Pure Indulgence Double Chocolate Cheesecake

‘Cho-co-la’, say it out loud with deliberation. Swirling in your mouth like molten velvet, the word and its very sound, coaxes you to close your eyes and retreat to a secret spot where, in complete solitude, you can lose yourself to the pleasures of the glorious thing that is chocolate.

Lucky to have recieved a rather large box of thick, fragrant slabs of dark (70%) and milk chocolate from a Belgian friend as a parting gift, I couldn’t wait to cook with them. Something as perfect as top grade chocolate should be cooked as little as possible, so that it retains almost all its original properties. An indulgent, no-bake, double chocolate cheesecake with mascarpone and cream cheese, would embrace the luxuriousness of the chocolates. Beaten together, the cream cheese and mascarpone would transform into smooth white satin. Pouring in melted chocolate would infuse this creamy, white cloud with darkly delicious, warm, gooey love. what I visualised, was a cheesecake that would be pure cho-co-la on the tongue. Like eating chocolate with a spoon.

Luxurious yet simple, both in its ingredients and how it is made, all this cheesecake asks for is relatively cool weather when it is served. Since it has no gelatin, it melts quickly, so it’s best taken out of the refrigerator just when you’re ready to serve. The absence of gelatine also means that the cream cheese has to be full fat or at least medium fat for the cheesecake to set. To give the cake better form, I gave the crust height. I pressed the crust mixture to the side of the springform pan to build a wall to hold the filling. I haven’t tried it with low fat cream cheese but I suspect the mixture would have a looser consistency. There’s no added sugar here, just the sweetness from the milk chocolate. So a strawberry sauce on the side is a good idea if you like it sweeter. But even on its own, it makes for an impressive and delicious dessert. I served it to close friends at a farewell dinner party and the best compliment I received was, “ I feel like mmmmm I’m eating pure chocolate mmmm”. Mission accomplished.