Archive for: mocha

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Light and fluffy souffle-like cheesecakes are nice, but not everyone is going to be satisfied with that type of texture for a cheesecake. Others want their cheesecake to be rich, creamy and dense. In fact, this sort of texture is almost a signature of cheesecakes, since few other baked good can (or would want to) achieve it. This Mocha Chocolate Chip Cheesecake is a great example of this type of cheesecake. It is rich and filling to the point where you really only want to eat a small slice at a time, but it has a great flavor and is satisfyingly smooth and creamy to eat.

The flavor for this cake was, not surprisingly, inspired by one of my favorite drink combinations: coffee and chocolate. I started out with a chocolate crust, an easy one to make that doesn’t need to be cooled before the batter is poured on top. Cheesecakes don’t typically have a lot of liquid added to them, and when they do, it is often something that adds extra richness, like cream. I opted to use instant espresso powder to add a good shot of coffee flavor to the cheesecake. Instant coffee powder will work just as well, so use what you have on hand.

I used melted chocolate to get the chocolate into the cheesecake. I used semisweet chocolate (61% cacao), but you can go with a darker or milder chocolate as long as you choose a good-quality one. You can either use the microwave or a double boiler to melt your chocolate, but be sure to let it cool down before incorporating it into the batter. The melted chocolate doesn’t do too much to change the consistency of the batter (unlike a dry ingredient like cocoa powder that might thicken it up too much). The batter will be quite thick, perfect for suspending chocolate chips or chocolate chunks without letting them fall to the bottom of the cake.

The finished cake is absolutely gorgeous looking, and mine baked up to be both even and smooth. Thicker batters seem to hold together better during baking and not crack as much (although I don’t personally mind if the cake cracks), and there is no need to use a waterbath for this cake, either. The coffee flavor is mild, but comes through the chocolate flavor just enough to round out the dessert and give the flavor some dimension. I could only handle small slices, but you can bet that I went back for a few of them. +Continue Reading

Mocha Tiramisu

January 4, 2008
Chocolate, Puddings, Custards and Mousses, Recipes
11 comments

tiramisu, up close

Some desserts are classics and never get taken off the menu, year after year. Other desserts follow trends, going in and out of style and from being everywhere to nowhere in the blink of an eye. The classics get passed over for trendier desserts with regularity since many diners know that the classic will be good and can’t resist the novelty and the potential of the newer desserts. It is probably for this very reason that I didn’t have tiramisu for years, though it was once one of my very favorite desserts. Once I realized that it had been so long, however, I decided that things needed to change. I made a tiramisu.

The appeal of tiramisu, for me, is that it is an easy make-ahead dessert. I keep my recipe simple by using a no-cook mascarpone cream and by using store-bought ladyfingers. Mine were from Trader Joe’s, but any quality brand will work well. You’ll need about 30 for this dessert, but since sometimes I’m able to squeeze a couple more into the pan, you might want to make sure you have extras. The dessert should be made the night before you intend to serve it to let the flavors meld together. When finished, the tiramisu has a light and creamy texture that seems to melt right into your mouth. Since the ingredients are rich, it is very filling and can be served in small portions.

For this particular batch, I wanted to impart a mocha element, rather than going for a straight coffee one. I did this by adding a generous amound of shaved dark chocolate between the layers and by adding creme de cacao into the coffee dip for an extra chocolate flavor that didn’t change the consistency of the dip. The overall effect is subtle, but delicious.

+Continue Reading