Chocolate cheesecake already has plenty of flavor from cream cheese and melted semisweet chocolate, but Birchwood Pie adds another ingredient to the filling: 2 teaspoons of instant espresso powder.
The espresso joins 6 ounces of melted semisweet chocolate, then mini chocolate chips cover the top before baking. The result is a mocha cheesecake where coffee becomes part of the chocolate filling rather than a separate layer or topping.
Even the crust stays on the chocolate side. When chocolate wafer cookies weren’t available at her grocery store, she used another chocolate cookie for the base instead.
Chocolate cookies make the crust
The crust starts with 1 cup of chocolate wafer cookies or chocolate graham crackers. They’re processed with 1 tablespoon of sugar and 3 tablespoons of melted butter.
The mixture gets pressed across the bottom of an ungreased 8-inch springform pan. There’s no need to bring the crust up the sides, leaving the chocolate cheesecake filling exposed around the edge once the collar comes off.
That chocolate base also means the espresso isn’t being added to an otherwise plain cheesecake. Chocolate runs from the crust through the filling and into the chips scattered across the top.
Instant espresso goes straight into the cheesecake filling
Two 8-ounce packages of cream cheese form the base of the filling. The recipe combines them with 1 cup of sugar, four eggs, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, 6 ounces of melted semisweet chocolate, and 2 teaspoons of instant espresso powder.
Everything goes into a food processor and is processed into the cheesecake filling.
The espresso powder adds coffee flavor without introducing a cup of brewed coffee and its extra liquid. Paired with the semisweet chocolate, it pushes the filling toward mocha rather than leaving it as a standard chocolate cheesecake.
Birchwood Pie used Neufchâtel in her version because she prefers its tangier taste.
Mini chocolate chips cover the top before baking
Once the filling is poured over the cookie crust, 3/4 cup of mini semisweet chocolate chips goes across the top.
The cheesecake then bakes at 325 degrees for about 70 minutes, until the center passes the recipe’s toothpick test.
Instead of adding ganache or another topping after baking, the chocolate chips go into the oven with the cheesecake. That keeps the final step simple while adding another dose of chocolate above the espresso-spiked filling.
The cheesecake sinks as it cools
As soon as the cheesecake comes out of the oven, a knife is run around its edge. It then sits on a wire rack for a few hours to cool.
The cheesecake sinks as it cools, something Birchwood Pie points out in her original method. Before removing the springform collar, she runs the knife around the edge once more.
What started with 2 teaspoons of instant espresso ends up with chocolate at every level: cookie crust underneath, semisweet chocolate and espresso in the filling, and mini chocolate chips across the top.
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