Chocolate Mascarpone Cheesecake

I have not been making this cheesecake for a while. Decided to have a go again recently when I invited my colleagues over for dinner. This cake is not as rich as the usual cheesecake. Ingredients: For the filling:

• 100g dark chocolate with 75% cocoa solid
• 250g mascarpone
• 50g raisins
• 110g chopped roasted hazelnuts
• 200g fromage frais (8% fat)
• 2 large eggs
• 50g castor sugar

For the base:

• 50 chopped roasted hazelnuts
• 110g sweet oat biscuits
• 40g butter, melted

For chocolate curls:

100g dark chocolate

Method:

Preheat the oven at 200 degree Celcius or 180 for fan assist oven.

To make the base: Crushed the biscuits in a poly bag with a rolling pin-not to finely. Put the crushed biscuits into a large bowl, then add the chopped nuts and melted butter and mix throughly before packing into the base of the cake tin pressing it very firmly all over. Place the tin in the oven and prebake the crust for 20 minutes. Then remove it and let it cool while preparing the filling. Reduce the oven temperature to 150 degree Celcius (130 if fan assist oven).

To make the filling: Place 1.5 cups of water into a saucepan, then out the pan on the heat. Meanwhile, break the chocolate ito small pieces and place into a basin. As soon as the water is boiling, remove the pan from the heat and place the bowl on top until all the chocolates melts.

Spoon mascarpone and fromage frais into abowl and whisk them together until smooth. Then add the eggs and sugar and whisk well before adding the melted chocolate. Lightly fold the chocolate into the egg mixtre. Finally add the raisins and chopped nuts. Pour into a baking tin and bake for 11/4 hour. After that turn the ovenn heat off but leave the cheesecake inside for another 20 minutes.

To make the curls: Melt the chocolate as before, pour into a flat smooth surface. Leave chocolate to set at oom temperature. Use a cheese slicer or a sharp knife. Draw a long sharp knife at a slight angle across the surface of the chocolate, using a light sawing action. Allow the chocolate curls to become firm before handling. You can use shave chocolate instead of curls, as you can see from the picture as I was in a hurry.

Serve the cheesecake with sprinkle of cocoa powder & chocolate curls/shave. Serve it with creame fraiche or pouring cream