Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cheesecake Recipe

One of my best friends, the lovely and notorious Frankie, had a birthday last weekend and requested a cheesecake when I asked her what kind of special dessert she would like for the occasion.  Once in a blue moon I get to experiment with different types of dessert recipes, but the vast majority of the time that I offer to make a dessert for someone, cheesecake it is!  I also like to give the person of honor the opportunity to pick their preferred flavor.  It pushes me to experiment with new recipes and I always appreciate a cheesecake challenge.  The most unique past requests have been an avocado cheesecake and a savory BLT cheesecake, both of which I actually managed to pull off, but neither of which I’d share without some tweaking and experimentation.  Luckily Frankie chose a much simpler inspiration for this one–chocolate covered strawberries.  I LOVE chocolate covered strawberries myself so I was immediately on board.

While I’ve used fresh strawberries and strawberry toppings to accent cheesecakes in the past, I’ve never actually made a strawberry cheesecake filling.  I did a good bit of research online before concocting my own recipe, but none of the recipes I found online matched my vision.  Most of the recipes that had fresh strawberries in the batter were no-bake (nope!), and most of the baked recipes were simply plain cheesecake filling with strawberries and chocolate on top.  Tasty I’m sure, but not at all what I had in mind.  My vision, which I ran by Frankie and who wholeheartedly agreed, was for the cheesecake to basically BE a chocolate covered strawberry in and of itself.  Imagine a chocolate almond crust holding a light strawberry cheesecake filling, topped with fresh sliced strawberries, smothered in a rich ganache shell and surrounded by chocolate dipped strawberries.

I built the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cheesecake recipe on my basic cheesecake proportions and used a container of strawberry yogurt and fresh strawberry puree to flavor the batter.  The yogurt was a last minute addition; I’d already bought the ingredients I thought I needed and in doing more research I found a no-bake cheesecake online which used strawberry yogurt.  I realized I had a small container in my fridge already, so I threw it in and reduced the strawberry puree and sugar accordingly.  The crust recipe is a basic one that I use for many of my cheesecakes, but I added a tiny bit of salt because I thought a slightly salty crust would be a good complement to the strawberries and chocolate.  Usually for ganache toppings I use a 1:1 ratio of chocolate to cream, but for this one I changed the ratio to 2:1 chocolate to cream.  Reducing the amount of cream creates a harder ganache once it’s set and I wanted a kind of chocolate shell to encase the cheesecake and sliced strawberries.

The final step was making the chocolate covered strawberries which I’ve never done before, and I am happy to share with you that they are super simple to make and really added that wow factor to the final presentation.  Don’t skip them if you make this cheesecake!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cheesecake Recipe

(makes one 9” cheesecake, 16-20 servings)

Ingredients:

Chocolate Almond Crust (for gluten-free option, see Layered Mocha Cheesecake)

• ¾ c chocolate graham cracker crumbs
• ½ c ground almonds
• 4 tbsp sugar
• ¼ c melted butter
• ¼ tsp sea salt

Strawberry Filling

• 4 8oz packs cream cheese, room temp
• ¾ c sugar
• 4 eggs, room temp
• 1 5-6oz container strawberry yogurt
• ½ tbsp vanilla paste (or sub ½ tbsp vanilla extract)
• ¾ c strawberry puree
• optional: a few drops of red food coloring or splash of red wine

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

• 1 lb strawberries, washed and thoroughly dried
• 6 oz semi or bittersweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
• optional: pink sprinkles

Topping

• ½ c heavy cream
• 8 oz semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
• 8-10 med-large strawberries, hulled and sliced in half lengthwise

Special Tools:

• 9” springform pan
• larger pan with 2” or higher sides which will be big enough to hold your springform pan (I use an ancient roasting pan which fits up to a 10” springform pan inside)
• cake spatula (not necessary, but highly recommended for moving your cheesecake from pan to serving platter)
• wax or parchment paper (if you are making the Chocolate Dipped Strawberries)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Grease and flour a 9” springform pan, then wrap the bottom and sides securely with several layers of tin foil so that it is leak-proof.

Crust

Combine all crust ingredients in a small mixing bowl until thoroughly mixed and evenly moistened, then press onto bottom and partially up sides of prepared springform pan with your hands or the bottom of a glass.  Bake in preheated oven for 10 mins, then remove and set aside.  Lower oven temp to 325°.

Strawberry Cheesecake Batter

Using an electric mixer on med-high, beat cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.  Turn speed to medium and add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition just until combined and scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Turn speed to med-low to mix in yogurt and vanilla paste.  Fold in strawberry puree and food coloring/wine by hand with a rubber spatula, scraping down sides of bowl until everything is completely combined.  The food coloring or wine is used to add a pinkish color to the filling but is not necessary at all; if you don’t use it the final result will look almost white with a very faint pink tinge.  Your batter will be thin at this point.  Pour into prebaked crust.

To Bake

Place prepared cheesecake into the larger pan, then add enough hot water to come about 1” up sides of springform pan.  Bake at 325° for 1-1 ½ hours until edges of cheesecake are set, top is lightly browned and center is mostly set but still jiggly.  Turn off heat, leave oven closed and let cheesecake rest in oven until it’s completely cooled.  The center will solidify as it sits in the cooling oven and it will turn out perfectly cooked and even on top with no cracks and no sinking when done.  Once cheesecake has cooled to room temp and center has set, remove springform pan from water bath and refrigerate the cheesecake in the pan.  It’s best to let it chill for at least 8 hours before removing from springform pan.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

You can make these ahead of time and refrigerate until ready to use, or make them right before you are ready to decorate the cheesecake.  They don’t take long so either way is fine.  Melt 6oz of semi or bittersweet chocolate, your choice.  I used a makeshift double boiler by placing the chocolate in a shallow pan set on top of a pot of simmering water.  You can also melt the chocolate in your microwave in a glass bowl if you prefer.  I like the double boiler method better because you can remove the pan once the chocolate is melted but leave the pot of simmering water on the burner on low and return the pan to re-melt the chocolate as needed.  I am slow so this was helpful for me as the chocolate will start to solidify if you aren’t working fast enough.  While chocolate is melting, line a sheet pan or large plate with a layer of wax or parchment paper.  Grab each washed and thoroughly dried strawberry by the stem, dip one side in the melted chocolate and swirl strawberry to coat.  Let excess chocolate drip off, then place on wax/parchment paper to set.  If you want to add sprinkles, make sure to do that as you go while the chocolate is still wet, otherwise they won’t stick.  Once all strawberries are coated, place in refrigerator and let set for at least 30 minutes.

Ganache Topping

When you are ready to remove your cheesecake from the springform pan to your serving platter, go ahead and prepare the ganache topping.  In a small pot over med-high heat, heat the cream until it boils.  Cream will boil over in the blink of an eye and make a huge mess on your stovetop (trust me, NOT fun to clean), so watch it closely and turn off the heat  the second you see bubbles forming in the cream.  If it starts to boil over, lift the pot from the burner for a moment to let it settle.  Quickly add the chocolate chips or chopped chocolate, making sure chocolate is completely submerged in the cream.  Let it sit on the hot burner for about 5 minutes to allow the chocolate to melt.  After 5 minutes, quickly stir or whisk the mixture until completely combined and smooth, then remove from burner.

To Assemble:

Remove the foil and the sides of the springform pan, then carefully remove the cheesecake from the bottom of the pan using either a round cake spatula or a couple of regular spatulas and place on your serving platter.  Since the ganache topping for this cheesecake will create a chocolate shell, it’s helpful to pre-slice your cheesecake before decorating.  In order to get clean slices, first make faint marks on top of the cheesecake with knife to evenly delineate slices (you can do 16 or 20 slices depending on how many people you are serving).  Then dip knife in hot water, wipe dry with paper towel or cloth, make your first slice and pull knife out towards you rather than up, dip in water, wipe dry and repeat for each slice.  Using a clean warm knife for each cut keeps everything nice and clean for the final presentation.

Once your cheesecake is sliced, place a strawberry half, cut side down, on the outside edge of each slice to form a ring around the cheesecake.  Pour ganache over edges of cheesecake to completely cover the strawberries and let some drip down the sides.  I had a little extra after covering the edges so I drizzled the remaining ganache over center of cheesecake in a crosshatch pattern.  Arrange chocolate covered strawberries on the platter in a ring around the cheesecake, and place a couple in the middle if desired.  Refrigerate prepared cheesecake until ready to serve.