Cappuccino Cheesecake

photo: Eric Diesel

I never quite believe anyone who claims not to "like dessert," not to "care for sweets." I can understand not wanting to eat just absolutely everything in the bakery case (for example, if it has prunes in it. I hate prunes), but I daresay everyone has some kind of sweet tooth, some kind of treat they cannot refuse. John's weakness is ice cream, which we make in summery peach and dusky green tea, but also keep a modest supply of from Dr. Bob's Los Angeles creamery. Candy was an early entree into food writing for me and, as autumn progresses and the shelves fill with chocolate miniatures and honeyed mellow creams, we will suspend our occasional visit to the local Pick-a-Mix kiosk and its waxen bag filled with bejeweled nougats, Neapolitan striped coconut stacks, and those individually wrapped toffees.

On weekends we allow ourselves a slice of coffee cake at breakfast or a piece of quick bread along with afternoon coffee. I always bake a cake for special occasions. Pies come out of the oven year-long, from Thanksgiving's pumpkin and mincemeat to springtime's strawberry-rhubarb and summer's key lime. Bar cookies are a simple mid-week treat, from lush apricot to heady toffee. And the kitchen counter just seems naked absent an occasional pan of Nana's bug cake or my grandmother's pumpkin bread. As autumn arrives, it will be time for cider doughnuts and the annual deluge of pumpkin goods. You can read about pumpkin groceries here; the favorites in our urban home are pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin coffee.

Christmas belongs to cookies, but autumn is high season for home baking. There are recipes galore for the autumnal flavors of pumpkin, apples, pears, spice. Cooks move by instinct into the autumn kitchen, to turn out food warming for body and spirit as the earth moves from summer fullness to autumn gathering. That is why that cup of autumn cider tastes so good: it is warm and full, comforting qualities when the seasons are turning to loss, when fields are laying fallow, when the witching hour places us at the precipice of stillness.

And let's not forget that the autumn kitchen brings out the high steppers among our bakers. This is the season of show-stopping desserts, made with affection, served just because. Autumn is the homecoming, the harvest, the gathering and settling in. We return to routine after summer lollygagging, we gather at table for the high holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Thanksgiving, Harvest Home. Dinner guests gasp when a showy dessert appears as a puff of pavlova crowned with fruit, an airy souffle following a French dinner, a Sacher Torte constructed from scratch. Showstopping desserts can be as sinful as layer cake, as tony as mousse, as opulent as cheesecake.

I started making cheesecakes as, when invited to dinner, I often was asked to bring dessert. Given that all desserts are people-pleasers, I figured cheesecake is as much of a people-pleaser as there is, but still qualified as eventful enough to crown a party. In New York City, where I lived at the time, cheesecake is a symbol of local pride, not unlike a mascot. Every diner has cheesecake in the dessert carousel, and Junior's is as iconic a restaurant to the city's identity as The Oyster Bar or Peter Luger's. Though I started by baking New York cheesecakes, I moved on from that given their ease of availability. Many New Yorkers are and I initially was suspicious of flavored cheesecakes beyond the fruit toppings one can typically get - the holy trifecta of cherry, strawberry, or pineapple. But a friend who was a pastry chef at a respected tasting room introduced me to pumpkin cheesecake, and I learned that not only does hardly anyone say no to cheesecake, the yes becomes more emphatic if it is a unique one.

Pumpkin cheesecake remains a favorite, as do those topped with shimmering gels of blood orange or black raspberry. But cheesecake is decadent and rich, qualities that can also be ascribed to espresso, and as a cook and a person I am inspired by the coffeehouse, so I developed the recipe for cappuccino cheesecake that I am sharing here. This cheesecake contrasts the lush quality of traditional New York cheesecake with the richness of coffee and cream. It is eventful enough for a dinner party, but it is just as nice to find in the fridge when coffee hour approaches. Regarding that, cheesecake is one of those foods whose flavors improve the next day, so make and chill your cheesecake the day before, provided you can police it well enough to keep grazers away.

Cappuccino Cheesecake

Good mixing bowls are essential for baking. We use vintage mixing bowls in order to keep usable vintage goods in service, in small (1 quart), medium (1-1/2 quarts), and large (2 quarts). Cheesecakes crack due to overbaking, so remove the cake from the oven when there is a soft-set spot in the center, sized somewhere between a quarter and a half-dollar.

For the crust

1 9-ounce package chocolate wafer cookies

1 tablespoon white sugar

1/3 cup unsalted butter

For the filling

3 8-ounce packages cream cheese

1-1/4 cups white sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ounces semisweet baking chocolate

1-1/2 tablespoons instant espresso powder, such as Medaglia D'Oro

2 tablespoons coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua

For the garnish

1 recipe candied orange peel, see below

Make the crust

1. Open the package of cookies and count out about 35 cookies. Working in two to three batches, break and crumble the cookies into an empty coffee grinder or mini kitchen prep. Secure the lid and safely grind the cookies until fine. Safely transfer the ground chocolate cookies to a small mixing bowl after each grinding. The total measure of ground cookies should be 1-1/2 - 2 cups.
2. Measure 1 tablespoon sugar into the ground cookies.
3. Melt butter and slowly drizzle it into the cookie-sugar mixture, gently stirring the mixture as you pour until all of the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated together.
4. Snap an 8-inch non-stick springform pan together. Use a silicon spatula to transfer the crust mixture to the bottom of the pan, making an even layer. Use the spatula to press the remaining crust mixture up the sides of the pan about 1 inch. Use the spatula to gently smooth and press the crust so that it binds together with no visible holes, especially across the bottom of the pan.
5. Gently place the pan with the prepared crust into the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the filling.

Make the filling

1. Unwrap each brick of cream cheese and place it into a large mixing bowl. Use a silicon spatula to scrape the inside of the cream cheese wrapper to get all of the cream cheese into the bowl. Set aside to soften.
2. Combine the baking chocolate, espresso powder, and 1 tablespoon water in a small pan. Heat the mixture on low, stirring constantly, until smooth and thoroughly incorporated, approximately 3 - 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and carefully measure the coffee liqueur into the chocolate-espresso mixture, stirring gently to incorporate.
3. Attach the beaters to a hand mixer. Measure the sugar and flour into the bowl containing the cream cheese. Place the mixer on low and carefully mix the cream cheese and dry ingredients together until they are incorporated. The mixture may break up initially; if so, turn off the mixer, eject the beaters, and safely use a silicon spatula to scrape the mixture off of the beaters and back into the bowl. Reattach the beaters and continue mixing the ingredients until they are smooth and creamy.
4. Break all three eggs into the bowl containing the cream cheese mixture. Measure the vanilla extract into the bowl containing the cream cheese mixture. Place the mixer on medium and mix all of the ingredients together until they are thoroughly incorporated. The mixture should be workable and somewhat light.
5. Measure 2 cups of the cream cheese filling into a mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use (step 7 below).
6. Drizzle the chocolate-espresso mixture into the large bowl containing the remainder of the cream cheese filling, using the mixer on low to make a chocolate-coffee cream cheese filling of uniform color and consistency with no dark- or pale streaks.

Assemble and bake the cheesecake

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line a baking sheet with a piece of aluminum foil sized accordingly.
3. Remove the crust from the refrigerator. Place the pan in the center of the foil-lined baking sheet.
4. Use a silicon spatula to carefully place the chocolate-coffee cream cheese filling in dollops onto the crust. Start along the outer edge and work towards the center. Working carefully, you should be able to cover the crust with the filling without disturbing the crumbs. Use the spatula to gently smooth the top of the filling.
5. Place the cheesecake in the oven and bake undisturbed for 30 minutes.
6. After 30 minutes, use oven mitts to carefully remove the cheesecake from the oven. It should be well set with some soft set in the center.
7. Remove the reserved cream cheese filling from the refrigerator. Use a silicon spatula to carefully place the chilled cream cheese filling in dollops onto the surface of the chocolate-coffee layer. Start along the outer edge and work towards the center. Working carefully, you should be able to cover the chocolate-coffee layer with the chilled filling without disturbing the crust or the chocolate coffee layer. Use the spatula to gently smooth the top of the cheesecake.
8. Use oven mitts to carefully return the cheesecake to the oven. Bake the cheesecake undisturbed for 25 minutes.
9. After 25 minutes, use oven mitts to carefully remove the cheesecake from the oven. It should be well set with some soft set in the center and a light golden top.
10. Place the baking pan supporting the cheesecake safely out of reach to cool undisturbed at room temperature in the pan for 1 hour, lightly covered with a length of aluminum foil if necessary.
11. After 1 hour, the cheesecake should be set with a solid crust and the sides pulling cleanly away from the springform pan. Cover the pan containing the cheesecake with a length of aluminum foil, taking care not to disturb the surface of the cake and crimping the foil down the side of the pan to form a secure shield.
12. Place the cheesecake in the refrigerator to chill a minimum of 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Serve the cheesecake

1. When ready to serve, remove the foil shield from the cheesecake. Gently unsnap the side ring of the springform pan. The cheesecake will be sitting on the unsnapped bottom of the springform pan. The cheesecake should be set with a firm crust and a slightly glossy top.
2. Gently work a thin cake spade or offset spatula under the cheesecake to loosen it from the bottom of the spring form pan. It should come free easily.
3. Gently slide the cheesecake onto a cake stand or dessert platter. Safely use a long thin knife to cut slices of cheesecake in two assertive motions: down once from the top and out from the center; repeating to form a wedge. Do not use a serrated knife, and don't drag the knife through the cake.
4. Use a cake spade to transfer each slice to a plate. Garnish with a candied orange peel and serve.

Resources

Springform pan: Urban Home Guide to the Baking Pantry

Hand mixer, mini kitchen prep: Urban Home Guide to kitchen electrics

Urban Home Blog's recipe for vanilla extract

Urban Home Blog's recipe for candied orange peel