Chocolate Cheesecake

Marvin turned sixty-seven this week. July twenty-first. He asked for one thing: my cheesecake and a quiet evening. This is the essential difference between Marvin and me. I would ask for thirty people and a three-day cooking project. Marvin asks for cheesecake and silence. We have been negotiating between these two impulses for thirty-four years, and the compromise is usually eight people and a moderate cooking project, which satisfies neither of us completely and both of us adequately, which is the definition of a successful marriage.

I made the cheesecake. New York cheesecake — the real thing, not the fraudulent versions they serve in other cities that dare to call themselves cheesecake. Cream cheese, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, a graham cracker crust that is more butter than cracker, which is correct, because the crust is the foundation and foundations should not be lean. The cheesecake baked for an hour and rested in the oven for another hour with the door cracked, which is the secret — you don't just bake a cheesecake, you let it settle, you let it find itself, you give it the time it needs to become what it is. There is a metaphor here about aging and I am choosing not to make it because Marvin is sixty-seven and doesn't need metaphors, he needs cheesecake.

David called. Rebecca called. Miriam called from Tel Aviv and sang happy birthday in Yiddish, which she does for all of us because it makes us laugh and because the Rosen sisters believe that any song is improved by Yiddish, and they are not wrong. Marvin blushed on the phone, which is a thing he does rarely and which makes me love him in a way that is almost violent in its tenderness. This quiet, funny, dry-witted man who does my taxes and holds my hand at movies and has eaten my cooking for thirty-four years without a single genuine complaint. He deserves cheesecake. He deserves more than cheesecake. He deserves everything I can give him, and cheesecake is what I can give him, so cheesecake it is.

After dinner — just the two of us, the quiet evening he requested — we sat on the back porch and watched the fireflies. Long Island fireflies, which are smaller and less dramatic than the ones in my memory of the Catskills, where Marvin and I honeymooned in 1982, but fireflies nonetheless. "Another year," he said. "Another year," I said. We didn't need to say more. We don't need to say more. We said everything we needed to say decades ago, and now we just sit in the evidence of it, eating cheesecake, watching fireflies, being alive together. Which is the whole point.

Marvin got his classic cheesecake that July evening, and it was exactly right — but on the nights when I want to give him something a shade more celebratory, something that feels like a small, dark, beautiful secret, I turn to this version. Chocolate cheesecake is still a New York cheesecake at heart: the same butter-heavy graham cracker foundation, the same slow bake and slow rest, the same philosophy of patience. It is simply what happens when you decide that the man who has held your hand at every movie for thirty-four years deserves a little more.

Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes | Total Time: 5 hours (including cooling) | Servings: 12

Ingredients

For the crust:
1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 14 full crackers)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60–70% cacao), finely chopped
3 packages (8 ounces each) full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 egg yolk, at room temperature
For the topping (optional):
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Instructions

Prepare the pan. Preheat your oven to 325°F. Wrap the outside of a 9-inch springform pan tightly with two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil, covering the bottom and reaching up the sides. This creates a water bath seal. Lightly grease the inside of the pan.
Make the crust. In a medium bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs, cocoa powder, and sugar. Pour in the melted butter and mix until every crumb is moistened and the mixture holds together when pressed. Press firmly and evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan, tamping it down with the bottom of a measuring cup. Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool. Leave the oven on.
Melt the chocolate. Place the chopped bittersweet chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water (do not let the bowl touch the water). Stir gently until fully melted and smooth. Remove from heat and let cool to just above room temperature, about 10 minutes.
Beat the filling. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), beat the cream cheese on medium speed until completely smooth and free of lumps, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides. Add the sugar and beat another 2 minutes. Add the sour cream and vanilla; mix until just combined. Reduce speed to low and add the eggs and yolk one at a time, mixing only until each disappears into the batter — do not overbeat. Fold in the melted chocolate by hand with a rubber spatula until the color is fully uniform.
Set up the water bath. Place the foil-wrapped springform pan inside a large roasting pan. Pour the cheesecake filling over the cooled crust and smooth the top. Transfer the roasting pan to the oven rack, then carefully pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come 1 inch up the sides of the springform pan.
Bake low and slow. Bake at 325°F for 55 to 65 minutes. The cheesecake is done when the edges are set and the center still has a gentle wobble — it should look like barely-set Jell-O in the very middle, not liquid. Do not overbake. Turn the oven off, crack the door open about 2 inches, and let the cheesecake rest inside the oven for 1 full hour. This is not optional; it is the secret.
Cool completely. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and discard the foil. Run a thin knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the sides (this prevents cracking as it continues to contract). Let cool at room temperature for 1 hour, then refrigerate uncovered for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
Make the ganache topping (optional). Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it just begins to simmer. Remove from heat and pour over the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let sit 2 minutes undisturbed, then stir from the center outward until glossy and smooth. Let cool until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes, then pour over the chilled cheesecake and spread gently to the edges.
Serve. Release the springform ring. Slice with a sharp knife wiped clean between each cut. Serve cold, on the back porch if at all possible, with fireflies optional but recommended.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chocolate Cheesecake — The One You Bake When Love Needs No Words