Chocolate Basque Baked Cheesecake Recipe

Growing up I lived about 50 metres down the road from a cheesecake shop (although not THAT cheesecake shop) and they would sell half cheesecakes which my mum would sometimes get us as a treat. My favourite was the baked cheesecake topped with a layer of jelly/jello set with blueberries. Oh how I loved those cheesecakes.

Actually now that I am telling you about it, I am thinking I should try and recreate it. But this story is not about my childhood cheesecake it is about chocolate Basque baked cheesecake.

About a year ago we found a dessert restaurant a few suburbs over that makes on site delicious gelato and Basque cheesecakes.  They use good quality ingredients, which I am sure of as I am a little bit of a food stalker and I peer into their stock room and check out what they use. 

But alas for me (although happily for them) they seem to be very busy and every time we go now they are devastatingly out of my favourite chocolate Basque cheesecake.

Luckily baking is what I do so I decided to make my own and now I have cheesecake when ever I want and my only problem is that I eat way too much cheesecake. As a solution I have been making smaller cakes and the recipe below is for a 6" cake which is a lovely size if you have just a few people to serve. 

(note the cheesecake in these pictures is only 4" 

because I am trying to eat less cheesecake)

Basque cheesecake differs from regular baked cheesecake as it is has no biscuit base and is cooked at a high temperature which results in a dark top and creamy centre. It is important to cool the cheesecake for enough time for the middle to set, at least 4 hours for this recipe but preferably overnight.

Happy Baking

xx

Linda 

Chocolate Basque Cheesecake - makes a 6" cheesecake which will make 6-8 snack serves. I like to serve mine with cherries which is a lovely contrast to the velvety chocolate cheesecake. I use a good quality chocolate like Callebaut. Cheesecake slices can frozen wrapped individually in plastic wrap and thawed in the fridge.

450g (16oz) cream cheese at room temperature

200g (7 oz) dark chocolate melted

100g (3 1/2 oz) caster/ superfine sugar (use regular granulated sugar if that's all you have)

10g (4 tablespoons) cocoa sifted

3 eggs room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

225g (8oz) thickened cream (dollop cream) (heavy cream)

good pinch salt

Line a 6 inch wide by 3 inch high, round baking tin with baking paper. To do this crumple up the paper in your hands and then place over the baking tin and press down I used a spoon to press a line around the bottom rim and then turn the edges over the top rim.

Place cooking rack into middle of oven and preheat to 220 C Fan forced (430F).

Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe dish. I melted mine for 2 mins at 60%, stirred and then another 2 mins. Alternatively if you only have high setting heat for 20sec intervals stirring between each burst and being careful not to overheat. Set aside until needed.

Sift together the caster sugar and cocoa to ensure there are no lumps.

Make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature so the mixture will be silky smooth. Place into mixer bowl and mix at low speed until smooth and creamy. You do not want any lumps at this stage and also we are not trying to incorporate extra air or volume. The room temperature ingredients and slow mixing are key steps.

Scrap down the sides of the bowl add the caster sugar and cocoa and mix at slow speed. Add the eggs one at a time and vanilla and mix until well. Continue to scrap down the sides of the bowl until the mixture is completely combined and smooth.

Add the melted dark chocolate and fold in with a spatula, there should be no lumps and no streaks when you are finished.

Add the thickened cream and salt and mix well.

Pour mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 25 mins, increase temperature to 230C (450F) and cook for a further 5 mins. 

Turn oven off and allow to cool in oven with door ajar for 15mins. 

Put cheesecake into fridge for at lease 4 hours or overnight.

Prior to serving remove from tin and allow to sit at room temperature for 20 mins. If your cheesecake is stuck and you can't get it to release, it's just some of the fats set hard. Run a plastic spatula around the edge between the paper and tin and if it still won't come out pop the base into hot water for a second being careful not to splash the cake and it should easily slide out.

Sorry Not Sorry - Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake cake

Sorry, I know I'm supposed to be blogging about healthy clean eating and putting up recipes with cakes made from raw kale that taste exactly like kale chocolate.

Y'all have probably made resolutions and I really want to support you in that, fingers crossed that it all works out for you.

But I made a resolution that I thought I had a chance I might keep so it had nothing at all to do with giving up cheesecake, frosting, chocolate and/or peanut butter.

Truthfully I made this cake for Christmas day kinda in rebellion to making pavlova to take to every family event. I mean, I like pavlova as much as the next person but there is only so much you can eat.

So I thought I would like some cheesecake, then I thought, hmmm maybe some chocolate cake would finish it off and I had a bit of peanut butter frosting left over in the fridge so I covered the whole lot in that.

and it came together to make this cake. Seriously cut these slices really, really thin

Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake
makes one tall 6" cake

1 X 6" Oreo Cheesecake no crust (recipe below)
2 X 6" chocolate cake (recipe below)
Chocolate ganache set to spreading consistency
Peanut frosting
Optional - a few meringues, Oreos, chopped peanuts

Place 1 of the chocolate cakes onto a cake board or your cake stand, cover the top with a layer of chocolate ganache and pop the cheesecake onto the top of the cake pressing down lightly. Place in fridge to set.

Remove from fridge, cover top of cheesecake with a layer of chocolate ganache and then place the other chocolate cake onto the cheesecake, press down lightly.

Cover sides and top of cake with a thin layer of chocolate ganache and then chill in fridge until set. .

When set remove from fridge and cover whole cake with a layer of peanut frosting, return to fridge to set.

Gently heat ganache until it becomes just pour-able and top cake with a layer of ganache allowing a little to spill over the edges. Retain any extra ganache to heat and use as a sauce for serving

Decorate top as desired, I added some meringue, Oreo's and chopped peanut, although if you have extra peanut frosting some swirls of frosting with mini Oreo's would be cute.

Oreo Cheesecake

500g (17 3/4oz - if you round up to 18 oz it will be ok) cream cheese (full fat)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg white
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp plain flour (1 US Tbsp all purpose flour)
14 Oreo Cookies (whole or broken - I used whole)

Preheat oven to 160C

Grease and line a 6" tin with baking paper.

Beat cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Add egg and egg white, lemon juice, vanilla and flour, beat until just combined.

Pour half mixture into prepared tin, press half Oreos into mixture, pour half of the remaining mixture in and top with remaining Oreos, then the rest of the cheesecake mixture.

Bake in preheated oven for around 40 minutes or until the center is just set.

Allow to cool in tin for 15 minutes. Run a plastic knife around the edge of the cake to loosen sides and then carefully tip out cake onto a cake board to cool.

Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarb soda  (baking soda)
1/4 baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup cool water
115 g unsalted butter (4 oz butter) room temperature cut into small squares
1 1/4 cup caster sugar (superfine) use regular white sugar if caster sugar not available
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 160 C fan forced (325 F) and grease flour and line 2 X 6" tins with baking paper.

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Mix the hot water and cocoa to make a paste then add the cool water mix until well combined, set aside.

In a large bowl of a stand mixer mix together butter and sugar at high speed until well creamed (about 2-3 mins).

Reduce speed to low and mix in eggs then vanilla mixing until well combined.

Add 1/3 of the flour, mix until just combined then add 1/2 the cocoa mixture, mix again until combined and scrape down sides. Add another 1/3rd of the flour, mix, add the remainder of the cocoa mix and scrape down sides then add the final flour and mix until completely combined.

Divide mixture evenly between the 2 X 6" tins and bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Allow to cool in tin for 5 minutes then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Peanut Frosting

1/2 cup icing sugar (confectioners)
1/2 cup peanut butter
50 g (1 3/4oz) unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 3 Tbsp milk

Mix sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add milk to make frosting to a spreadable consistency (in hot weather less milk will be required)

Chocolate Ganache

500 g (17 3/4oz - if you round up to 18 oz it will be ok) dark chocolate
175 g ( 6 1/8 oz) cream*

Place chocolate and cream in microwave safe bowl and heat at high heat for 2 minutes. Allow to sit for a minute and then whisk until smooth. Cover bowl and allow to set to desired consistency.

*I made this in summer in cool weather use 250g cream.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission. 

Picnic in the park Strawberry and cream cheese frosting cake

This cake is as simple as a picnic in the park.

Strawberries are finally coming down in price here which means the start of a few glorious months of plentiful and flavorsome berries so cheap you can easily top as many cakes as you like with a mound of berries and have enough left to puree up a sauce to drip invitingly over the edge.

This cake was made last year when strawberries were at their peak.

I used recipes from my own cookbook baking up a few batches of strawberry cake and cream cheese frosting (tinted blue). But you could easily use your own favorite recipe or a packet mix.

As you can see the strawberries are the stars of this cake. If you have kids let them help arrange the strawberries on top of the cake, if there happen to be too many and they slide off, don't worry it will just add to the charm of the cake.

The frosting was added with a normal kitchen knife. I  spread frosting onto the cake as evenly as possible and then I held the knife at the bottom of the cake and dragged it upwards to create a vertical line in the frosting, repeating all around the cake.

Thank you to Caketopia for lending me the pretty pink cake stand.

If you love strawberries click over HERE to get the recipe for my simple Strawberries and Cream cheesecakes in a jar. They're easy and berry delicious ;)

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:

Link to Amazon:

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! 

Or at Fishpond (free shipping Australia)

 

 Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!

Puple Carrot and Blueberry cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Why does purple taste so good.

When I asked my friends on facebook to guess what flavor this cake was (mentioning that the sprinkles were a clue) I don't think there was one guess that was not delicious.

Lavender, Violet, Mulberry, Grape, Cherry, Blueberry, Purple Carrot.

Yup Purple Carrot.

Mr Sweet went grocery shopping the other day and brought home some purple carrots which I cooked up for dinner and the water turned so purple I thought it would make a fabulous cake.

However as you can see from the sliced cake, that purpleness did not translate into the cake batter.

But the experiment was not a total loss in the end......'cause carrot cake with cream cheese frosting :)

I decorated the cake using a Wilton 2C tip and CK purple sprinkles.

It was so pretty.

Sometimes I forget how simple frosted cakes can look so good.

If you would like more info about Purple Carrots check out this site

Also must mention that there is a lovely interview with ME over on the Alison Lawson Cake Blog, check it out to find out what my favorite recipe is, my all time favorite party and other mildly interesting information about me ;)

Alison Lawson Cakes is also running a marshmallow decorating competition and the prize is a copy of Sweets on a Stick so you must pop on over and make sure you enter.

Purple Carrot and Blueberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I used 2 X 15cm (6") tins to bake my cake but it tastes just as lovely made in 1 large 23cm (9") tin an you will only need half as much frosting.

1 cup  self-raising flour
1 cup plain wholemeal flour (whole wheat flour)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 cup macadamia oil
1 cup brown sugar lightly packed
1/2 cup golden syrup (or dark corn syrup)
4 eggs
2 cups grated purple carrot
1/2 cup mushed blueberries

Preheat oven to 160C (315 F). Grease and line a 23 cm (9")round cake tin or 2 X 15cm (6") tins.

Sift together the flours, cinnamon and bicarbonate soda (baking soda), making sure you retain all the wholemeal husks and tip them back on top of the sifted dry ingredients.

Whisk together the oil, sugar, syrup and eggs and stir into the dry ingredients until smooth.

Stir in the carrots and blueberries and mix until just smooth.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tins and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in tin for 10 minutes and then turn out on a rack to cool.

Once cool cover with cream cheese frosting (recipe below).

If you would like your cake to look like mine use the 2 X 15cm (6") tins and then make up a double batch of frosting. Trim the tops of the cakes until they are flat and even and cover them with a crumb coat and chill. Add a generous amount of frosting to the top of one cake and place the other cake on the top, then chill.

Cover both cakes generously with frosting and then smooth sides and top.

Pipe swirls of frosting around the top and bottom using a 2C tip. Decorate with purple sprinkles.


Cream Cheese Frosting - I doubled this recipe for the highly frosted and decorated cake in the picture. If you are just making one cake layer a single batch of this frosting will be ample.

125g (4 1/2 oz) cream cheese  (not low fat or spreadable)
50g (1 3/4 oz ) unsalted butter
2 cups sifted icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Add all ingredients to a large bowl of an electric mixer and mix on low speed until combined. Increase speed to high and mix for 3 - 6 minutes until very light and fluffy.

These are a few of my favorite things Cheesecakes - Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes with Nutella

Sometimes in baking things don't work out exactly as you plan them.

These mini cheesecakes are one of those things.

The plan was pretty good as plans go Nutella, Cheesecake, Chocolate and Oreo's, combining a few of my favorite things had to work out well.

So I made up a recipe, mixed, baked, swirled on some topping, took some pictures, tasted them.......

......and not quite what I was hoping for, the chocolate overpowers the Nutella resulting in a finished treat that is deliciously chocolatey but lacks a strong hazelnut component.

But they were pretty yummy, so although they were not what I was expecting I think they are still worth sharing.

I'm back to the drawing board on my Nutella cheesecakes, but in the meantime at least I had these not quite nutella ones to console myself with.

Chocolate Mini Baked Cheesecakes made with Nutella makes 18 large muffin sized cheesecakes. If you are making smaller sized cakes you will need more Oreos

625g (21oz) cream cheese at room temperature
1 X 395g (14oz) tin sweetened condensed milk
3 large eggs at room temperature
300g (10 1/2 oz) nutella
1/4 cup cocoa
18 Oreos

Preheat oven to 140C (285 F)

Line the muffin tins with the muffin/cupcake papers. Place one single oreo in the bottom of each muffin paper.

In a small bowl mix the cocoa with about 1/4 cup of the nutella to make a smooth paste.

In a large bowl beat the cream cheese using an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. If the cream cheese is still lumpy it will show up later when you mix in the chocolate, so take the time now to make sure it is mixed well. Add the condensed milk and mix until well combined. Reduce speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until just combined.

Add the Nutella and cocoa paste and continue to mix at low speed until combined.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin papers dividing mixture evenly between the papers.

Bake until the mixture is just setting in the center, around 15- 20 minutes. The center will stop looking wet and will no longer wobble when you gently shake the tray when ready.

Allow to cool in the trays for 10-15min and then pop in an airtight container in the fridge until chilled.

Once chilled top with a swirl of the dark chocolate topping recipe below.

 Keep in airtight container up to 3 days in fridge.

Dark Chocolate Topping

200g (7 oz)Dark Chocolate
60g  (2oz) cream*
100 g (3 1/2 oz) Nutella
50 g (1 3/4 oz) Nutella extra
50g (1 3/4oz) unsalted butter *

In a microwave safe bowl melt the chocolate and cream at medium low heat at bursts of 60-90 seconds, mixing with a whisk in between bursts until just melted. Do not overheat the chocolate. Gently whisk in the 100 g Nutella without over mixing or the mixture may separate.

Cool to room temperature and place in a large bowl, mix at high speed for a couple of minutes until the mixture lightens a little in color. Add the extra 50g Nutella and room temperature butter and continue to mix until the mixture is smooth and light.

*If the weather is quite cold you may wish to increase the cream and butter ingredients to make the topping a little softer and easier to pipe.

Spiced Pear Cupcakes with Caramel Cream Cheese Icing

Did you know it's National Pear Month in Australia. Yup it's happening all around you right now and I bet quite a few of you might have even been participating and supporting local growers by eating a delicious juicy pear. There are also all kinds of exciting pear relating goings on around, including your chance to win for dinner for 2 HERE and lots of other foodie events around the country. You can find out more at rediscover the pear HERE.

We don't actually need to rediscover the pear in this household, despite all the cake and cookies I bake we are big fruit eaters here, and yummy Australian pears are always in the fruit bowl during their season.

OK - these green dot ones look good but that is way too much frosting - 

trust me don't do that, make your swirl smaller like the other pics.

In celebration of the pear, I came up with this light and delicious spiced pear cupcake topped with a swirl of creamy caramel cream cheese icing.

The light and fragrant cupcake was reminiscent of a tea cake and matched the decadent icing well.

But if your looking for something less creamy they were also lovely without any icing, or dipped in butter and cinnamon sugar.

Those cinnamon sugar ones were really good warm so these are the only photo's I got :)

Spiced Pear Cupcake (makes 20 - 24 cupcakes) store in an airtight container for up to 3 days

Note that this recipe calls for Extra Large eggs in place of large eggs, just because that is what I mostly have in my fridge. I use organic eggs when possible and always free range.

1 large pear cut into very small pieces (yield around 1 3/4 cup) I used Sweet William variety
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp all spice
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
4 Extra Large Eggs
250 (8 3/4 oz)grams unsalted butter softened.


Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Line 2 muffin trays with paper cases.

In a medium bowl mix together the pear, cinnamon and all spice.

Sift the flour and sugar into a large bowl and make a well in the center, add the Eggs and softened butter and mix well at low speed using an electric mixer until just combined. Scrap down the sides. Increase the mixer speed to medium high and mix for 2 minutes.

Using a spatula fold the spiced pear mixture into the cupcake batter. Spoon batter into prepared tins filling the paper cases 3/4 full.

Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool.

Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

200g (7oz) Cream Cheese at room temperature
100g (3  1/2 oz) Unsalted Butter at room temperature
3 cups sifted icing sugar
1/4 cup caramel (like top and fill) or make your own dulce de leche following the instructions HERE

Place the cream cheese and unsalted butter in a large bowl and mix until combined. Add the icing sugar one cup at a time and mix at medium low speed until incorporated, increase speed to high and mix for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the caramel and mix until well combined. If you are spreading the cream cheese onto the cakes you can use straight away if you would like to pipe place in fridge until the mixture becomes firm.

Alternate Cinnamon Sugar Topping

Melt 125g (3.5 oz) unsalted butter in a bowl. In a separate shallow bowl mix together 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 2 Tbsp (2 Tbsp 2 tsp US)ground cinnamon. Dip the tops of the cupcakes in the melted butter and then into the sugar mixture.