Yesterday my baby brother turned nineteen. To celebrate my mother commissioned her favorite baker to create a cake. If you didn't guess, yours truly is her favorite baker and I decided to make a Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake that I found in the October/2006 issue of Bon Appetit. Since my brother is a freshman at NYU I decided to take it to his dorm myself.
I learned something while delivering the cake. Cake makes people happy. I mean really, really happy. Two construction workers yelled (in a happy way) to give them a slice. A woman, while we were waiting to cross the street, told me that my cake looked delicious and she wished she had some.
If I had a overstuffed backpack, a ski-mask with sunglasses on, red and green wires dangling out of my pockets and there was a strange ticking noise coming out of my coat, no one would have given me a second look. But carrying a cake through the streets of New York generated a response -- a positive response that made me feel good about my cake and my baking business.
So here is a picture of the cake my brother sent me (I forgot to take one) and the recipe for this great cake is after the jump:
Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake
Bon Appetit October 2006
Crust
24 chocolate wafer cookies (from one 9-ounce package)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
Filling
1 9.7-ounce bar Scharffen Berger 70% Cocoa Bittersweet Chocolate,* chopped
4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Scharffen Berger)
4 large eggs
Topping
3/4 cup whipping cream
6 ounces Scharffen Berger 70% Cocoa Bittersweet Chocolate,* chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
Bittersweet chocolate curls
For crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter
9-inch-diameter springform pan with 3-inch-high sides. Blend cookies in
processor until finely ground; blend in sugar. Add melted butter and
process until well blended. Press crumbs evenly onto bottom (not sides)
of prepared pan. Bake just until set, about 5 minutes. Cool while
preparing filling. Maintain oven temperature.
For filling:
Stir chopped chocolate in metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering
water until melted and smooth. Remove bowl from over water; cool
chocolate until lukewarm but still pourable. Blend cream cheese, sugar,
and cocoa powder in processor until smooth. Blend in eggs 1 at a time.
Mix in lukewarm chocolate. Pour filling over crust; smooth top. Bake
until center is just set and just appears dry, about 1 hour. Cool 5
minutes. Run knife around sides of cake to loosen. Chill overnight.
For topping:
Stir cream, 6 ounces chocolate, and sugar in heavy medium saucepan over
low heat until smooth. Cool slightly. Pour over center of cheesecake,
spreading to within 1/2 inch of edge and filling any cracks. Chill
until topping is set, about 1 hour. Do ahead: Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover with foil and keep refrigerated.
Release pan sides. Transfer cheesecake to platter. Top with chocolate curls. Let stand 2 hours at room temperature before serving.
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