Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake
My Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake is creamy and delicious! With a fudgy ganache layer under smooth peanut butter cheesecake layer, it's rich and decadent!
Servings: 16
Calories: 684kcal
Equipment
- 9-inch springform pan (must have 3 inch sides, or the cheesecake will overflow)
- stand mixer or electric hand mixer
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 ½ cups chocolate animal cracker crumbs (9 ounces; chocolate grahams work too)
- 5 tablespoons sugar (75 grams)
- 9 tablespoons butter (melted)
Fudge Layer
- 1 ¼ cups heavy cream (10 ounces)
- 16 ounces semisweet chocolate (chopped)
Cheesecake Layer
- 16 ounces cream cheese (2 packages; at room temperature)
- 1 ¼ cup creamy peanut butter (320 grams)
- 1 cup sugar (200 grams)
- ¾ cup yogurt (175 grams)
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (10 grams)
Ganache
- 9 tablespoons heavy cream (4 ½ ounces)
- 4 ½ ounces semisweet chocolate (chopped)
Instructions
Crust
- Combine the chocolate crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a bowl, making sure everything is moistened.
- Pour into a 9-inch springform pan with 3-inch sides. Pat up the sides, leaving ½ inch of space at the top. Spread the crumbs along the bottom of the crust evenly, and gently pat them to stick together. Scrape away extra crumbs from the corner, as it can become very thick, and even everything out.
- Chill briefly while you prepare the fudge layer.
Fudge Layer
- In a small or medium saucepan, bring the 10 ounces of heavy cream to a simmer, giving it a shake every now and then. Turn off the heat, and add the chocolate, being sure to get it all into the warm cream. Let rest for 5 minutes.
- Stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. If you still have bits of chocolate that aren't melted, turn the heat to low and stir constantly to help it along. Do not overheat; overheated chocolate will also be lumpy, but will have a worse taste and texture.
- Pour the fudge into the prepared, chilled crust. Use a rubber spatula to gently spread the fudge up the sides as well. (Skip this if it begins to pull down the crust.)
- Place pan in the freezer for 30 minutes, until fudge is firm. At the 20 minute mark, begin the cheesecake batter.
Peanut Butter Cheesecake Layer
- Preheat your oven to 325℉.
- Using a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter, and sugar for 4 minutes, using the paddle attachment at medium speed, until well blended and lightened in color. (This may take longer with a hand mixer; be sure to scrape the bottom and the insides of the beaters often.) The mixture may look curdled. This is okay.
- Scrape up the bottom. Add the yogurt, and then the eggs one at a time, beating and scraping the bowl after each addition, for a total of 2-4 minutes. Beat in the vanilla.
- Scrape the cheesecake batter into the chilled crust and fudge, and smooth out the top a little. The batter will come up to almost the top of the pan.
- Bake the cheesecake at 325F for 75-90 minutes, until it's set 2 inches from the edges and center only moves slightly. The top will puff up a lot and may develop cracks. This is okay, as you'll cover them with ganache anyway. Mine has consistently needed 90 minutes recently.
- Cool at room temperature for 30-60 minutes, then refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 3 hours.
Ganache
- Heat the cream and chocolate as described for the fudge layer, or make the ganache in the microwave.
- For the microwave, combine the 9 tablespoons cream and 4 ½ ounces chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 15 second increments, stirring after each one. Once it's almost completely melted but still has a few solid bits, switch to 10 second increments. Repeat until it's melted and smooth.
- Spread over the cheesecake. Extend it all the way to the edge if you didn't get ganache up the crust edges. Let ganache set for 30 minutes before serving.
- Cut into very thin slices. Store in the refrigerator. We've enjoyed it for up to a week.
- For longer storage if you can't eat it all, cut into slices and wrap bottom and sides in waxed paper. Freeze until solid, then store in an airtight freezer bag.
Notes
This is an incredibly rich cheesecake. I try to cut it into as small slices as I can. You may prefer to cut 16 slices, and only eat half, saving the other half for another time.
Chocolate animal crackers taste better than chocolate grahams. If you use chocolate grahams, definitely try to get fudge up the sides before adding the cheesecake layer.
I used lower fat Neufchatel cheese in this in the distant past, and think it should work if you'd prefer.
I use chocolate chips rather than chopped chocolate; use what you'd prefer.
Pat the crust only as much as you need to get the crumbs to not fall down the sides. Patting too hard will make the crust more difficult to cut through with a knife or fork.
If you don't like crust very much, you can use 1 ½ cups crumbs, 3 tablespoons sugar, and 5 tablespoons butter. This will be a very thin crust; the bottom melds into the fudge and the bottom is messy in places. You will also find it hard to pat all the way up the sides.
Originally adapted from Smitten Kitchen. I changed the crust recipe, and adjusted the fudge and ganache layers to compensate.
Calorie count calculated in MyNetDiary and is an estimate only.
I made this recipe by using weight measurements, not volume measurements.
Nutrition
Calories: 684kcal
