Cheesecake is the new pie. If you don't believe it, just make this Spiced Cheesecake for Thanksgiving dessert and see who pays attention to the pie!
Just look at that impressive situation! It begged to be shot with velvet, like a fancy painting.
There's fresh ginger in the chocolaty crust as well as in the filling. Traditional spices like ground ginger and cinnamon also lace the rich, cream cheese filling. It's also no-fail. The crust gets pressed into the pan and that little touch of oil in the crust mixture keeps it slightly soft so it doesn't shatter to crumbs with every bite. The filling is blended up in one bowl and poured into the crust and baked. The parchment circle on the bottom allows the cheesecake to slide right off the pan bottom onto a serving platter.
Raise both hands in the air because YOU JUST WON!
Happy baking my friends!
📖 Full Recipe
Ginger Cheesecake With Chocolate Crust
Ingredients
Crust
- 16 ounces (40 cookies) Oreos (Makes 4 cups crust)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1½ tablespoons grated fresh ginger
Filling
- 4 packages (8 ounce packages) cream cheese (room temperature)
- 1⅓ cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 2½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 4 large eggs (room temperature)
- 2 large egg yolks (room temperature)
Topping (Optional gelatin)
- 1 envelope Knox Unsweetened Gelatin
- 4 cups heavy cream
- ⅔ cup confectioners' sugar
- Chocolate curls (optional)
Instructions
For the Crust:
- Heat oven to 350°F with rack in the lower third. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with a circle of parchment; set aside.
- In a food processor crush Oreos and sugar until mixture is fine crumbs. Add the butter, grated ginger and salt and pulse until well combined. Press mixture into the pan so crust is about ⅜ inch thick on the bottom and all the way up the sides (you may have a little extra depending on your pan). Set crust aside.
For the Cheesecake:
- In a mixer beat together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and grated ginger until there are no lumps. Sift in the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger and mix. Add eggs and yolks one at a time, mixing in completely on low to medium speed, and scraping sides of bowl as needed between each addition, until completely combined. Don't over whip the mixture once the eggs go in.
- Prepare the pan and water bath: Place springform pan on a few sheets of foil and bring the foil up around the sides to seal the pan in foil to prevent water from seeping in. Line the bottom of a roasting pan with paper towels and set wrapped springform pan on top. Pour filling into the crust. Prepare a few pitcher of water.
- Place roasting pan in the oven and gently pour the pitcher of water into the pan, around the springform pan, so the water comes about ⅓ to ½ way up the sides. Close the oven and bake cheesecake until the center is only slightly wobbly and cake is set, 70 minutes. Tent cheesecake with a sheet of greased foil part way through baking if the top is getting to brown. Turn oven off and crack the oven door a little. Let cheesecake sit in cooling oven for about 30 minutes. Then, remove it and lift cheesecake out of the water. Cool on a wire rack completely, then chill 4 hours or overnight.
- When chilled, gently unlatch the springform pan and loosen the ring. Lift ring from cheesecake. Using a spatula lift cheesecake from the parchment-lined bottom and transfer to a serving platter.
Topping:
- For stabilized whipped cream: sprinkle the gelatin over ⅓ cup cold water in a heatproof bowl. Let "bloom" or soften about 2 minutes. Microwave until hot and stir to dissolve gelatin completely. Let cool a few minutes
- In a large mixing bowl whip heavy cream, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla to combine. Add dissolved gelatin and continue to whip until to the consistency of firm peaks. Spoon and swirl on top of cheesecake. To set cream, allow to chill in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours.
- Alternatively, just whip cream, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla to firm peaks and spoon on top of cheesecake.
- For chocolate curls: Melt ⅓ to ½ cup chocolate candy melts in a bowl in the microwave. Spread into a thin, even layer on the bottom of a clean baking sheet (I used a quarter sheet pan). Chill in the fridge. Remove and let sit at room temperature for 2 to 3 minutes, then use a small spatula or bench scraper to scrape chocolate from the pan into curls. Gently transfer to a plate and chill until ready to use.
- Top cheesecake with chocolate curls and serve. Leftover cheesecake can be store, covered, in the fridge up to 4 days.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Delicious Cake Recipes
Tara Teaspoon
I’ve been in food publishing for over 25 years, creating recipes & food-styling for magazines, books, television, food brands, & advertising. With two cookbooks under my belt and thousands of my recipes at your fingertips, I hope you'll be inspired to spend more time in the kitchen!
Recipe by Tara Bench. Photography by Seth Smoot. Food Styling Sara Neumeier. Prop Styling Michelle Wong. Originally published in LHJ Nov 2012,
Amy says
I'm not sure what this means, can you help? "4 oz (4-8 oz pkgs) cream cheese".
Thanks!
Tara Teaspoon says
This is four 8-ounce packages. So 4 normal sized packages of cream cheese. Thanks for catching the typo. all fixed.
Brittany Smart says
Wow what a cool crust!!
Mary Bench says
This is gorgeous! What an exquisite dessert!