How to Bake the Perfect Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

What is cheesecake?

Cheesecake is a blend of soft, fresh cheese, eggs and sugar arranged in layers. It is a layered sweet dessert with one or more layers. The base is made of crushed cookies or digestive biscuits, graham crackers, pastry, or sometimes sponge cake.

Cheesecakes can be sweetened with sugar and made in a variety of flavours. The main cheese layer can be flavoured with vanilla, spices, lemon, chocolate, pumpkin, or other flavours of choice. A cheesecake is usually refrigerated and can be baked or unbaked.

How to make a swirl on a cheesecake

A swirl is required for the most attractive cheesecake design. There are many different types of swirled cheesecakes, and here's how to make a swirl in your chocolate cheesecake. Use your primary flavour as the base for this cheesecake and prepare the majority of it in the springform pan to give it a marble appearance. After that, drizzle the second flavour over the top. Swirl and spiral the batter using a skewer. Finish with a few more dollops of your first flavour and another marble, and you're done.

Ingredients

For the cheesecake:

• 500 g low-fat cream cheese
• 200 g light Ricotta
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup natural sweetener of choice
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ cup melted dark/semi-sweet chocolate

For the base:

• 250 g digestive biscuits/crushed cookies
• 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp. natural sweetener
• 2 tbsp light butter/coconut oil

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, then grease a shallow small – medium-sized circular cake pan.

Combine the base ingredients - crushed cookies and cocoa powder, sweetener and butter- until well combined, then press in the tin.  Refrigerate this as you prepare the cheesecake.

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, ricotta, eggs, and sweetener, then mix on low speed until smooth and blended.

Add the cornstarch, lemon juice, and vanilla extract and beat on low speed for another 2 minutes, or until smooth and creamy.

Pour melted chocolate over the top of the chocolate base in the prepared pan. To make the marble impression, swirl the chocolate around with the back of a knife.

Place the baking pan in the preheated oven and bake for 30–40 minutes, or until the center is barely set.

Remove the cheesecake from the oven 15 minutes after it has set and the top has slightly browned. Chill for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Tips for making cheesecakes

• Use a parchment paper or a springform pan. Use a springform pan with a removable bottom to effortlessly remove your cheesecake from its pan after baking or chilling. Line a normal baking pan with parchment paper to prevent the cheesecake from sticking.
• Use room temperature ingredients because cold ingredients will result in a lumpy cheesecake. Well-blended ingredients are the secret to a velvety cheesecake. It's easier to combine ingredients when they are all at the same temperature, resulting in a smooth cheesecake batter.
• Low and slow mixing.  The filling in a cheesecake is thick, not light and fluffy like a sponge cake. While high-speed mixing helps aerate some cake recipes, cheesecake requires low, steady mixing to avoid air bubbles. Overmixing your cheesecake mixture can result in cracks in your dessert as it bakes. To guarantee that your cheesecake comes out of the oven smooth and crack-free, use the paddle attachment instead of the whisk attachment to gently mix the mixture at medium speed.
• Make a water bath to ensure that cheesecakes bake evenly and smoothly, as the steam from the hot water humidifies the oven and prevents the cheesecake from shattering. Wrap the bottom of the cheesecake pan in aluminum foil and place it inside a bigger baking pan or roasting pan to create a water bath. Place the pan on the oven rack, then carefully pour hot water halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan into the larger pan.
• Keep the oven door shut. The air pressure inside your cheesecake rises while it bakes, keeping the dessert's shape. When you open the oven door to check on your cake, the temperature within drops, causing it to break and sink. Your cheesecake will bake properly if you keep the oven door closed for the full bake time.

Conclusion

A cheesecake differs from a cake in that it is made of flavoured cottage cheese or cream cheese, eggs, and milk atop a crispy base, whereas a cake is made of flour, sugar, and eggs and baked in an oven, then covered in icing.