Triple Chocolate Mocha Cheesecake

Happy birthday to me!

Ok, so my birthday isn’t today, it was last week but such an event calls for me to use my powers for evil instead of good when it comes to one of the most important parts… The Cake!

Just about everyone loves dessert and since birthdays are certainly the day to celebrate that, this girl has decided what she wants for her birthday is the perfect bad decision, a triple chocolate mocha cheesecake.

Don’t judge!

Now you can drive across town and go to your local cheesecake company and they can serve you up a delicious slice of heaven for a billion dollars a slice after you wait in line for 45 minutes …..or ……. you can just do what I did and go make the entire freaking cheesecake yourself and you don’t even have to change out of your sweat pants.  And when your husband makes mention of “I don’t really like that much chocolate, why don’t you make something else instead?”… just throw an extra fork at him (not the one tightly gripped in your hand, already covered in cheesecake.. you still need that one) and tell him to either dig in or go mow the yard because right now he is disturbing you.

Then straighten your imaginary birthday tiara and eat more cheesecake.

So for the day that is known in my house as the the annual celebration of my 31st birthday, I am making no excuses, no apologies, I am making my gosh darn cheesecake!

And yes, we refer to my birthday as the annual celebration of my 31st birthday. My 31st is long gone and although I’m not ashamed of how old I am now, I don’t know that it really deserves a parade. So we stick with 31.

That’s just how I roll.

Triple Chocolate Mocha Cheescake

You will need:

Crust
20 chocolate sandwich cookies
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

Filling
10 oz bittersweet chocolate morsels (I use Ghiradelli)
4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
4 large eggs
2 individual packets of instant coffee (0.11 oz each)

Topping
3/4 cup whipping cream
1 1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate morsels
1 tablespoon sugar
Sprinkle of instant coffee (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degree and butter the sides of a springform cheesecake pan.

Start by preparing your crust. Blend your cookies in a food processor until finely ground and then mix in the sugar and melted butter until combined. Press crumbs evenly onto bottom and slightly up the sides of the springform pan. Set aside.

Next, set up a double boiler on your stove and add water to the bottom pot and your chocolate to the top. Over medium high heat, stir your chocolate until it melts into an even consistency. Remove the bowl and set aside to allow the chocolate to cool slightly.

Be careful not to set your kitchen towel on fire. Yeah, that happened.

In a large bowl, add your cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, salt and cocoa powder and mix until combined.

Add in your instant coffee and beat in 1 egg at a time until everything has been added then mix until smooth. Stir in your cooled (but still pourable) chocolate sauce. Once everything has been combined, pour filling into your crust and smooth out the top so that it is even.

Bake in the center of your oven and add a pan of water on the rack below. Bake for 50 minutes, turn off your oven and open the door. Do not remove the cheesecake and let it continue to cook and cool in the open door oven. After 1 hour, remove and transfer to your refrigerator to chill overnight.

Yes… you have to wait the entire night ….

The next day, set up your double boiler again and stir your chocolate, cream and sugar to a smooth consistency. Sprinkle in a bit more of the instant coffee and stir it in, if you are using it. Set aside to cool slightly. Pour sauce over the center of the cheesecake, trying not to let it pour over the sides. Return your cheese cake to the chill for another hour. Before serving, run a knife around the pan edge and then release the cheesecake from the pan.

Do you want to know what this cheese cake is?  Sin in a springform.

This cheesecake could put those factory places out of business, it’s that good. Now buyer beware.. this cheesecake is rich and thick and super chocolatey so if there are people in your house that don’t care for that type of cheesecake… you don’t have to share with those people and now there is more for YOU.

Checks and balances….

Enjoy!