This is a fantastic cheesecake...very elegant and rich. I used crushed Oreos instead of chocolate chips and vanilla wafer crumbs on the crust and the toasted hazelnuts added a perfect touch! I also chopped up some Ferrero Rocher candies and mixed them into the batter before baking. Rave Reviews!!!
I wavered between giving this recipe 4 stars or 5. Overall the cheesecake turned out fabulous and everyone loved it! My biggest problem with it is that there was too much semi-sweet chocolate flavor and not enough hazelnut. If I make it again i will not put the chocolate chips in the crust like it calls for. Something else I was annoyed with was the amount of work I had to put into it (and normally I love a challenge). Just make sure you have a food processor or blender before you start (as a college student I don't have either of those luxeries so I had to crush all of the chocolate chips by hand which was redundant). Well i focused so much on the negatives that i don't want to leave out any other positives. The cheesecake itself is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous when it is all done. However instead of dipping hazelnuts into chocolate for the topping i simply put the chocolate/sourcream mixtre on top of the cake and then sprinkled it with toasted hazelnuts. The taste was outstanding and the texture was great. Overall I was very pleased...I will keep this one in mind for the future.
Be warned everyone will think you had this cake professionally made. It's very easy to make and everyone absolutely loved it. I recommend using a blender for all crushing. I already have three more orders for this cake.
Great cheesecake. I had some fun and used milk chocolate in the crust semisweet chocolate in the filling and the glaze and then drizzled it with dark chocolate. Check out the picture it turned out great. I more than doubled the recipe and made one 9" and one 10". The crust was a liitle tough to get to stick up the sides of the pan but with a little work I got it to stick. After it was cooked it stayed up fine. I made this for an auction for the Young women's program at church. I'll let you know how much it went for.(I kept the 10" for my Dad's birthday party).
If you have never made a cheesecake this is a great recipe for you! It doesn't require the daunting "water bath" that most cheesecakes require. I'm giving it a 5 because of the fairly easy preparation (okay the crust was time consuming and I didn't dip the hazelnuts in chocolate for the top) the great presentation (this looks fabulous and expensive) and the delicious flavor. BUT I must admit it didn't quite taste the rich hazelnutty way I expected. I crumbled a chocolate hazelnut bar on the top and when I tasted a piece of the bar I realized that was the flavor I was hoping for (like Nutella) but the hazelnut liqueur just wasn't able to give it that flavor. Next time I might spread Nutella across it the top instead of the chocolate/hazelnut liqueur mixture. All that said I still think this is a fantastic cheesecake and it is definitely worth trying if this is your first attempt at cheesecake!
When I make it again I'm probably going to use mini chocolate chips rather than bothering to chop up the larger ones. Other than that a great recipe!
This cheesecake is average. First, the chocolate topping completely overwhelms the cheesecake itself. Second, the cheesecake part is really kind of meh, it's on the softer side and I don't really feel that putting in "chipped chocolate" really adds to it. In the end it just feels like a big chocolate, sugary mess in your mouth w/ a bit of cheesecake flavor towards the end. The hazelnut flavor gets lost in the chocolate as well. I won't make it again.
I made this for a dessert contest at work. Only homemade desserts were allowed in the competion. I was so upset when I didn't win and later when I asked the judges why I didn't win or even place they said they skipped mine because they thought it was store bought! This is SO amazing and SO rich! It's a little time consuming but WELL WORTH THE EFFORT!
Absolutely Fabulous. I really loved the crust (sans chocolate) I think I'll substitute this crust for any graham ones I come across. Besides omitting the chocolate from the crust I also used Kalua instead of the hazelnut liqueur and on top I just drizzled a chocolate glaze over chopped hazelnuts - mmm. I also used regular chocolate chips instead of the chopped which I think was a mistake. Delicious and beautiful - Thanks!
