Easy Chocolate Cheesecake

The recipe for this smooth silky Chocolate Cheesecake was rediscovered when my youngest son asked me for a recipe to bake a cheesecake for his girl friend. He wanted to surprise her. After telling him how adorable he is, which he did not seem to appreciate, I went ahead and dug up this recipe. It is a simple cheesecake recipe that I used to make for holiday parties back when the kids were small and I did not have a lot of time to fuss around in the kitchen.

Growing up, my son’s baking skills consisted of licking the bowl as he stood beside me on a chair while I baked brownies or cookies. Now in college, I have noticed a spark of interest in baking things on his own. Watching him easily pull off this chocolate cheesecake with excellent results made me realize that I needed to share the recipe.

Beyond it’s ease, the recipe makes a darn good cheesecake that is both chocolaty and creamy. Also, I like that it does not make an enormous cake that ends up sitting in your refrigerator for weeks on end. Cheesecake has always been more of a party dessert, but the smaller size of this chocolate cheesecake makes it the perfect size to serve anytime. You could look at it as a cheesecake tart, if you were so inclined.

Regardless, you are going to want to give this most excellent and easy chocolate cheesecake a try. It most likely will become one of your “go to” desserts to impress.

Easy Chocolate Cheesecake

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Easy Chocolate Cheesecake

Makes one 9 inch cheesecake.

Special equipment: One 9″ springform pan.

Author Cakewalk Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 cup chocolate wafer crumbs * see notes
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter – melted
• 2 – 8 oz. packages of cream cheese, room temperature * leave out overnight
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.

2. In a bowl, stir together the chocolate wafer crumbs and the melted butter. Press the chocolate crumbs onto the bottom of a 9″ springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool and set aside.

3. In a small bowl, melt the chocolate chip in the microwave or on top of a double boiler. Stir to a smooth consistency. Set aside to slightly cool.

4. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until very smooth with no lumps. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well incorporated.

5. Add in the melted chocolate & the vanilla and blend together.

6. Pour the batter over the baked chocolate crust and smooth out with a spatula. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. The middle of the cake may still jiggle a bit. That is fine, you do not want to over bake the cake.

7. Unbuckle the spring form pan to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan and let cool. Once cool, carefully move the cheesecake to a serving platter and chill in the refrigerator.

8. Serve the chocolate cheesecake plain or with sifted powdered sugar, cocoa powder or a chocolate ganache drizzled on top. See notes. You could also serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Recipe Notes

• I use Nabisco’s Famous Chocolate Wafers to make the crust. Approximately 1/2 of package of the chocolate wafers will make 1 cup of crumbs.
• You could use another brand or even chocolate graham crackers instead. 

• A food processor works great to make the crumbs. You can also do it by hand. Just put the chocolate wafers in a bag and crush with a rolling pin or another heavy object.
• To make a ganache, simply heat some heavy cream on the stove top, then pour over chopped chocolate or chocolate chips. After a few minutes stir until you have a smooth chocolate sauce. Check out this video for more details. Video – How to make ganache.  

Recipe originally came from Philadelphia Cream Cheese’s book “Simple & Elegant Recipes”