Cake made of cheese ?!

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Back where we come from, cheesecake is not a very usual desert, and people are not always open on trying a cake made out of cheese. But my love for cheesecake ( or any cake for that matter ) is endless and while my boyfriend had to be tricked by a friend, who I would like to thank for this, to try it, I didn't have any problems falling in love with this awesome treat. Can you believe we ate almost all of it ? 

I decided to try baking my own for the first time, and I was amazed how simple this recipe is to make and how delicious the result turned out. This is why I decided to share it with you. You have to try this! Trust me.

Here is the recipe 

Chocolate covered New York style cheesecake 

Ingredients

Crust:

12-15 graham crackers ( 3/5 inch )

1/4 cup sugar

4-5 tablespoons unsalted, melted butter, plus some at room temperature for the pan

pinch of salt

Filling:

4 bars ( 2 pounds / 1 kg ) of cream cheese at room temperature

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1/3 cup milk at room temperature

pinch of salt

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract, or the seeds of a vanilla stick ( you can save the pod for another use, to flavor some syrup for example )

1/4 cup flour

Chocolate ganache:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

6-8 oz good quality chocolate chips 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F or 190 C

Make the crust by pulsing the graham crackers in a food processor until fine crumbs, then add the melted butter, sugar and salt and pulse to combine.

Press the mix on the bottom and about 1 inch on the sides of a buttered spring form pan. You can use a normal cake pan as well, but it will be harder to take it out after baking. I used a 8 inch pan but i think 9 would work better. You can use the bottom of a measuring cup or glass to even out the mix in the pan.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until set, then let it cool on a wire rack. 


Reduce oven to 325 degrees F or 160 C 

Put a kettle of water to boil.

Make the filling :

Put the cream cheese bars in the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat it on medium ( I put it on 6 on my KitchenAid ) for about 10 minutes until fluffy, scrapping down the sides of the bowl from time to time. Gradually add the sugar, beating until light and fluffy.

Add salt, milk and combine.

  
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each just until combined, not more, scraping down the bowl after each addition. 

Beat in sour cream, vanilla extract, then the flour .

Wrap the bottom of the pan in foil so that the crust does not get wet while baking. Pour in filling, and put the pan in a roasting pan, pouring in it the boiling water to come halfway up side of the pan. Place in oven and bake for 1 1/2 hours. 
Turn off the oven and it  is important to let the cheesecake cool completely without taking it out of the oven, for several hours (4-7) to avoid the top from cracking. When cool, run a knife around the edges (use a plastic one if you have nonstick pans, not to scratch them), remove from pan, let cool completely, then put it on a serving platter.

Make the ganache :
Put the heavy whipping cream in a sauce pan and bring almost to a boil. Drop in the chocolate chips and let them melt for 5 minutes without mixing. Make sure you use very good quality chocolate. After they melt mix well everything to obtain a creamy chocolate ganache. This is divine! Pour over the cheesecake.

Chill , then enjoy !

Let me know if you tried this recipe and how it turned out. You can also substitute the chocolate ganache with fresh fruit, like strawberry or raspberries, cherries , or why not, have them all! Strawberries and chocolate work so well together :) 

Thanks for reading !