Chocolate Orange Cheesecake
Inspired by Terry's, this orange cheesecake is topped with a thick layer of rich chocolate ganache. Chocolate Orange Cheesecake is so rich and decadent! This chocolate orange cheesecake is my favorite and is great for holiday meals.
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
- ½ cup macadamia nuts coarsely chopped
- 4 tablespoons butter melted
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling
- 3 blocks cream cheese full fat version, 24 oz in total
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons orange extract
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- orange food color optional, as much as necessary to get the color you desire
Chocolate ganache topping
- 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
Instructions
For the crust
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.
- Mix together the crust ingredients and press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Set crust aside.
For the filling
- Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, extracts, and food color and blend until smooth and creamy.
- Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface.
- If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan.
- Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter.
For the chocolate ganache topping
- While the cake is cooling on the counter, prepare the chocolate ganache. In order to do this, heat chocolate chips, butter (cut into small cubes), and heavy cream in a pan in the microwave in 30 second increments. Continue to heat for 30 seconds, then stir well, then heat for 30 seconds and stir well. Do that three or four times, until the chocolate is very smooth and creamy. The chocolate may become too runny to spread on your cheesecake, so you may have to let it sit on the counter for a while, until it cools and thickens enough to spread.
- Once the cheesecake and the chocolate ganache are sufficiently cool, pour the ganache over the top of the cheesecake, still in the springform pan. Put the whole thing in the fridge to chill over night. Once fully chilled, loosen the edges of the pan, and the cheesecake is ready to serve.
Notes
Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!
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Jodi says
Oh. My. Yum!!!
Jodi's last blog post..Tasty Thursday
Jodi says
Oh. My. Yum!!!
Jodi's last blog post..Tasty Thursday
Joy @ Joy Of Desserts says
I'm here via Tasty Thursday.
If it tasted good, you did not fail! Besides, from what I can see of the last picture, it looks like you were able to mask that sad little face. Loved your sense of humor too.
My Tasty Thursday is up too.
Joy @ Joy Of Desserts says
I'm here via Tasty Thursday.
If it tasted good, you did not fail! Besides, from what I can see of the last picture, it looks like you were able to mask that sad little face. Loved your sense of humor too.
My Tasty Thursday is up too.
JennyBakes says
I think a delicious cheesecake can't possibly qualify for cheesecake fail. It looks good to me! Thanks for being a part of the April Daring Bakers Challenge!
Jenny of JennyBakes
JennyBakes's last blog post..Roasted Strawberry Season
JennyBakes says
I think a delicious cheesecake can't possibly qualify for cheesecake fail. It looks good to me! Thanks for being a part of the April Daring Bakers Challenge!
Jenny of JennyBakes
JennyBakes's last blog post..Roasted Strawberry Season