Crust
- 2 cups chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine crumbs and butter in a medium bowl and mix well with a fork.
Press into a 9-to 10-inch spring-form pan. Bake 10 minutes and set aside.
Filling
- 4 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp unbleached flour
- 1 dash salt
- 4 large eggs
- juice and rind of 1 lemon
- 1 Tbsp instant coffee granules
- 1 1/2 tsp cocoa
Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.
In mixer bowl using flat beater, thoroughly cream room temperature cream cheese, sugar, flour and salt. Stop the mixing several times to scrape down bowl and beater, making sure there are no lumps.
With beater on slow, add eggs, one at a time, and mix until smooth.
Divide batter into two parts. To the first part, add lemon juice and rind. Mix well. Pour into bottom of prepared spring-form pan.
To the second part, add coffee granules and cocoa. Mix well. Once mixed, pour the second part into center of the lemon portion. The coffee/cocoa portion should not reach the edge of the pan. It is a two-tone cheesecake.
Bake 45 minutes. It is done when the center is soft but does not wobble. Turn oven off, leaving the oven door ajar, and allow cake to cool in oven for approximately 2 hours.
Before serving, leave in the pan and chill for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight, or wrap and freeze.
When ready to serve, use knife to loosen crust from sides of spring form pan. Remove the sides but leave on the pan bottom.
Cheesecake Tips
- Use regular plain cream cheese for this recipe, not light or flavored.
- For easier mixing and smoother texture, have cream cheese at room temperature before you begin baking. If necessary, soften cream cheese in the microwave at 30 percent power for 2 1/2 minutes. Be sure to remove the wrapper before placing in the microwave.
- Combine cream cheese and dry ingredients thoroughly before adding the eggs and other liquids. Lumps are very difficult to remove after the liquid have been added.
- Use the flat beater of your electric mixer so you do not incorporate too much air into the batter. If you use regular whipping beater, set the mixer on low or medium low to minimize the amount of air whipped into the batter. Too much air can cause the mixture to collapse, causing deep cracks and a pudding-like texture in the cake.
- A spring-form pan can leak, so place it on a shallow baking pan or a cookie sheet with edges to prevent spill over in the oven.
