Dark Chocolate Cheesecake with Wine Macerated Strawberries

So much chocolate. So little time!

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake with Wine Macerated Strawberries is really as good as it sounds and looks, and tastes even better. The cheesecake is a chocolate lovers delight – deep, dark, rich, sensuous, indulgent, sinful. With so many superlatives, I might well throw another in. It’s dead S I M P L E too! Make it ASAP and you’ll know just what I mean.It’s a recipe I’ve minimally adapted from Ruchira @ Cookaroo. She’s quite the best ‘chef’ I know. Her recipes are always quick, simple and foolproof. I’ve made this Dark Chocolate Cheesecake before and it was SO GOOD that I couldn’t wait to make it again.The recipe now lives in my head. I go about tweaking it here and there depending on what I have on hand. It’s a keeper!  Minimal fuss, maximum taste! I throw it together in my Thermomix and it takes under 20 minutes to come together. I used digestive biscuits the last time. Didn’t have digestives on hand this time, so I threw in Hobnobs instead. Just as good! I do a lot of chocolate desserts, simple ones mostly. Simple recipes like these leave you a lot of time to think about what more you can do. I could have just gone naked {ahem} with the cheesecake, but a luscious rich chocolate ganache takes this beautiful Dark Chocolate Cheesecake to a delicious new level. How could I skip it. The cake was for a birthday, so now something had to be celebratory, I mean a little more celebratory. Also, so much time on hand makes me fidgety. I just have to do something more!

I thought maybe salter butter caramel and had visions of gooey goodness dripping off the edges. Yet when I opened the fridge, I saw a box of juicy fresh strawberries and I knew I had to have them on some way. Maybe do strawberries in balsamic vinegar? No, no, strawberries in red wine screamed the bottle of Shiraz at me.You might remember these Lamb Chops with Red Wine I made recently, best I’ve ever made. Rosemary, garlic, and a limited edition Shiraz came together ever so beautifully to create this dish with so much character and loads of depth. There was some wine left over, so red wine macerated strawberries it was going to be.Anything on my kitchen counter becomes an ingredient in my recipes. Loads of fresh oranges and star anise sitting pretty on the counter could only mean one thing. They would help flavour my macerated strawberries. In went the zest of an orange and a few star anise. They created delightful undertones as you can well imagine.The result was a flavoursome, beautifully coloured red wine topping which tastes as good as it looks. Here you go, the recipe is a must try. For me, it’s the only chocolate cheesecake recipe I’ll ever need! Thank you Ruchira ♥!

Print

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake Red wine macerated strawberries

Dark, divine, sinful, creamy, chocolaty and above all, as simple as can be, this Dark Chocolate Cheesecake will leave you wanting for more. Recipe minimally adapted from Ruchira @ thegreatcookaroo.com. You won’t need another recipe ever! Can be made 2-3 days ahead of time.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 13 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Servings 8 people

Ingredients

Biscuit base

• 150 g Hobnobs or digestive​ biscuits​
• 30 g cocoa powder
• 20 g organic jaggery granules
• 50 g butter

Dark Chocolate Filling

• 200 g dark couverture chocolate melted
• 300 g cream cheese
• 200 ml single cream
• 30 g cup cocoa
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 90 g organic jaggery granules

Ganache

• 100 g 52% couverture
• 100 ml single cream

Red wine macerated strawberries

• 250 g strawberries chopped
• 50-75 g brown sugar
• 2-3 star anise
• zest of one orange
• 100 ml red wine
• 40 ml orange juice

Instructions

Biscuit base

• Whiz the biscuits, brown sugar and cocoa in food processor until you get a fine meal. Add butter, whiz again to mix. Press into 8″ loose bottom tin. Chill in the freezer while you get the filling ready, and the oven preheats.

Dark Chocolate Filling

• Preheat oven to 160C.
• Place all ingredients of the filling in bowl of food processor, and blend well to mix, 1-2 minutes on medium speed.
• Pour into crust, and bake for an hour. Leave to cool in the oven, then cover and chill for 4-6 hours, better overnight.

Red Wine Macerated Strawberries

• in a non reactive bowl, put in the strawberries, star anise, orange zest and brown sugar. Stir to mix, then pour in the wine. Stand covered in the fridge overnight.
• Discard the star anise, and strain the strawberries. Reserve in a bowl. Place wine in a small saucepan with a quarter cup orange juice, and simmer until thick and syrupy. taste and adjust sweetness if required. Cool slightly, then pour over the strawberries.
• Ladle the strawberries over the ganache. If the syrup is thin, reduce it further until nice and thick. Cool and pour over strawberries.

Ganache

• Place chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl. Heat in microwave for 1 minute. Whisk​ with a balloon whisk​ until smooth. Cool about 30 minutes, then whisk​ again​. Chill until a little f​irm. Whisk once again till glossy and smooth, and holds peaks. Spread over​ chilled cheesecake.