recipe: chocolate cappuccino cheesecake

needed a cheesecake to make for my dad's birthday. i've done a few before (classic ny, pumpkin, smores, & i think that's it?), but the Chocolate Cappucino Cheesecake from allrecipes was speaking to me today.

it reminds me of a tiramisu... which historically i always end up doubling the amount of coffee + booze than the recipe calls for, but since this was my first go at this recipe i made it exactly as written as far as the ingredients go.

ingredients list:
crust:
- 1.5 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (chocolate graham crackers or oreos)
- 6 tbsp cup softened butter
- 3 tbsp white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

filling:
- 3 packages cream cheese, room temped
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 eggs, room temped
- 8 1-oz squares Bakers chocolate
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp insant coffee granules dissolved in 1/4 cup water (or espresso)
- 1/4 cup Baileys or other coffee liquor
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (i used 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp rum extract)

to make: prep springform pan (parchment or greased) & preheat oven to 350 degrees. combine all crust ingredients and blend in food processor. press mixture into bottom of springform pan (i used parchement on mine since i'm going to need to easily move it into another container).

in medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth, then mix in sugar. add eggs, one at a time, at a LOW speed, and mixing ONLY until juuust incorporated. this is really the hardest part of cheesecake... i like to stir until everything is perfect, but if you beat the F out of your cheesecake, the air pockets that this forms will be released when it bakes, rendering it cracked and ugly.

in a separate bowl, combine sour cream, salt, coffee, Baileys, and vanilla and mix until smooth. microwave the Bakers chocolate until melted (the instructions on the box say 30 minutes for 1, 10 additional seconds for each additional. i put them all in for 2 minutes total and it was just right). blend melted chocolate into sour cream mixture.

pour chocolate/sour cream mixture into cream cheese bowl, and stir GENTLY until all ingredients are blended. pour mixture into springform pan.

bake for 45 minutes. i used a waterbath while baking, and left it in the oven with the door cracked for about 2 hours before taking it out. i usually (no matter what i do) get a crack in my cheesecakes, but this one worked. it looks undercooked, but i'm going to fight the urge to keep it in longer because i always think that w/ cheesecake. recommended to keep in the fridge for about 24 hours before eating to let all the ingredients marinate and get friendly with eachother.

if you pop open the original recipe link, the author has a pretty BA method of making chocolate leaves. i skipped that (i usually only decorate cheesecake if i eff it up), but it's worth checking out.

rating to follow tomorrow when we test it out. holler.

update 10/3: this turned out pretty well. i'm not a big cheesecake eater, but liked it. i would have liked a stronger booze/coffee flavor (i could taste more tang from the cream cheese than i could the added flavors) so next time i would def use espresso and maybe a bit of kahlua since that has more punch for less liquid. rating: 5.5 stars *****~.