I made my favorite ever cheesecake yesterday for our birthday get-together today. I don’t get to make it all that often because not everyone in my family likes dark chocolate – they’re crazy – but mom brought carrot cake for those wimps selective few.

I can’t share the truly awesome leftovers – but I can share the recipe.

Kahlua Fudge Cheesecake

Crust
2 pkg (2/3 box) chocolate graham crackers
3 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp melted butter

Cheesecake
32 oz cream or neufchatel cheese, softened
1 ½ c sugar
½ c cocoa powder
1 ¾ c semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (1 12-oz pkg)
6 tbsp kahlua
6 tbsp cream
5 eggs
1 ½ tsp vanilla

Ganache topping
1 ¾ c semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (1 12-oz pkg)
6 tbsp kahlua
6 tbsp cream

Crust:
Reduce graham crackers to crumbs using either a food processor or a ziplock back and a rolling pin. Toss with sugar and melted butter, press crumb mixture into bottom and halfway up the sides of a 9″ springform cheesecake pan. Preheat oven to 350. Freeze crust for five minutes, then bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Cheesecake:
Preheat oven to 400. Beat cream cheese, sugar and cocoa powder together until fluffy. Melt chocolate chips in double boiler or in microwave (place in microwave safe dish, alternating heating 20 seconds full power with stirring until completely smooth). Blend in kahlua and cream until smooth, and mix into cream cheese mixture. Mix in eggs one at a time, then vanilla. Pour mixture carefully over crumb crust. Your cheesecake pan will be very full; this is ok, it will not overflow.

Prepare a water bath; this is a lot of trouble but will greatly improve the quality of your finished cheesecake. Place about 8 cups of water on stovetop or in microwave and bring to a boil. Layer 2 x 18″ squares of aluminum foil on the counter – overlapping 12″ squares WILL NOT work – place cheesecake pan in the center, and carefully wrap foil up sides of cheesecake pan. Don’t cover the top, but trim excess away. Place foil wrapped cheesecake pan in center of larger baking pan – a broiler pan will work – and place broiler pan in center rack of oven. Carefully pour boiling water in broiler pan around cheesecake pan, until 1/3 to ½ way up the side of cheesecake pan.

Bake at 400 for ten minutes, then reduce oven to 275. Bake for 90 minutes before checking cheesecake. Cheesecake may bake for up to 2 hours, depending on starting temperature of your cheesecake and actual heat of your oven. Remove from heat when it is set 2/3 of the way to the center but still slightly wobbly in the middle – it will continue to set after removed from heat.

Let cool for a couple hours at room temperature, then refrigerate overnight.

Ganache topping:
Melt chocolate chips in double boiler or in microwave (place in microwave safe dish, alternating heating 20 seconds full power with stirring until completely smooth). Blend in kahlua and cream until smooth. Mixture will be thick; pour & spread over top of cheesecake. Replace in refrigerator for another couple of hours.

Recipe notes:

• I like a tall cheesecake so this recipe has been adapted x .5 – you can reverse that if you prefer a thinner dessert.
• You can vary the proportions of chocolate to cream cheese – subtracting a cup of chocolate chips and adding 8 oz cream cheese – in the cheesecake portion to make a less intensely chocolate cheesecake if you choose. The recipe above is VERY intensely dark chocolate.
• Why a water bath? Cooking in a water bath improves heat transfer and reduces edge overheating & drying out, making a moist, even-textured cheesecake. The steamy oven also helps prevent a cracked top, although the ganache topping conceals that anyway.
• This recipe serves 16 chocoholics.