I'll be honest-there's a reason I make this cheesecake only once a year (if that). It's a pain. Really kind of a long, drawn-out pain. However, it's also incredibly delicious, and since my wonderful husband turned 30 this past May, I decided that he deserved a special cake. Amazingly enough, Will wanted to deviate from his traditional red velvet birthday cake, and I thought this would be a perfect substitute. This cheesecake has been a favorite of my family's for years; my mom has been making it for as long as I can remember. The combination of the rich chocolate and just a hint of orange is enough to send my current pregnancy cravings into overdrive!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup, plus 1 T and 1/4 cup sugar (got that??)
1/3 cup melted butter
3 8-oz packages of cream cheese, softened
6 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1 T grated orange peel
2 T orange juice
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz sour cream
6 oz semisweet chocolate, melted
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
2. To make the crust, mix graham crackers, 1 T sugar, and 1/3 cup of melted butter. Press into springform pan (make sure you go up the sides a little bit). Bake for about 10 minutes in oven.
2. Remove from oven. Once the pan is cooled, wrap the bottom and the sides in tinfoil paper. This, combined with hot water in a larger pan, will prevent the cheesecake from cracking later on.
3. In a large bowl, cream 1 cup of sugar and cream cheese together.
4. Separate eggs; put yolks in mixture and whites in another bowl.
5. In the cheese mixture bowl, add 1/4 cup flour, orange peel and juice, salt and sour cream.
6. Beat the egg whites with 1/4 cup of sugar, until mixture is light and fluffy and soft peaks form.
7. Add the egg white mixture to the cheese mixture.
8. In another bowl, add the melted chocolate. Add 3 cups of the cream cheese/egg white mixture to the chocolate bowl and beat together.
9. Add 1/2 cup of the white mixture to the springform pan in splotches, then add the chocolate layer on opposite sides.
10. Cut through the mixture with a butter knife to swirl the flavors together.
11. Add the rest of the white mixture, then top with the chocolate mixture. Go over the top of the cheesecake very lightly with a steak knife.
12. Put the tea kettle on until the water is boiling. Put the springform pan in a large dish (I used my Pyrex dish), and fill the dish with the hot water.
13. Bake the cheesecake in the oven for 1 hour (mine needed to cook for about an hour and 20 minutes; it depends on your oven), and let cool in the oven for 1 hour afterward. Remove the cheesecake from the oven.
14. Gently remove the sides from the springform pan, and for best results, chill in the fridge overnight.
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