As a huge Nutella addict, chocolate and hazelnuts is one of my favorite flavor combinations. I believe that something truly magical happens when you put those two ingredients together and that’s why I decided to make a chocolate and hazelnut cheesecake. I added the nuts to the base but if I had some kind of hazelnut flavoring, I would’ve put it in the actual cheesecake mixture as well.
Chocolate and Hazelnut Cheesecake
For the crust:
120g ground digestive cookies
50g ground hazelnuts
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
80g melted unsalted butter
For the cheesecake:
400g cream cheese, at room temperature
150g powder sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
200g dark chocolate
120g sour cream
To finish:
100g dark chocolate
50g heavy cream
caramelized hazelnuts
Preheat your oven to 180°C.
To make the crust combine the ground cookies and hazelnuts in a small bowl. Pour the melted butter and stir until the mixture resembles “wet sand”. Butter a 18cm springform pan and put the crust mixture in it. Press down the crumbs evenly on the bottom of the pan.
Bake the crust for 10 minutes and then cool completely.
Meanwhile, prepare the cheesecake batter.
Melt the chocolate and let it cool.
Put the cream cheese in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Add sugar and combine. Then add the eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly combined. Add cocoa powder and flour and mix. Beat just until incorporated and then stir in the sour cream. Finally, add the melted chocolate and beat everything together.
Cover the bottom and sides of the pan with two or three layers of aluminum foil. This prevents the batter from getting soaked in the water while baking.
Pour the cheesecake mixture over the crust and place the pan in a larger pan. Fill it half way with water and bake the cheesecake for 50-55 minutes, or until the top is set but the center is slightly wobbly when the pan is gently shaken. Let it cool completely in the oven, then chill in the fridge for at least 6 hours.
To finish the cheesecake, melt chocolate and heavy cream togerther and stir until they are smooth. Pour over the cooled cheesecake and decorate with caramelized hazelnuts.
