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.
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
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Preheat the oven to 350° F.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Add in the melted chocolate & the vanilla and blend together.
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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.
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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.
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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”
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