Eggless Double Choc Marble Cheesecake

I've been bitten by the baking bug, most definitely.

The 'before' pic - my second ever cheesecake!

Recipe and some quite a bit of ranting after the jump! =P








It's only been what... 4 days? =P And am off baking again! So many January babies. Am going to be ambitious and attempt to make 2 cakes for the Jan 10th babies! 2 guys born on the same day but 2 years apart.

This time, I started early. It's 4 am now and the cheesecake's off baking in the oven. Will take at least another 1/2 hour to finish baking, plus another hour or 2 to cool off on the rack before I put it into the fridge til 12 am of the 10th.

Note: It's 4am, 9th Jan 2011. And my sleep schedule's been off since New Year's eve. =P Classes don't start til Monday, so - HECK IT! =P

Might attempt the 2nd cake, the "Nice" version of Ko Rasoi's Valentine's Day cakes - the delectable-looking white choc sponge cake later on in the day.

So yes, rant's over and now it's time for the recipe and a whole lot of extra notes!

To be extremely honest, I followed the recipe exactly except that this time:

• For the base - I doubled the recipe for the Digestive biscuits, added white choc pieces and 40g extra oats into them. Used about 1/2-2/3 of the batch for the crust and the rest for the beau!  Somehow the biscuits turned out better than that of the original, not too sure if it was the white choc that made the difference? Or probably the consistency of the butter?
• For the filling - I added melted white choc into the "white" batter - spread the white first, dark next and.... well, marbled it by taking a spoon and swirling the white on top of the dark.

Well, anyways, here's the recipe: (Yeah, I got lazy and copied and pasted the most of the recipe from the previous post =P) Made quite a few changes tho.

Again, made with all the ingredients available in Moscow (save the vanilla essence and cornflour)

Adapted from  Ko Rasoi's - Devillish Cheesecake

Cheesecake base

Digestive biscuits (homemade - with white choc bits and 20g extra oats)

50g butter (too much will cause the cheesecake to "leak" butter - you've been warned!)

Filling

800 g    cream cheese (Viola brand - 2 tubs - сливочный сыр)

1 ½ cup   sugar (brown, if available - or else, white's fine?)

1     tbsp  cornflour

1/3  cup   lemon juice 

1 1/3 cup double cream (cream - 35%)

½   tbsp  vanilla essence

1/3    cup  cocoa powder

200 g white choc (melted - 1 min in microwave, or at least... that's how I did it)

I used a springform 10" (26 cm) pan.

Method for base:

1. Break biscuits into small pieces and blend in food processor til crumbly (or put into a ziploc bag and crush)
2. Add crumbs to butter.
3. Press into 10" springform pan. 
4. Refrigerate for at least 20-30 minutes. I think I prefer refrigerating instead of baking the crust. Or does anyone do that? My first time I baked the crust. 

Method for filling:

1. Preheat at 175°C (If you're using a black springform pan, lower it to 150-155°C(minus 20-25°C from original temp). If silver, no change)
2. Cream the cheese til it's smooth. Don't overmix else too much air gets in the batter. This time, I left the cream cheese out for about 2 hours before. It came out soft and creamy, so there wasn't a need to cream it too much. (Altho I think I might've overdid it)
3. Mix the liquid ingredients together in a separate small bowl - vanilla essence, cream, lemon juice (careful tho... If you don't mix it properly, it'll curdle - acidity from lemon juice curdles the cream. A good stir will even it out)
4. Add the sugar, cornflour and liquid mixture(3) into the cream cheese bowl and mix til evenly distributed. Again, DON'T OVERMIX!
5. Separate half the cheesecake batter. Add cocoa powder to 1 half and the melted white choc in the other. (My white choc didn't look all that melted even after being nuked in the microwave oven for 1 min but somehow melted nicely once added to the cheesecake batter)
6. Pour the 'white' batter over the crust and the 'chocolate' batter on top of the white. Use a spoon to lightly scoop the white batter over the chocolate batter in swirly motion to marble it (again, this is how I did it, you might have better methods - be creative! even if I wasn't =P)
7. Bake cheesecake at 175°C(silver) or 150°C(black springform pan) for 1 - 1 ¼ hours. I put a tray of water beneath the cheesecake, and so far my cheesecakes have never cracked (then again, including this... I've only ever baked 2 cheesecakes, so do trust the misc tips on google!)
8. Cool it out on a rack for 30-45 mins before refrigerating it for another 4 hours (or even better -overnight) I left mine to cool in the oven for 30 mins, took it out to cool on the rack for another 30-45 mins before refrigerating it.

REMEMBER that cheesecakes shouldn't be overbaked and... when immediately out of the oven, the middle is usually still wobbly. It'll harden and turn out perfect after refrigeration.

It's only been my 2nd time baking a cheesecake, but ever since the 1st, I'd most definitely prefer to make it ahead of time.... In this case, 20 hours before the expected time. =P Only because it's still the holidays!

Mine turned out slightly lumpy... I guess I really did overmix it... So too much air trapped =( The first didn't have that problem! And the oven slightly burnt the top.... So........ the 'after' photo doesn't look as nice as the 'before' =( Hope it tastes good tho. Will update after.