Dirty Chocolate and Caramel Cheesecake

A low fat failure becomes a big fat success

On Wednesday evening I tried to make some low fat chocolate biscuits out of egg white, walnuts, dark chocolate, sugar and cocoa but failed pretty miserably. They were bitter and stodgy but I didn't want to waste them, so I decided to turn them into cheesecake crust and thought up this Dirty Chocolate and Caramel Cheesecake for Squirrelface's birthday.

I do attempt to make slightly healthier things when I'm baking but as this was something of a celebration cake  I decided to go all out and create something so calorific and delicious that it will possibly only get made once a year. I might train for the London Marathon for next year and use it for carb loading. I should really have gone for a run today but my kitchen got the better of me.

One thing you must remember is to leave the cake in the fridge until the cake is completely cold or the caramel will squidge out form underneath the cheesecake. Or alternatively use more biscuits and have the base come up the sides as well, I didn't have enough bitter biscuits.

This is a gluten free creation, the biscuits I attempted to make were Gizzi Erskine's Beacon Hill Cookies so if you have better luck, let me know (I didn't have cream of tartar).

Salt the caramel if you wish, I didn't. Vogueish foodstuffs annoy me.

Dirty Chocolate and Caramel Cheesecake

For the base

150g chocolate biscuits
60g butter

For the cheesecake:

200g dark chocolate 

500g cream cheese

175g caster sugar

3 large eggs

150ml sour cream 

For the caramel

125ml water

125ml Golden Syrup

300g Demerara sugar

90g unsalted butter

250ml double cream

Blitz the biscuits with the butter in a food processor and push into the base of a loose bottomed spring form tin.

Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C

To make the caramel put all ingredients but the cream in a heavy bottomed pan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and allow to bubble away for 5-10 minutes until you're happy with the colour.

Take off the heat and pour in the cream, then put back on to a low flame and reduce until you reach your desired consistency, another 5 minutes should be fine.

Pour the caramel into the spring form tin and place straight in the fridge.

For the cheesecake mix all ingredients aside from the chocolate to a batter-like consistency.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a boiling pan of water without the bottom of the bowl touching the boiling water. The chocolate should melt within 5 minutes. 

Pour the chocolate into the batter and mix until combined.

Remove the cake tin from the fridge and pour in the cheesecake batter.

Bake for 50 mins and allow to cool thoroughly before removing the tin.

The result is a light cheesecake topping a dense round of caramel. If left in the fridge overnight remove from the fridge at least an hour before serving.