Recipe

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8″ springform cake pan with extra butter, and base-line with parchment paper.

Step 2: For the base, crush the bourbon cookies into crumbs and place in a bowl. Pour over the melted butter. Mix together well, then press evenly into the prepared cake pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour, until set.

Step 3: For the filling, place the cream cheese, mascarpone, and sugar in a food processor and blend until smooth. Next add the eggs, then the cocoa powder and lastly the melted chocolate, still beating. Continue beating until thoroughly combined.

Step 4: Spoon the mixture onto the cookie base in the pan. Level the surface, then bake in the preheated oven for about 50-60 minutes, or until the cheesecake still has a slight wobble in the centre. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake inside to cool and set for about 1 hour with the door closed. Take out of the oven, cool, then chill for at least 3 hours in the refrigerator.

Step 5: Turn out of the pan, peel off the lining paper, and transfer to a serving plate. Dust with cocoa and serve with sour cream.

Alternatives:
Pecan or orange: You can add some chopped roasted pecan nuts, or even some finely grated orange zest to the mixture to give it a tangy flavour.
Mint: Another of my favourite ideas is to break up a handful of chocolate mint wafers into the mixture for a rich mint-chocolate flavour.

See more recipes from Eric Lanlard.

Reprinted with permission from Eric Lanlard’s Cake Boy (2011 Mitchell Beazley).