Death by Chocolate, Chocolate Chip and Strawberry Cheese Cake

I'm not much of a sweets type of girl. I prefer salty and savory over sugary, and when I do get the craving for sweet treats I try to make them healthy, or at the very least healthier. Last weekend was my 28th birthday though which means it was time for me to make a cake.

The hubby doesn't cook very often and when he does it's usually omelets or Portuguese food, so I made my own cake (he did say he was willing to go to the DQ to get me an ice cream cake, but there's usually way too much sugar in commercially made cakes of any kind for my liking). Now on to my cake!

I like cheesecake the best of all cakes, it's just something about the creamy flavor and texture that just does it for me. So I decided to make a chocolate cheese cake (with the help of the wonderful hubby, who said I was a slave driver when he had to watch me make the crust) and decided to make it even more chocolaty by adding in bittersweet chocolate chips. I also decided to make it a little different by adding strawberries to the batter!

Oh and my crust isn't your usual graham cracker crumb crust, it's made of oatmeal! I had to get creative because I didn't want to go to the grocery store :).


Cheesecake crust (the below measurements are not exact)

1 1/2 cups oatmeal3 tablespoons cream2 tablespoons butter1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup cocoa powder
Mix all the ingredients together. Use more or less of the cream and butter to get the consistency to a thick paste. It needs to be able to be pressed together and stick and not crumble easily.

Press the oatmeal mix into the bottom of either a spring form pan (thanks to my awesome mother-in-law Helena, I have a set of these :D) or a pie tin. If using the pie tin you may want to make enough to go up the sides. Put in a pre-heated oven at 350F for 15 minutes.

While this bakes, (remember to remove the pan at 15 minutes so it has a few minutes to cool) move on to make the cheesecake filling/batter.




Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, Strawberry Cheesecake batter


2 pkgs (250g) lite cream cheese3/4 cups sugar (add more if you like it sweeter)1 egg1 teaspoon vanilla1/4 cup cream 1/2 cup powdered cocoa10 strawberries, sliced and sprinkled with about a teaspoon of sugar to pull the juices out and make them sweet1 pkg of bittersweet chocolate chips
In a large bowl put cream cheese and sugar. Using the hand mixer, mix the two together before turning it on, this is so that the sugar doesn't fly up all over the place. Turn on the hand mixer and cream together the cream cheese and sugar. This works better when the cream cheese is room temperature.


After the cream cheese is a creamy and softer texture add in the egg, vanilla and cream and beat it into the cream cheese. Once those are incorporated well, add in the cocoa, mix in first with the mixer off then turn it on to work it into the batter well. Beat the batter for about 5 minutes to help it become lighter and more "fluffy." Take 4 of the strawberries and chop them into chunks and add them into the batter. Use the mixer to beat them in, this will break them up so there are no chunks but gives a slight strawberry flavor and an amazing smell to the batter.

Turn off the mixer and pour in the chocolate chips. Using a spoon fold the chocolate chips into the batter. Folding is when you go from the bottom up and over gently to incorporate into something.

Pour the batter into your spring form pan/pie tin and place it in the oven, still at 350F and allow it to bake 30-45 minutes. The top should be slightly firm. Allow to cool slightly before covering and placing in the refrigerator over night or for at least a couple of hours.

When ready to serve take your strawberry slices and place on top with the strawberry syrup and enjoy!


The hubby described it as "death by chocolate." The little one said it was good, but he wasn't happy that it wasn't drowning in sugar. It's very rich and heavy, but for a b-day cake it was just what I wanted and that's all that really matters :D (it was my birthday and I'll eat really rich death by chocolate cheese cake with strawberries if I want to)!