Do you also have days when everything what can go wrong, just goes wrong? For me this could be a perfect summary of last week. It has been so frustrating. Not even cooking helped, since even that turned out far from how it’s supposed to look like. But thank heaven for the weekend, as my bad luck started slowly fading away. It’s probably not all gone, but enough not to feel miserable. I tried out new recipe and though I thought it will be a disaster, it turned out pretty good. Well, a little bit encouraged, I tried pushing my luck a little bit more and baked this chocolate cheesecake. And as good and delicous it turned out, I hope it’s a sign for a much better week ahead.

Makes one 23cm (9 in) springform pan.

Preparation time: 20min                                           Baking time: 60min

200g / 7 oz biscuits

150 / 5¼ oz butter

2 tbsp cocoa

1kg (35 oz) cream cheese

150g / ¾ cup sugar

1 pack vanilla sugar / 8 g /1½ tsp

4 eggs

200g / a block of dark chocolate 70%

2-3 tbsp amaretto, rum, or ½- 1 tsp of non-alcoholic almond extract

1 tbsp butter for the form

Preheat the oven to 160ºC / 320F.

Butter the springform. Bash the biscuits to crumbs and using a hand mixer combine with butter and cocoa. Spread the dough at the bottom and 2/3 of the height of the sides of the form.

Break the chocolate and place into a heatproof bowl. Place that bowl over a pan of barely simmering water (a bain marie) and allow the chocolate to melt. Set aside and let cool a little bit.

Using a hand mixer again, combine the cream cheese with vanilla sugar, gradually adding the eggs, one at the time. Add the melted chocolate and amaretto. Mix only until the ingredients combine, otherwise it will be too runny. Pour the cake to the prepared springform, and bake for 60min.

After that time, turn off the oven, but leave the cake inside. Tilt the door and let the cake cool down. Move to the fridge for few hours, it will be easier to cut. Decorate with chocolate before serving.