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Chocolate-Raspberry Cheesecake

Easy-to-Prepare Dessert

May 24, 2006

This easy-to-follow recipe, with its addition of raspberries and chocolate, makes such a superb-tasting cheesecake that you'll want to add it to your recipe files.

Cheescake has been around for so long that it's hard to determine who receives the credit for this tantalizing dessert. Over 3,000 years ago, the ancient Romans carried along a sheep's cheese and honey version as they traveled on their adventures conquering foreign lands. But we do know the business responsible for making the New York version of cheescake (the one with the cream-cheese filling in a rich pastry crust) in the 1940s--Lindy's, the famous restaurant in New York City's theater district. Its popularity with the restaurant's customers translated into its adoption as a favorite dessert of home cooks throughout the United States, as it still remains today.

This version of cheesecake, below, improves upon the plain cheesecake variety with the addition of chocolate and raspberries in a dessert that's so utterly decadent you'll be looking for more and more excuses to serve it.

Chocolate-Raspberry Cheesecake

MAKES 16 SERVINGS

FOR THE CRUST:

11 whole graham crackers (22 squares)

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup sifted confectioner's sugar

FOR THE FILLING:

5 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, at room temperature

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate pieces (about 6 ounces), melted and cooled

2 cups fresh or frozen loose-pack raspberries, thawed

FOR THE CRUST:

Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Use a food processor to crush the crackers into crumbs (or crush by placing the crackers into a resealable bag and crush with a rolling pin). Add the butter and sugar; process to mix. Press the mixture onto the bottom and about 2 inches up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to bake.

FOR THE FILLING:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes. Blend in the sugar. Add the flour and beat until combined. On low speed, beat in the eggs, one at a time, just until blended, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat just until blended.

Divide the batter in half. Stir the melted chocolate into half of the batter. Pour the chocolate batter into the crust-lined pan. Stir 1 cup of the raspberries into the remaining batter. Spoon the raspberry batter over the chocolate batter.

Place the springform pan on a shallow baking pan. Bake for 1 1/4 hours or until the center appears nearly set when the pan is gently shaken. Turn the oven off and place a wooden spoon in the oven door to keep it open. Let the cheesecake sit in the turned off oven for about 1 hour. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Loosen the crust from the sides of the pan. Cover; chill at least 4 hours or overnight.

Remove the pan sides. Slide the cheesecake onto a serving platter. Serve with the remaining 1 cup of raspberries.