The recipe looks like it's complicated and demanding. It's not really. There are a lot of steps but none are difficult or fidgety. You can bake the brownies the day before and have them ready to cut. I would say that putting together this blog post, with pictures, italics and bold text, was far more fidgety than making the cheesecake...and it turned out looking a lot more amateurish and a lot less appealing.
You need a springform pan for this recipe, which is somewhat specialized, but not especially expensive.
Part One: One Bowl Brownies
Adapted from Baker’s One Bowl Brownies
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate (Baker’s chocolate, optional of course)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
1 3/4cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 13×9-inch baking pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Grease foil.
Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on high for 2 minutes, or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and salt; mix well. Spread into prepared pan.
Bake 30 to 35 minute or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Do not overbake.) Cool in pan on wire rack. Remove brownies from pan, using foil handles.
Cool brownies, then cut* them into 3/4- to 1-inch squares for use in the cheesecake. You will have much more than the two cups of cubes, loosely measured, than you will need, and I’m sorry, you’re just going to have to decide for yourself what to do with the extra (I actually halved the brownie recipe and baked it in a nine inch square pan and there were still extra brownies). Add cubes to cake batter as directed below. This brownie recipe bakes up thin and a bit hard, but once it is in the cheesecake it is ultra soft and yummy.
* I find that brownies are fantastically easy to cut once they’ve been refrigerated–you end up with nice clean lines, and in this case, a sharp pizza wheel was especially helpful (I found that a knife was easier to use).
Part Two: Crumb Crust
Adapted from Gourmet, 1999
I like an extra thick crumb crust. I can’t get enough cookie. Below are proportions for one crust. I made 1 ½ recipes of it. It tastes good and multiplying fractions will keep your brain agile. You know you wanna. As Mae West said, “Too much of a good thing is…wonderful.”
1 1/2 cups or 5 ounces finely ground cookies such as chocolate wafers. Or Chocolate Teddy Grahams.
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
Stir together crust ingredients and press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of a buttered 24-centimeter springform pan. Fill right away or chill up to 2 hours.
Part Three: Cheesecake
Adapted from the Three Cities of Spain Coffeehouse
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
2 cups brownie cubes (from recipe above)
Make crumb crust as directed above for 24-centimeter cheesecake. Preheat oven to 350°F.
Make filling and bake cake: Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy and add eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla and sugar, beating on low speed until each ingredient is incorporated and scraping down bowl between additions.
Fold brownie cubes in very gently and pour mixture into prepared pan. Put springform pan with crust in a shallow baking pan. Pour filling into crust and bake in baking pan (to catch drips) in middle of oven 45 minutes, or until cake is set 3 inches from edge but center is still slightly wobbly when pan is gently shaken. When I took it out at this point, mine was a little underdone in the center. Next time I would bake it a little longer, maybe until barely wobbly. Cool to room temperature. When completely cool, top with following glaze.
Part Four: Ganache Glaze
Adapted from Purdy’s original recipe
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken up, or 1/2 cup chocolate morsels
2 ounces butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar
Grind the chocolate into powder in the food processor (I skipped this step because I used chocolate morsels. Even if you use fancy-schmancy chocolate, I think you could chop it up with a knife and get good results. The food processor seems like overkill to me), scald the butter and cream in a saucepan (or in a Pyrex cup in the microwave). With the machine running, pour the hot cream/butter mixture slowly through the feed tube onto the chocolate. Blend until completely smooth, stopping machine to scrape down sides once or twice. Add the extract and sugar and process until smooth. Spread over cheesecake while ganache is still warm. Chill until ready to serve. Cut the cheesecake while it's still very cool. Wipe the blade of the knife between cuts (I suggest that you wipe the blade of the knife with your finger, then lick your finger.), then dip it in a little warm water and clean it with paper towels. That will give you nice, clean cuts.
I did not make my ganache in a food processor at all, but just carefully melted the chocolate and butter in a pyrex measuring cup in the microwave, added the cream and powdered sugar and vanilla and whisked until smooth. It was very easy to do it that way and I strongly suggest it.
By the way, this is a very rich desert. It will serve twelve people and make them very happy.
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