Ganache-Topped Chocolate Cheesecake Redux (Picture Post!)

I made this cheesecake again, this time as a birthday cake!

This time I couldn't find chocolate graham crackers either, but instead of using chocolate goldfish, I found these chocolate biscuits for the crust.

I'd actually never tried them before and found them to be pretty mild in flavor, so when I crushed them into a fine powder with a rolling pin (remember to double bag!)...

...I added a bit of cocoa powder. Not a necessary component, but I definitely wanted chocolate flavor to come through. Mixing with butter gives you the crust:

At which point I went to work on the filling. First, I melted the chocolate and set it aside to cool a bit.

Then I beat the room temperature cream cheese (by hand, which took longer, but I really hate cleaning the electric beaters) and incorporated the condensed milk.

The river of chocolate was added in next!

Mixing the chocolate in gives a glorious visual.

Once evenly mixed, I stirred in the eggs one at a time. After pouring the filling into the crust, this cheesecake is ready to bake :)

I cooled it quite a bit after baking and before chilling it in the refrigerator overnight, but I wanted to take things slow with such a dense cake. I was also pleased that there was no sinking at all! Not needing to level the final product is certainly convenient.

The edges were stuck quite firmly though, so I had to use a knife to help the springform pan loosen. There was a bit of trauma that you can see at the top of the next photo, but it's all going to get covered up.

I used maybe a cup and a half of chocolate chips with about 3/4 of a cup of scalded cream for the ganache this time. Still had extra, but less so than the last time I tried this cake.

Slathering ganache on cheesecake is the best kind of painting there is.

And I am always a fan of the overhang drip border!

I decided to border this one with chocolate chips. Since I had some white chocolate on hand, I piped some decorations. They are far from... model piping skills... but it was still fun! Piping just takes a ton of time to get used to, especially with something as temperamental as white chocolate. 

I then made some stars and the "Happy Birthday" with white chocolate on a sheet of wax paper, refrigerated them for a short while, and laid them on the cake before the ganache solidified. It took maybe 3 tries before I had legible words that I was happy with, so they're not exactly centered perfectly on the cake... I was tired!

Anyway, this is a super-rich, dense, and indulgent cake, so stick with smaller slices! But so far, both times I've made it, it's been absolutely delicious. I highly recommend the recipe :)