Coffee and Chocolate Cheesecake

This is a delicious and _really_ easy dessert. It only takes about twenty minutes to throw together, but it does need two or three hours in the refrigerator to set properly.

For anyone who remembers the "Mocha" flavour from the "Terry's Neapolitan" chocolates, eating this will bring a smile of recollection.

Ingredients:-

12oz/300g of chocolate digestives ("Graham Crackers" on the left-hand side of the pond)
4oz/100g of softened butter
10oz/275g of softened Philadelphia cream cheese (or any other full-fat cream cheese)
8oz/200g of icing sugar
8oz/200g of dark chocolate
1pint/500ml of whipping cream
2 teaspoons of instant coffee

The instructions are attached as an ODF file which should be openable by most word-processors.

To ease removal of the set cheesecake, I used a non-stick spring-form cake tin.

Since I had little trust in the ability of my friends to avoid using a metal knife, I first cut out and inserted a disk of baking parchment into the tin, complete with a little tail (marked in the second photograph) so that the cake could be slid from the tin onto a cutting surface.

Roughly break the biscuits and blend together in small batches.

Dump the crumb/butter together onto the base of the tin and press flat to form an even layer across the entire surface (sorry, I forgot to photograph that).

Break up the chocolate into chunks which will fit and then blend it into powder.

Divide this, with three-quarters going into one bowl and one-quarter into another.

For a different texture and look, you could grate the chocolate, but I'm lazy (and I always grate my fingers).

Cream the Philadelphia and the sugar together to form a paste.

Dump that into a bowl, add the three-quarters chocolate, and stir together.

Pour a small amount of cream onto the instant coffee granules and leave to dissolve (it looks really funny as the granules zoom around).

Whip the rest of the cream until it is just forming peaks. I used a stick blender to avoid having to stop and wash the other blender.

Make sure the coffee is all thoroughly dissolved, and then gently stir the coffee/cream into the whipped cream.

Add the cream to the cheese/sugar/chocolate and gently fold together using a spoon.

Pour the topping onto the biscuit base and smooth out with the back of a spoon.

Sprinkle the remaining grated chocolate over the top.

Cover the tin with saran/glad/cling film/a plate to avoid flavour contamination and put into the refrigerator for two to three hours.

Remove the outside of the cake tin, slide the cake onto a cutting surface which won't be damaged by a knife and serve.

This was very popular, to the extent that I didn't manage to get a photograph of the completed cake before half of it was gone.

Hints, Tips and Traps for Young Players

If you neglect to soften the cream cheese before mixing it with the sugar, you may blow up your mixer

As I did.

In which case, please see my 'Ible "Repair a Blender."