Mocha Walnut Cheesecake, by Accident

Cheesecake is one of my favourite, whether the bake or non-bake type. For the former, I love them in creamy dense and strong flavour, but not overly rich. For the latter, I like them creamy smooth but not overly airy, which is a sign of too much whipped cream.

I've baked American cheesecake a couple of times. This time round, decided to combine two of my favourite flavour, coffee and walnut. I am never a coffee drinker, due to my caffeine intolerance and a small strong cuppa is enough to keep me awake whole night. However, over the years, I have grown to like it as a flavour in my dessert

I did my usual digestive biscuit crump base, flavoured my cheese mixture with freezed dried instant coffee, and incorporated the chopped walnuts into the batter before pouring over the base. As with most cheesecake, I baked it in a water bath, watching it carefully to adjust temperature and to add additional water in the water bath when necessary.

The cake turned out beautifully, except for a crack in the middle of the cake during the last stage of baking!! My heart sank, seeing the line across my beautifully cake. Somehow, I felt a strong urge to cover that ugly line. After much thinking, I decided to make a chocolate ganache and pour over the whole cheesecake while still in its mould. As I unmould the cake after chilling, I realised it was a beautiful three layers from the side view, much to my delight!

The chocolate, coffee, walnut, or rather, the mocha walnut cheesecake turns out to be much, much better than I had expected. Am so well pleased with it that I would like to include it as one of my signatures!!





The layered pattern as seen from the side. The chocolate ganache sits on top of the original coffee walnut cheesecake, but eating the three layers together creates a nice explosive of flavour in the mouth.