Okay!
This cheesecake was made from the inspiration of watching Italian chef and internet cooking show host Laura Vitale does her own. I can't really say it is MY brainchild of it, but rather a slight 'modification', being the ingredients and additional touches that I added (and omit) to make this happen.
I'll probably share this recipe with you first (out of a couple of 'experiments' I did prior to this) since a good number of friends asked me how I've done it. So, here it goes.
The measurements are mostly based on Laura's, so to start of, here's what I used:
For the crust:
1 1/2 wrappers of Creme-O Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, grounded
(you can use grounded Oreo double chocolate, Graham Crackers or Digestive biscuits for this)
6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, softened at Room Temperature
1/4 cup of Regular Granulated Sugar
For the filling:
2 8oz Blocks of Cream Cheese at Room Temperature (Philadelphia Cream Cheese is the best)
½ cup of Brown Sugar
½ cup of Regular Granulated Sugar
2 Tbsp of Milk
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
½ tsp of Instant Espresso Powder or Granulated Coffee mixed in warm water
½ cup of Brown Sugar
½ cup of Regular Granulated Sugar
2 Tbsp of Milk
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
½ tsp of Instant Espresso Powder or Granulated Coffee mixed in warm water
8oz Bittersweet Chocolate, melted (I used Chocolate Lover's chocolate block)
1 wrapper of Twix, chopped
For the topping:
1/4 cup of Bittersweet Chocolate, grated (or crumbled, just add very little hot water while melting it)
1 wrapper of Twix, chopped
Procedure:
You'll be needing a 9-inch spring form pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray or spread it with butter, just for everything to get out nice and clean.
1) Melt the bittersweet chocolate by making a pot pan boiled with an inch of water and putting a heatproof bowl on top of it. When my fiancé got back from Philippines last July, I asked my cousin to buy me 1 block of Bittersweet Chocolate from Chocolate Lover. It is a local confectionery shop near our place (Yeah, the brown castle) and sells all the baking ingredients and equipment you need. Albert brought it along when he got back in Singapore. I already used a portion of it for the Fudgy Brownies I made (recipe will be up soon).
Once melted, set it aside.
2) Chop the Twix into small pieces and set aside once done.
3) Make the crust by using a mortar and pestle to pound and grind the cookies. If you have a food processor to do it, life would be anything but easier for you. Put it in the butter, sugar and mix it with an electric hand mixer until everything is well incorporated.
It is a bit damped, because of the chocolate cream from the Creme-o and butter. Press it along in the pan to create the base crust. Set aside.
4) For the filling, using an electric mixer, whip the cream cheese, both sugars, milk, instant espresso / coffee mixture and vanilla extract.
5) Put the melted chocolate in the entire cream cheese mixture, followed by the chopped Twix.
6) Once done, lay the cheesecake mixture on top of the crust and decorate the top with chopped twix and grated bittersweet chocolate. How you want to decorate it is really up to you. Laura just used semi-sweet chocolate chips in the video but I tried to modify it with some chopped Twix because I like the caramel-biscuit infusion in it.
It is also really your call on what you want to use for the topping. I want it this way since it is a Chocolate Cheesecake and nothing else so... to each his own. :)
7) Wrap the lid with some aluminium foil and place it in the fridge for about 4-5 hours til overnight.
I actually made this because we celebrated Diana's birthday last week and she told us not to buy fancy cakes, neither customized designs from cake shops, etc... Me and my housemates decided to make something different for her this year and created cheesecake instead.
The finished product is like this.
Note: You can probably omit the 1/4 cup of sugar from the chocolate pie crust (Creme-O) since it is going to be sweet. It is really up to you. Actually, in my opinion, the sweetness became lesser once it got frozen for a long time.
Consumption of the cake would have to be as soon as it is ready to be served. You may keep it in the fridge for a week, but who else is going to do that, anyway? :)
Enjoy.
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