I normally find cheesecakes so sweet that my teeth ache even thinking about them, so I was dubious when I was asked to make one for date night. This one is rich and chocolatey but doesn’t taste like straight sugar, because the last thing you want to be thinking about on a date is how bad for you the food you’re eating is and how fat you’re going to get from it..
The chilli comes in as an aftertaste and is quite strong, so you may want to reduce the amount of chilli you put in depending on how well you handle hot food. I served it with berry compote so that the acidity of the berries cut through some of the rich chocolate flavour.
Base
150g digestive biscuits
70g melted butter
Filling
120ml cream
200g dark chocolate
250g cream cheese
120g caster sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp ground chilli
Instructions
Line a cake tin with baking paper or glad wrap.
Blitz up the biscuits into crumbs. Mix in the butter and press into your tin. Refrigerate while you make the filling.
Break up the chocolate into little bits and melt in a double boiler (i.e. a bowl over a pot of simmering water—who has actual double boilers??).
Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks while the chocolate melts—it takes a while.
Beat the living crap out of the cream cheese and sugar. It should be light and airy when you’ve beaten it enough.
Once the chocolate is melted and has cooled, mix the chocolate into the cream. Add the cocoa powder and chilli and mix well.
Add the cream cheese and gently fold in.
Once everything is combined totally, spread over the chilled base. Put back in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.
Serve with berries, however you like them.