Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

This past weekend I met up with three of my closest college friends to help celebrate one of their birthday's! We made a plan to meet at our friend Michelle's as she lives right next to Shelton Vineyards in Dobson, NC. To start off we grabbed a bite to eat at the restaurant on the vineyard, of course with a glass of wine! Once our bellies were full we headed over for the tour! It was really a great afternoon, as these girls hands down can make you laugh all day long, especially when we have a little wine and about 10 old school college photo albums with us!!

Once the tour was complete, we headed back to Michelle's "farm house" to continue the wine drinking and test out the birthday girl's cake....a homemade triple chocolate cheesecake...apparently one of Becca's (the birthday girl) favorites! And if you can believe it, this recipe is actually adapted from Cooking Light. Although I did find it on Foodgawker.com, courtesy of Back to the Cutting Board

As you can tell it is pretty apparent that Becca is not 63, but we like to mess with each other, so why not make the switch!

The Recipe was not too difficult at all to make, quite easy actually, but you would never know it once you taste it!

Again this recipe was adapted from Cooking Light and Back to the Cutting Board. The ingredients below vary a little from what is on her website as I made a few changes...

Ingredients
Crust

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp. margarine, melted
• 1 tbsp. egg white
• 1 1/3 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs (about 8 full sized crackers)

Cheesecake

• 3 (1 oz.) squares semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
• 1/4 cup chocolate syrup
• 2 (8 oz.) package Neufchatel cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup low-fat sour cream
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa
• Chocolate chip minis

Process

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Beat sugar, margarine and egg in a small bowl until blended. Add crumbs and stir well. Firmly press mixture into bottom (and 1 inch up sides if you want to attempt it) of an 8-inch or 10-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool.
2. Turn oven down to 300 degrees (F).
3. Combine rum (if using) and chocolate squares in the top of a double boiler or over low heat. Cook until chocolate melts, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and add chocolate syrup, stirring until smooth.

4. In a large bowl, beat cheese with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa, vanilla, and salt and beat until smooth. Add chocolate mixture and beat at low speed until well-blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Pour into the crust and bake for 40 minutes or until almost set (it should giggle just a little if you tap the pan). Combine sour cream, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 2 teaspoons cocoa and stir well. Turn oven off and take out the cheesecake. Spread sour cream mixture over cheesecake and put back in the still warm (but turned off) oven. Let stand for 45 minutes in the oven with door closed. Remove cheesecake and let cool to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 8 hours.


So overall the weekend was a blast, the cheesecake was a hit and good times were had as usual!! Happy Birthday Beccs, love you!!!