For this cake, use chocolate with cocoa solids of less than 60 percent or else it will be too bitter. The flavour is wonderfully chocolatey without being too sweet.
Ingredients
Biscuit Base
- 14 oz (400 g) digestive biscuits, crushed
- 5 oz (550 ml) butter
Filling
- 1 lb 5 oz (600 g) cream cheese
- 2 fl oz (50 ml) quark
- 4½ oz (125 g) sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla sugar
- 4 free-range eggs
- 3½ fl oz (100 ml) double cream
Chocolate Swirl
- 5 oz (150 g) good quality dark chocolate, 60% cocoa solids
- 3 tbsp espresso
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/gas 4).
- Melt the butter and mix it with the crushed biscuit crumbs.
- Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of a loose-based cake tin (about 24 cm/9½ in diameter).
- Prebake the base in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes and let cool. Lower the temperature of the oven to 130°C (250°F/gas½).
- Beat the cream cheese and quark in a bowl until creamy.
- Mix in the sugar and vanilla sugar, then mix in one egg at a time followed by the cream.
- Break the chocolate into pieces, melt it in a bowl over a pan of boiling water (making sure that the bowl does not touch the surface of the water) and mix in the coffee.
- Mix half the cheesecake mixture with the chocolate.
- Pour half of the remaining cheesecake mixture over the cake base.
- Spoon half of the dark chocolate mixture over it, cover with the rest of the light mixture, then spoon the rest of the dark one on top.
- Create a pattern in the combined mixture with the tip of a knife or toothpick.
- Bake the cake for 1 hour and 25 minutes, until it is completely firm.
- Let cool and serve the cake lukewarm or refrigerator-cold.