Marilyn, I made the chocolate cheesecake from The Artful Baker - OMG!!!

D

deb-in-mi

Well-known member
It is fantastic and looks exactly like his picture! My lovely neighbor loves to take pics so I'm hoping that she'll take a picture tomorrow.

The only diff is that I did a graham cracker crust.

I also baked it in a water bath; haven't done so in years and years. But one of my Caftsy classes show a water bath cheesecake and non-water bath one side by side and I'll never do it any other way now (much creamer, flatter and no cracking).

I'm definitely purchasing the book:)

 
I took it back to the library today after binging on 1/4 of a tart yesterday. But not before

taking images of recipes I still want to to try: Bundt cake, apple cake and vanilla pastry cream.

It was too hard seeing that cover every morning and not wanting to make something. I am weak. So very weak.

I hope your cake tastes as good as it looks.
Weren't those chocolate shards such a simple yet clever idea for dramatic effect!

A suggestion for the water bath: Use those big turkey roasting bags to wrap of the pan, turning down the edges away from the cake before placing it in the water. That way, even if condensation collects, it shouldn't affect the bottom crust...always a point of weakness.

Oh wait...that's if you're using an expanding pan. No worries if your pan is solid, but I've never wanted to tempt fate trying to get it OUT.

PS: I've just been taking my photos with my phone.

 
Cheesecake was absolutely scrumptious!!

The other pics you saw were from my phone; then a friend jazzed them up. But the pics I tried of the cheesecake turned out really lousy.

Good tip about the roasting bags - thanks. I wish they made rubber liners for springform pans but I couldn't find anything like that. I

This will probably be the dessert I'll make for holiday parties come December.

 
I had a killer chocolate cheesecake from Pittsburgh, but got bored making them for everything.

Including our wedding cake. Now the only one I make is the White Chocolate Hazelnut from epicurious. It's still a winner every single time.

Don't you just love finding a recipe that is FOREVER.

 
OMGoodness - that White Chocolate one sounds divine!

We had cheesecake as our wedding cake too! SISTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
Sister! I made 15 of these for my niece's wedding. Here are the tweaks I use:

Most recently, I've used Biscoff cookies for the crust (ala a graham cracker crust) rather than dealing with hazelnuts. And when the eaters inevitably question the crust, I ask if they've ever flown on Delta and if they remember the little cookie they used to get and suddenly there is recognition on their face!

** a full 3.5 oz bar of Lindt white chocolate (getting somewhat difficult to find, now with all the higher percentage chocolates out there)

** 1/4 cup of Frangelica liqueur.

At Thanksgiving, fresh strawberries were hard as a rock. I tossed them whole with sugar and then roasted them for 15-20 minutes. Softened them just enough that a fork went through easily and the juices blended with the sugar to a syrup for drizzling.

PS: I've made presents of a cheesecake pan with a gift paper bag containing the recipe, the Lindt bar and a tiny bottle of Frangelica. Although that last is getting REALLY hard to find.

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/white-chocolate-cheesecake-with-hazelnut-crust-1438

 
This was my wedding present to my godchild. I made 4 desserts for 300 people

and had them plated so everyone got a taste of all four. I originally thought of offering a dessert table, but those can get so messy if they aren't patrolled carefully. So I came up with the plated dessert.

30 skinny Genoise chocolate iced cakes (10 slices each)
15 hazelnut cheesecakes (20 slices each)
5 half-sheet carrot cakes (60 squares each)
300 mini blank cream puffs (purchased from Qzina) filled with pastry cream
300 Ferraro candies, one each for the middle of plate

I flew into Pittsburgh on Saturday, Mom & I drove to Penn State University on Sunday for all the cream cheese, cream and butter, we went shopping on Monday for the rest of the ingredients and I started baking on Tuesday.
Tuesday = Cheesecakes
Wednesday = Carrot Cakes
Thursday = Genoise split into three layers, soaked with Grand Marnier syrup and dark chocolate buttercream icing
Friday = Ice the carrot cakes, ice the genoise cakes, start filling the cream puffs. Make the four small display cakes and mark the desserts for cutting. Deliver most to reception hall.
Saturday = spun sugar for croquembouche display tower.
Saturday = RAIN and collapse of said spun sugar
Saturday = wedding and reception

Or at least that's how I remember it. It was in 1999 and I was kind of crazy over this. I was working full time and in Florida, ordering ingredients online and having them shipped to Pittsburgh.

Mom has a full-size kitchen in her basement for making strudels, so she has a large restaurant-size convection oven and lots of half-sheets. I borrowed/bought 8 cheesecake pans, so that was just two batches. Kind of insane, but I wanted this for her.

Of course, she already had a beautiful wedding cake as well. I didn't do that...didn't want the panic of screwing that up.

 
*Best GodParent Ever*

My jaw has dropped and is touching the floor. I think just doing one of the four desserts would have have sent me to the ER with high blood pressure from anxiety.

I am now giving you a standing ovation!!

Marilyn, you are truly amazing!

 
GeorgiaRose, this may take some time. It's an old paper copy and that means it's buried

in all of my packed baking books and loose-leaf binders. it was published in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette back in the late 70's so THAT should give you an idea how old it is.

Lots of cream cheese...lots of sour cream for tang...that's all I'm remembering for now. But I'll check.

 
Ha! Found a hand-written version in my *held together with a rubberband* notebook

This is going to be cryptic because I made so many cheesecakes back then, all I did was write the ingredients.

Crust:
2 C chocolate cookies, pulsed into crumbs and measured (this is that small box of super-thin solid chocolate round cookies, sometimes found in the ice cream section. Okay, Google to the rescue: it's "Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafer" cookies
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 TBL butter, melted

Cake:
3/4 C sugar
1/4 C melted butter
24 oz cream cheese
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted (block version, not chips)
2 TBL cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
3 C sour cream
3 eggs

All the ingredients should be room temp. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until just the center is still shiny, but the rest of the surface is dull.

You'll be okay if you follow the instruction in the very similar Kraft recipe linked. It has more cream cheese and sugar and less sour cream. Mine definitely had a tang to it.

This was originally published in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette as the "Best Chocolate Cheesecake in Pittsburgh"

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/philadelphia-new-york-chocolate-cheesecake-52676.aspx

 
Thanks so much Marilyn! It looks delicious!

I think I can follow your notes. Thanks again! I’m definitely going to try it out. I’ve made a variety of cheesecakes over the years, but haven’t found a chocolate one that I loved. I like the idea that it has a twang to it. I’ll let you know when I get a chance to try it out!

 
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