Chocolate-Mascarpone Cheesecake

By norsegal8

Serious cheesecake lovers will take tjos luscious version to their hearts: It contains cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, sour cream and eggs - and it's chocolate to boot. The batter is mixed for a longish time on slow speed, a process that keeps the creaminess in and extra air out. It is poured crustless into a high-sided cake pan, baked in a water bath, and then turned out and spread with crumbs before it is turned right side up. You can use any kind of crumb that appeals to you. Traditional graham cracker crumbs are good, but so are chocolate cookie, amaretti or bicotti crumbs, In fact, if you use an interesting crumb, you might even want to make a slightly thicker padding or press some around the edge of the cake.
Plan to make the cake at least a day before you want to serve it; it needs time to come to room temperature before it can be unmolded and the serveral hours, if not a day, in the refrigerator to chill and set.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 pound mascarpone, at room temperature
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and still very warm
• 1/2 cup (approximately) cookie crumbs

Details

Servings 12

Preparation

Step 1

MIXING
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter the sides, bottom and rim of an 8-inch cheesecake pan, one that is 3 inches high. Have ready a roasting pan that is large enough to hold the cheesecake pan.
Put the cream cheese in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-low speed until it is perfectly smooth, about 4 minutes, scraping the bowl and paddle a few times during the process. Add the sugar and continue to beat until the sugar is dissolved and a little of the batter rubbed between your fingers feels smooth, about 4 minutes more. Scrape down the bowl and paddle as needed. Add the flour, vanilla and mascarpone and beat until just incorporated.
Add one of the eggs and beat the mixture for a minute. The egg will loosen up the ingredients in the bowl and give you a good opportunity to really get your rubber spatula down to the bottom of the bowl and scrape around to ensure that everything is being well-mixed. Add the remaining eggs one at a time, and continue to beat until blended, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the sour cream and mix until just incorporated.
Remove one cup of the cheesecake mixture and stir it into the warm chocolate, then mix the chocolate into the cake batter, either continuing to use the paddle or switching to your rubber spatula. When you no longer see white streaks, pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan, rotating the pan briskly a couple of times to level the batter.

BAKING THE CAKE
Set the cake pan in the roasting pan and place on the center rack of the oven. Pour hot water into the roasting pan until it comes halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake the cake for 50 to 60 minutes. The cake will puff around the edges and the top will turn dry and a little blistery. You’re looking for the cake to set the way a custard sets – just enough so that when you shake the pan, it sends a quivering wave across the cake. Remove the pans from the oven and transfer the cake to a rack to cool at room temperature. If it is more convenient, you can leave the cake out overnight and unmold it in the morning. Once it’s cool, you can also cover the pan and chill the cake until needed, although this will make it a little trickier to unmold.

UNMOLDING AND CHILLING THE CAKE
When you want to unmold the cake, ready a cutting board and a large, flat serving platter, or two cutting boards, and the crumbs. Turn the cake over onto a cutting board and coat the bottom of the cake with the crumbs. If the cake has been chilled, you will need to dip the bottom of the pan into a basin of hot water, letting the water come up as high as the top of the cake, but taking care not to get the cake wet. Wipe the pan before you unmold the cake. Invert the cake on to the serving platter or the second cutting board and chill for at least 6 hours, or up to 2 days. If you are going to keep the cake in the refrigerator for more than a few hours, cover it, once it is set, with plastic wrap.
Serve the cake directly from the refrigerator. Use a long, thin knife to cut the cake, dipping the knife into a glass of hot water and wiping it dry before each cut. To state the obvious – this is rich, so you needn’t be overly generous; on the other hand, don’t be surprised when there are requests for seconds.