Chocolate Cheesecake

Chocolate Cheesecake

GF

Yields 1 cheesecake

This very rich chocolate cheesecake is topped with caramel nuts. If you need it to be nut-free, try topping with freeze-dried fruit or even a dusting of extra cocoa powder. This is a very milk chocolate flavour – if you prefer darker chocolate, feel free to substitute some or all of the milk chocolate chips with dark chocolate.

What you need for the base:

100 grams of white rice flour

50 grams of tapioca starch

30 grams of buckwheat flour

30 grams of potato starch

75 grams of white sugar

½ teaspoon of xanthan gum (or about 2 – 3 grams)

100 grams of butter

1 egg

What you need for the cheesecake filling:

500 mls of cream (double cream if in the UK or another country that distinguishes between single and double cream), divided into 125 mls and 375 mls

250 grams of milk chocolate chips or bar (if a  bar, cut into small pieces

120 grams of dark chocolate chips or bar (if a bar, cut into small pieces)

500 grams of cream cheese

50 grams of icing sugar

40 grams of cocoa powder

What you need for the nut topping (optional):

100 grams of white sugar

60 mls of water

½ teaspoon of salt (about 3 grams)

140 grams of nuts of your choice, toasted

5 mls of vanilla essence

What to do for the base:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line the bottom of a round cake tin with a removable bottom with baking paper (my tin had a diameter of 22 centimetres) and grease the sides of the tin with butter to prevent sticking.

2. In  large bowl, mix together the white rice flour, tapioca starch, buckwheat flour, potato starch, white sugar and xanthan gum and then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Mix the egg into the mixture in the bowl to form a dough.

4. Carefully press the dough evenly across the bottom of the lined cake tin.

5. Place the cake tin with the dough in the middle of the preheated oven to bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown and baked through.

6. Remove the cake tin from the oven and leave to cool completely on a cooling rack.

What to do for the cheesecake filling:

1. Heat the cream in a saucepan over a medium heat until just bubbling and then remove from the heat. Add the milk and dark chocolate chips to the cream and leave for about a minute to soften, then stir vigorously to fully melt the chocolate and mix it thoroughly into the cream. Alternatively, place the cream and chocolate together in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in 20 to 30 second bursts on high, stirring after each burst, until the chocolate has melted and been mixed fully into the cream. Set aside the cram/chocolate mixture to cool to room temperature before proceeding to the next step.

2. Place the cream cheese in a large bowl and beat it well to soften it (I use the whisk attachment on my stand mixer for this, but a handheld mixer would work too).

3. Add the cream, icing sugar, cocoa powder and cooled cream/chocolate mixture to the bowl with the cream cheese and whisk together until the mixture is firm and mostly retains its shape without collapsing on itself if you scoop a little out of the bowl or draw a line through it with a butter knife (again I use the whisk attachment of my stand mixer for this, but a handheld mixer would work too). This stage can be tricky as the mixture needs to be a firm consistency but shouldn’t be overbeaten.

4. Once the mixture is a firm consistency, carefully tip it over the cooled cheesecake base and spread into an even layer on top of the base.

5. Cover the cake pan containing the cheesecake with clingfilm or a plate and leave in the fridge for at least a few hours (or up to overnight) to firm up.

What to do for the nut topping:

1. Line a baking tray with baking paper and put to one side whilst making the caramel nuts.

2. Place the sugar, water and salt together in a saucepan and gently swirl the water around the bottom of the saucepan to start dissolving the sugar. I use a small to medium size pan to ensure that the water fully covers the bottom of the pan.

3. Place the lid on the saucepan and put it over a medium heat to melt and caramelize the sugar, checking occasionally.

4. Once the sugar has caramelized (turned a golden brown colour), remove the pan from the heat and add the nuts and vanilla to the pan. Stir everything together well.

5. Tip the caramel nuts out of the saucepan on to the lined baking tray and spread out across the baking paper.

6. Set the tray aside somewhere cool, to allow the nuts to cool fully before using.

To serve:

1. When ready to serve, chop the caramel nuts into small pieces. I find it best to do this with a large, sharp knife on a large chopping board.

2. Remove the cheesecake from the fridge and scatter the nut pieces (or alternative topping such as freeze-dried fruit, if you’re using that) across the top of the cheesecake.

3. Run a butter knife around the edge of the cheesecake to make sure that it isn’t sticking to the sides of the cake pan, and then undo the side of the cake pan and separate the side from the bottom (the cheesecake should stay on the bottom of the cake pan).

4. Carefully slide the cheesecake off the baking paper lining the bottom of the cake pan and on to a serving plate. If the edges of the cheesecake are a little rough from the way in which the cake pan sides were separated from the base, you can run a hot knife around the edge of the cheesecake, parallel with the sides, to smooth the sides.

5. Serve and enjoy!