Chocolate Eruption Cheesecake

 My sister just had her 39th Birthday and we celebrated with a delicious chocolate cheesecake.  The recipe comes from a gorgeous baking book entitled, A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman.  Marcy has a great selection of cheesecakes to choose from and it was fun to think of which one would be the one my sister would enjoy the most.  This is definitely not your ordinary cheesecake as it has a lot of chocolate additions.  It is a great choice for a special occasion.

 You will need 2 Tb. flour (I used a gluten-free blend)

 5 large eggs

 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped white chocolate

 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate

2 cups coarsely chopped chocolate caramel bars, such as Snickers or Turtles candy


 1 cup coarsely cut chunks of brownie, homemade or prepared from a mix (I used store bought gluten-free brownies)

 
1/2 cup dulce de leche or caramel sundae topping


1 can sweetened condensed milk


1/2 cup sugar


1/3 cup whipping cream
Along with some other ingredients:  2 1/2 pounds cream cheese, softened (this is approximately 4 bricks); 1 Tb pure vanilla extract; and 1 pinch salt.

The base for the cheesecake is super easy:  it is made with brownies.  You can make your own or buy some.  I used purchased gluten-free brownies, in a similar size to the "two-bite" variety.  With this recipe, all did was slice the brownies, lay them down on the prepared pan, and add additional brownie crumbs.

This recipe calls for a 10-inch Springform pan, which you need to spray and then line with parchment paper.  My springform pan was smaller, and this recipe makes a lot, so I ended up using a loaf pan with the remainder.  

You can see that I simply laid the brownie slices down

...and filled in the spaces with brownie crumbs.  Easy!

Just before you start to mix the cheesecake batter, preheat the oven to 325 degrees f.

In your mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese (softened) and the 1/2 cup white sugar.  Blend until smooth.

Add the sweetened condensed milk and blend

Next comes the eggs

1/3 cup whipping cream

2 Tb. flour

1 Tb. pure vanilla and a pinch of salt

At this point, you need to blend on low for 5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the bowl often.

Remove 1/3 of the batter and mix with the white chocolate

Pour over crust

Add the chocolate chips, brownies, and turtle pieces and mix gently by hand.  Pour half of the batter over the white chocolate cheesecake batter.

Drop dollops of half the dulce de leche sauce and swirl with a knife.  Top with the remaining batter and then the last of the dulce de leche sauce, swirling with a knife.  The pan will be very full.  Place cheesecake on a prepared baking sheet and bake until set, about 45-55 minutes (mine took about 55-60 minutes).  Turn oven off, open door, let cool in oven for 1 hour and then in fridge overnight.

Remove from pan and unmold onto serving plate

Before serving, you can drizzle dulce de leche sauce on the cheesecake and/or the plate.  You can also have fun with melted chocolate, as I did.  I simply poured the chocolate into a plastic bag, cut a small hole in the side and played around with shapes.  

You can add chocolate curls or drizzled melted chocolate too

This was very much enjoyed!