Cheesecake:
1 cup Graham Crumbs
3 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
5 pkg. (250 g each) Brick Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
Ganache:
1 -1/2 cups whipping cream (35%)
6 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, coarsley chopped
PREHEAT oven to 325°F
Mix crumbs, 3 Tbsp. sugar and butter; press firmly onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 10 min. Set aside to cool completely.
Put cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and vanilla in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour over crust.
BAKE 1 hour 10 min. or until centre is almost set. Loosen cake from side of pan; cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
To make ganache:
POUR cream into small saucepan. Bring just to boil on medium heat; remove from heat.
PLACE chocolate in medium bowl. Pour cream over chocolate; let stand 3 min. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended; pour over cake immediately, do not let cool! Tip for doing this - put the cake (still on the bottom of the spring form pan) on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet and use a spatula to encourage the chocolate to fall over the side of the cake. DON'T push the ganache around on the top of the cake too much or you will not end up with a smooth glassy finish.
Before ganache sets, garnish with whole pecans. I normally set a whole pecan at the outer edge for each piece I will cut. It helps me mark the pieces and then pile 4 or 5 lightly chopped pecans at the centre of the cake. Put in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour to partially allow the ganache to cool and then remove from fridge and decorate with caramel ice cream sauce. I use the squeeze bottle and got back and forth across the whole cake in sweeping motions, then turn the cake and do the same thing in the opposite direction.
LET stand 3 hours or until ganache is set before serving.
This is really a very easy recipe and so beautiful people will swear you bought the cake from a bakery!
