Preparation time 30 min
Baking time 6o min + 60 min
Chilling time 6 hours or over night
You Need
Crust
24 Oreo cookies
80 g | 1/3 cup butter, melted
1/8 sea salt
Cheesecake filling
9 packages 175g each Philadelphia Cream cheese (1575g!) at room temp.
200g | 1 cup sugar
32g | ¼ cup cornstarch
4 large eggs
150ml | 2/3 cup Irish Cream (Baileys)
Chocolate ganache
200g | 1 cup sugar
40 ml water
140ml heavy cream, room temperature
70 g dark chocolate couverture, in small pieces
6g butter
42g cocoa powder
10g white gelatin
32 ml water
Prepare a 27cm | 9” spring form with soft butter and preheat the oven to 180°C.
Crust:
In a food processor blend the Oreo cookies than add the melted butter and salt and blend until combined. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool. Wrap the spring form thoroughly with aluminum foil; try to get it leak-proof.
Filling:
Beat the cream cheese with the sugar in medium speed with the paddle attachment of your stand mixer until completely smooth. Add the cornstarch, the eggs one at the time, beating 1 minute after each egg. Add the Irish cream and mix until combined.
Pour the batter on the baked Oreo crust and hit the form softly several times onto the workspace so get a perfect smooth top. Put a roasting pan in the oven, sit the spring form in it and pour boiling hot water from the tea kettle in the roasting pan reaching half way up the spring form. The cheesecake gets actually cooked not baked.
(This way the crust stays intact due to the humid heat.)
Bake for 60 min, the center can stay slightly jiggly, turn the heat off and let the cake cool down in the oven for another hour with the door slightly open, I leave my mitten in the door.
Remove the cake from the pan remove all aluminum foil and when completely cold freeze the cake. Yes you need it to be frozen for the ganache to stand.
Ganache:
Bring the water with the sugar to boil in a saucepan until 130°C. At that temperature the sugar bubbles wildly and crystalizes again on the sides that is important for the ganache to get the right texture. When the liquid reaches 130°C turn off the heat and pour in carefully the heavy cream, this can sputter, so careful!
Stir in the chocolate, butter and cocoa powder and use the help of a hand held blender to smoothen the texture of the ganache. In a separate bowl dissolve the gelatin in 32 ml water and add it to the still hot chocolate sauce. Stir until well incorporated. Let cool best until 30°C or even less but still manageable to pour.
The frozen cheesecake can be now covered with the ganache. Cool immediately until serving.
If you like to be well prepared make the cheesecake ahead of time, make two batters and keep frozen up to 2 months until you need it, finish with the ganache the day you need it.
Another method can be to make the cheesecake, leave it in the spring form, freeze it with the ganache on top and wrap it well, when you thaw it the ganache will add just another layer on top. The taste will be the same!
The flowers I used are apricot blossoms, they are just for the looks, the ganache is still soft and the flowers do stick to the heavy chocolate :)
