little more oil.