Mocha Chip Cheesecake

A rich chocolate cheesecake with coffee, mini chocolate chips, and a dark chocolate drizzle. A perfect birthday cake for my husband.

It's that time of year again. My husband's birthday was this weekend so I made him his usual chocolate cheesecake birthday cake with just a few tweaks.

For my husband's birthday I made his usual #chocolatecheesecake #birthdaycake [Tweet this]

It's always been a tradition in my family that the birthday person gets their favorite cake, whatever they like. Even my sisters, who are twins, each got their own cake. So every year I ask my husband what kind of cake he wants. Often it's just chocolate cheesecake that he wants but this year he had the idea for a mocha chip (like the coffee drink you can get at a certain coffee shop) cheesecake.

The birthday person gets their favorite cake [Tweet this]

I've already experimented with the usual Hershey's Chocolate Cheesecake recipe by adding coffee flavor a little at a time. This time I just added more coffee flavor by using more finely ground coffee. Then stirred in some mini chocolate chips for a deliciously rich cheesecake that tastes similar to a mocha chip frappuccino. Oh and the smell, while it was mixing and baking. Strong coffee and dark chocolate. It was so mouth watering. Then, when we were finally able to eat a piece; yum! It had the rich creaminess of cheesecake with even richer dark chocolate and Kona coffee and a slight crunch from the milder semisweet chocolate chips. It tasted amazing, but you only need a small slice to be satisfied and a big glass of milk.

You only need a small slice of cake and a big glass of milk [Tweet this]

Mocha Chip Cheesecake

Ingredients:

*Graham cracker crust
3 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
8 oz sour cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup finely ground coffee
1/4 cup Hershey's special dark cocoa powder
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1 cup mini chocolate chips
*Dark Chocolate Drizzle

Preheat oven to 350

*Graham Cracker Crust: crush graham crackers (I used Diamond Bakery Hawaii: Kona Coffee Royal Creem Crackers) in a food processor, blender, or by hand until you have about 1 1/2-2 cups of crumbs. Mix the crumbs with 1 stick of melted butter until thoroughly moistened. Press into the bottom and a little up the side of an 8-inch springform pan. Bake for about 10 minutes at 350F.

Increase oven temperature to 450F.

Cream together cream cheese (I used neufcahtel) and sugar until smooth.

Beat in the sour cream and vanilla. Then add the coffee, cocoa, and flour and blend until fully incorporated.

Lastly, stir in the eggs at a time just until blended then gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour into the springform pan over the crust.

Bake at 450F for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 250 and continue baking for about 40 minutes. The cake is done when the sides are set, but there is still a small jiggly part in the center.

Remove cake from oven, loosen sides of cake from the pan by running a knife around the edge.

Allow cake to cool completely before removing the sides of the pan.

Prepare chocolate drizzle once the cake is cool.

*Chocolate Drizzle: melt 1/2 cup of chocolate chips (or chocolate pieces) with 2 tsp vegetable shortening in the microwave. Use 15-second bursts and stir well in between until melted.

Using a fork or a squeeze bottle drizzle the cake all over with the chocolate. This is a great way to cover any cracks the cake might have.

Cool overnight in the refrigerator (or at least few hours) before slicing and serving. Don't forget a glass of milk to go with it.

Makes about 12 servings

Enjoy.