Cherries and Chocolate Marble Cheesecake

Is there anything that doesn't go well with Chocolate? Especially a berry? Half the battle is already won when you've got a dessert with chocolate in it and in this case, the other half with cherries. Those voluptuous looking juicy blood red cherries combined with silky smooth cream cheese and bittersweet chocolate. Yum yum yum. You wouldn't be able to resist yourself from grabbing a bite of this super duper delicious cheesecake, even if you're watching your diet :-)

I can't tell you how tasty this cheesecake turned out to be. With every bite, you've the juice oozing out of cherries that are topped with cream cheese and finally marbled with dark chocolate. And if this wasn't enough, I used a base of Oreos, whole Oreos, biscuit, cream everything, that too the chocolate ones!

As with most of my recipes, this is a versatile one. Though I've used Maraschino cherries here, you can use either Morello, glace cherries, fresh or even frozen, whatever you prefer. Just ensure that they are pitted. Else, you are going to have a hard time slicing the cheesecake and of course, eating it. To give the cheesecake an extra chocolate punch, I've used chocolate Oreos, but you can use whatever cookies you prefer. As with the chocolate, use semi sweet instead of dark chocolate if you want to. Avoid using white though. I am not sure if it would taste good in this cheesecake.

So what are you waiting for? Grab your ingredients and let's get on to bake this utterly yummy cheesecake!

Recipe Source: Bakingyummies

Makes one 8 inch cheesecake.

Ingredients:
For the Biscuit Base
150 grams / 5 ounces whole chocolate Oreos
15 - 20 grams / 0.5 ounces unsalted melted butter (since these cookies are sandwiched with cream, you wouldn't need a lot of butter to bring the crumbs together).

For the Cream Cheese Mixture
2 packets (454 grams / 16 ounces) full fat Philadelphia cream cheese at room temperature
200 grams / 7 ounces caster sugar or superfine sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
90 grams / 3 ounces dark chocolate (with at least 70% cocoa content) or semi sweet chocolate
Cherries, enough to cover the biscuit base

Method
Preheat oven to 175 degrees C / 350 degrees F. Butter sides of an 8 inch spring form pan and line the base with parchment paper.

In a food processor or a grinder, pulse the biscuits to fine crumbs. Take out 2 tablespoons of the crumbs and use them to dust the sides of the spring form pan. Add the melted butter and pulse until the mixture comes together. Press this mixture onto the bottom of the spring form pan and bake for 8 mins. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool.

Reduce the oven temperature to 165 degrees C / 330 degrees F. Keep a pan full of water on low flame.

Using the double boiler method or in a microwave stirring after every few seconds, melt the chocolate. Meanwhile, in a stand mixer on medium speed with the paddle attachment, process the cream cheese till it is soft and creamy(1-2 mins).

Reduce the speed to low. Add sugar and beat until combined. Scrape the bowl as and when required. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until well mixed. Add salt and vanilla extract and beat for 1-2 mins.

Scrape the bowl and beat until smooth and thoroughly mixed. Remove 150 ml / 5fl ounces / 1/2 cup cream cheese mixture into a jug. As soon as the chocolate has melted, pour it in the jug and mix.

Wrap the spring form pan till the edges thoroughly with aluminium foil(I wrap the pan twice till the edge for extra protection). Keep the pan in a roasting dish. Tip in enough cherries in the pan so that the biscuit base is covered. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pan.

Pour the chocolate mixture on the cream cheese mixture in swirls. With a toothpick or a wooden skewer or even a cake tester, swirl the chocolate mixture and the cream cheese mixture to create a marbled effect. Do not go overboard with the swirling, or else you'll lose the marble effect.

Fill the roasting dish with the boiling water till it reaches about halfway up the pan. Place the roasting dish in the oven and bake the cheesecake till the center of the cheesecake jiggles a little when the pan is shaken slightly(about 45 mins to an hour). Switch off the oven and let the cake be in the oven for about half an hour.

Place the pan on a wire rack to cool and as soon as you can handle it, say about 5 mins later, remove the aluminium foil and let the cake cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Once the cake is cooled, say 5-6 hours later, loosely place a tissue on top of the pan, place a cling film or an aluminium foil on top of the tissue. Secure the tissue and the cling film to the pan with a rubber band. Keep the covered pan in the refrigerator for at least 5 to 6 hrs or preferably overnight.

Once you want to eat the cheesecake, take it out from the refrigerator, remove the clingfilm or the foil and the tissue. Now run a knife or a spatula along the edges of the cheesecake. Carefully and slowly, remove the side of the pan.

To slice the cheesecake, dip a sharp knife in warm water, pat it dry with a tissue or a cloth and cut through the cheesecake. Before you use the knife again, dip it again in the warm water and pat dry to clean. Repeat this process each time you use the knife. The reason we do this is to give each slice a clean look, otherwise you will have the cream cheese clinging to the knife and messing up the slices.

Enjoy your home made Cherries and Chocolate Marble Cheesecake.

Cheesecake will keep well in the refrigerator covered for up to 3 days.

A couple of things to take care of : 1. While preparing the cream cheese batter, do not over-mix it at any stage. Over-mixing creates air bubbles in the batter leading to holes and cracks in your baked cheesecake.

2. The reason a cheesecake is baked in a water bath is because it solves two purposes, first, it stops the cake from having a dry texture due to the moisture from the water thereby giving you a silky and velvety texture and second, the water helps to maintain a constant temperature in the oven so that the cheesecake bakes evenly greatly reducing the chances of cracks on the cheesecake's surface.

Happy Baking!!!