Wednesday, January 21, 2015

German Chocolate Cheesecake



One tough part of the low carb lifestyle is what is referred to as "food porn." Beautiful images of food found all over the internet, television and magazines. More often than not even the most straight forward looking recipe attached to these lovely images has a hidden scoop of brown sugar or flour. In the past I would  just move on. However  last week the most recent issue of Food Network Magazine arrived and as I perused the pages I found a recipe I just had to tackle, German Chocolate Cheesecake. The original recipe can be found here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/german-chocolate-cheesecake.html#!

I can't explain my fascination. As a rule I don't like chocolate cheesecake. I don't dislike German Chocolate Cake but it's not usually my first pick. Somehow when I saw this cheesecake in the magazine I became a woman on a mission. I hit the grocery store with my lists I had a plan for making a low(ish) carb evaporated milk substitute, I found the most large flaked unsweetened coconut that promised to hold up to what I had planned for it. I was ready! Ummmm... did someone say cream cheese? Back to the store I went.

I'm not going to lie, after waiting for the cheesecake to chill overnight, I had cheesecake for breakfast. Really what else would you expect? This cheesecake was worth the effort. It turns out I like chocolate cheesecake after all!















Disclaimer: There are plenty of sources of hidden carbs in this recipe because of this I decided to go crust free. the original had a chocolate graham cracker based crust. If you just have to have a crust on your cheesecake a simple chocolate almond flour crust would work here.

German Chocolate Cheesecake
For the filling you will need:
12 ounces of heavy cream
1 cup of chopped pecans
1 and 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup sugar free caramel ice cream topping
1 stick of butter
3 egg yolks
1 and 1/2 Tsp vanilla

For the cheesecake you will need:
24 ounces of cream cheese
3 ounces sf dark chocolate ( I used a simply lite bar)
7 drops liquid sucralose or 1/4 cup powdered Splenda
1 cup granular Swerve
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 Tsp vanilla
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

To make the filling: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with foil and spray the foil with non stick spray. Lay the coconut on one tray and the pecans on the other, roast each for about 10 minutes watching carefully to avoid burning. Set coconut and pecans aside to cool. Meanwhile pour the heavy cream into a medium saucepan and cook it over  low heat for about one hour, do not allow the cream to boil, you just want to reduce it a bit. Allow the cream to cool. Once the cream is cool add the caramel sauce, egg yolks,vanilla and butter to the saucepan. Return the saucepan to the stove and cooking for 10 minutes over medium heat stirring at all times. The sauce will appear thin but towards the end of the cooking time it will begin to bubble and thickening up a bit. Stir in the coconut and pecans and set aside to cool.

To make the cheesecake layers: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 inch spring form pan with non stick spray. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Wrap the outside of the pan in foil. Break the dark chocolate into small pieces and place in a small microwave safe dish. Melt the chocolate by microwaving it for 30 seconds at a time stirring after each 30 seconds until it is melted. Set it a side to cool off a bit but do not let it set. In a food processor Mix the cream cheese, cocoa powder, sucralose, Swerve and eggs until just combined. Add the sour cream vanilla and melted dark chocolate tot the food processor. Again mix until combined.

Putting the cake together and baking: Pour half the cheesecake mixture into the spring form pan. Top this carefully with 2/3rds of the filling mixture spreading it lightly with your spoon. Top with remaining cheesecake mixture. Take a large baking dish and fill it 2/3rds full with water. Place the pan of water on the bottom rack of your oven. Place the cheesecake on the middle rack just above the water. Bake the cheesecake for between 1 hour and 1 hour 15 minutes. The cheesecake will still be jiggly at this point. Place the cake on a cooling rack for an hour or two then place in the refrigerator for at least eight hours to chill. Put remaining filling in a storage container and refrigerate. Before serving warm the remaining filling for 30 seconds in the microwave to loosen up. Run a knife around the outside edge of the cheesecake and then release the pan. Spread the remaining filling on top to the cheesecake and serve.


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