Espresso cheesecake

Everyone needs a little pick-me-up now and then. Sometimes it is a cup of coffee, other times a bar of chocolate. So how about a recipe with both? The delicate taste of coffee in a creamy form, paired with the milky flavour of a chocolate topping.

Instructions:

Biscuit base:

1. Blitz the biscuits in a blender, tip them into a bowl and mix them with the melted butter.
2. Then tip the biscuit mixture into a round cake tin and press it down gently and evenly with your fingers.
3. Put it into the preheated oven and bake at 160 °C for 10 – 15 minutes. Take it out and leave it to cool.

Coffee cream:

1. First prepare the coffee. Pour a small amount of hot water (just off the boil) over the espresso and leave it to stand for a few minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring the whipping cream to the boil in a small bowl over a water bath. When the cream starts to boil, take it off the hob and stir in the brewed espresso, which you first strain through a sieve (or separate the coffee grounds from the coffee another way). Leave it to cool.
3. In a bowl (or in a food processor) blend the mascarpone, sour cream, sugar and the cooled coffee. Add the eggs to this creamy mixture gradually – that is, one at a time, blending each time before adding the next, until all three are used up.
4. Add the vanilla and salt and blend again.
5. Pour the cream over the biscuit base, put it into the oven and bake at 150 °C for 1 – 1.5 hours. Take the cheesecake out when it is just right – not yet completely firm, but baked and jelly-like in consistency. Turn the oven off, but leave the cake inside for another hour. Then take it out of the oven and put it in the fridge for 2 hours.

And finally a simple topping:

1. Warm the whipping cream in a bowl over a water bath.
2. Add the chocolate and stir it into a lovely milky topping.
3. Pour it over the cheesecake and leave it to set.
4. Finally, decorate with strawberries, blueberries or other fruit, or with flowers from your own garden or from the market. Enjoy! J

Many thanks to Veronika from Lenivá kuchárka for this great recipe! On her blog you will find even more great recipes.