Years ago I sold cheesecakes for holidays and special occasions, and I even catered a couple of weddings where the bride didn’t want a traditional wedding cake. I’ve tried many different cheesecake recipes, and I have lots of favorites. I haven’t made cheesecake for a while, and my sons were complaining about that fact, so for my birthday I decided it was time to try my hand at baking another cheesecake.

I usually opt for a traditional New York-style cheesecake, but I was hungry for chocolate, so I used my basic cheesecake recipe and tweaked it a bit to incorporate both dark chocolate and Kahlua. I used a basic graham cracker crust, but you could make this a decadent chocolate cheesecake by using chocolate cookie wafers in place of the graham crackers. As cheesecake isn’t a low-calorie dessert, and it’s a treat I don’t make all the time anyway, I don’t worry about using low-cal this or that for my ingredients. I use full-fat cream cheese, real butter, good Mexican vanilla and the best chocolate I can find. I used Ghirardelli intense dark chocolate (86% cacao) for this recipe.

The overall texture of this cheesecake is light and fluffy, not heavy as some cheesecakes can be. Neither the chocolate nor the coffee flavors are overpowering but balance nicely with each other. The boys said this recipe was a definite keeper.

Dark Chocolate Kahlua Cheesecake

For the Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted

For the Filling:
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon good vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
3 ounces good dark chocolate, melted
1/4 cup Kahlua liqueur, or other coffee-flavored liqueur
1 pint sour cream

Prepare a 9- or 10-inch springform pan by wrapping the bottom and sides of the pan with foil. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

For the crust, combine graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 cup melted butter. Mix until well combined. Press into the bottom and halfway up the sides of the prepared springform pan. Set aside.

For the filling, whip the room-temperature cream cheese until fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the 1 1/2 cups sugar, and mix until well combined. Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add in the vanilla, melted 1/2 cup butter, melted chocolate and Kahlua. Mix on low speed for 1 minute, then mix well on medium-high speed for about 3 minutes. Add the sour cream to the batter, and mix until well combined, about another 2 minutes. The batter should be creamy and fluffy.

Pour the cheesecake batter over the crust in the springform pan. Place the springform pan inside a larger roasting pan or cake pan (I use my large lasagna pan). Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it is halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

Bake the cheesecake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour. After 1 hour, turn off the oven, and leave the cheesecake in the oven for an additional hour. This helps keep the top from cracking.

Allow the cheesecake to cool completely in the refrigerator before serving (at least 8 hours or overnight). Top with your choice of fruit toppings (raspberry is awesome) or freshly whipped cream if desired.