Black Bottom Tiramisu Cheesecake

The Improv Cooking Challenge February installment features Coffee & Cream. When our hostess Lesa publicized this month’s ingredients, I was so sure I was going to make one of those panna cotta thingies topped with a coffee gelée like I’ve been seeing all over Pinterest. Unfortunately, however, my fellas are not pudding-y/custard-y type eaters, so I needed to punch it up a bit. I was so glad I came across this recipe by Theresa of Island Vittles for a tiramisu cheesecake with an espresso glaze.

My absolute favorite sweet when I was in school was Black Bottom Pie. The next decade I loved me some cheesecake! Most recently I’ve enjoyed making liqueur-soaked cookie/cake-based desserts. Today I’ve combined all the above into one 9-inch springform pan!First I made my mascarpone with 4 cups of cream & lemon juice as I did here. While that was cooling, I used my #blendtec Christmas gift to make the coffee extract for the espresso gelée. (Today it was 1/2 c. espresso powder with 12 oz.  rum. That yielded a little over 6 ounces of extract.)

For the “black bottom” part of the dessert I decided to go with a flourless chocolate cake recipe in part to keep the dish gluten free.

• 1/2 c. butter
• 1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 t. kosher salt
• 2 t. espresso powder
• 2/3 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. dutch dark cocoa
• 3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 375° and prepare springform with parchment. Melt butter & chocolate chips. (It took 90 seconds in the microwave.) Whisk in the salt, espresso, brown sugar & cocoa until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, whisking well after each. Scrape into prepared pan and bake 20 minutes. Remove pan to cooling rack and re-set oven to 200° (might need to leave oven door open for a bit to help it cool down…)

• 1 lb. mascarpone
• 1 lb. cream cheese
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. dark rum
• 1/4 c. cornstarch
• 1/2 t. kosher salt
• 4 large eggs

In mixing bowl combine mascarpone, cream cheese and sugar on low speed until well blended. I used the whisk attachment to add the remaining ingredients except for the eggs. I then ran the mixer on medium speed to add the eggs, one at a time, and continued to whisk until the batter was creamy & smooth. Gently pour over the chocolate bottom. Return pan to oven and bake until firm. (It can take 3 hours, or so…) Cool on rack. When no longer warm, cover and chill in refrigerator overnight.

• 1 T. cold water
• 1 t. gelatin
• 2 T. light brown sugar
• 1/2 c. boiling water
• 1/2 c. espresso extract

Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in heat-safe bowl. Allow to “bloom” for about 5 minutes. Stir in brown sugar. Add boiling water and stir until brown sugar & gelatin are completely dissolved. Add the espresso extract and allow to cool 15 minutes. Gently pour gelée over cheesecake. Chill until set. Remove ring from pan and serve as desired.

I decided to whisk up a little brown sugar whipped cream to top it all off.It was the yummiest!

Follow these links for some more coffee & cream inspiration:

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