italian chocolate marbled cheesecake

This little number is a beauty. 

Until I discovered this recipe, I was rather wary of cheesecakes that called to be baked, having had a run-in with one of Nigella's recipes where you put the cheesecake tin in a basin of water while it baked in the oven. The results were disasterous & inedible.

Having never been let down by the Divine Chocolate Recipe book, I decided that I would brave the baked cheesecake route once again, sans water.

The only quibble (note to self: use the word 'quibble' more frequently - it's fun) I have with this recipe is the quantities for the base ingredients. The last time I baked it, I doubled the quantities and it still was not quite thick enough to compliment the dense height of the cheesecake. The great thing is about making biscuit bases is that if, when you put your crumbly buttery mixture into the tin & it doesn't look like enough, it takes hardly anytime at all to blitz up a bit more. I'll give you the doubled quantity that I used, but I would recommend doubling again!

italian chocolate marbled cheesecake

ingredients

base

100g butter

200g digestive biscuits (feel free to substitute for ginger nuts or butter crunch biscuits, or any crunchy thing you like!)

cream mixture

250 g marscapone

100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

1 egg

chocolate mixture

300g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

150g unsalted butter, room temperature

3 eggs

100g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Preheat the oven to 150C / Gas mark 2 / 300F

2. To make the base, crush your biscuits in either a food processor, or, using a rolling pin and a sealable bag to avoid crumbs flying everywhere. Melt the butter in a saucepan or the microwave (being careful not to boil) then stir the two together& press onto the base. Leave in the fridge to chill until it's needed.

3. To make the cream mixture, put the marscapone, sugar and vanilla into a bowl & beat well. Add the egg & beat until smooth. (It will be a very runny mixture, fret not.)

4. To make the chocolate mixture: Break up the chocolate & melt, either in a heatproof bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave. Once melted, stir in the butter (diced) until melted.

5. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence for 3-4 mins until lovely&frothy. Add the melted chocolate mixture to this and whisk to combine.

6. Remove the base from the fridge & spoon 3/4 of the chocolate mixture onto the base. Pour the white cream mixture on top, then dollop the last bit of the chocolate mixture on top of this. Lovingly swirl it all together to create a marbled effect.

7. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 mins until just firm to the touch. Turn the oven off, leaving the tin inside & allow to cool. Once cool, remove from the oven, cover, and leave to chill in the fridge until it's needed.

If you're short for time, as I was when I last baked this, leave in the oven to cool after the cooking time for as long as possible, then remove & just enjoy it at whatever temperature it's at!