Molly Cookie

Cappuccino Fudge Cheesecake for Mom’s Birthday

Jan 30, 2010 Cakes, Chocolate, Coffee, Crusts, Desserts

The scene begins with Kathy, mom of 3 and wife to husband Tim, sitting in the courtroom for the defense. Her accuser is her daughter Molly who is just about to respond and argue that her mom, Kathy, is the best mom in the world. The defense has put up a good modest argument that Kathy couldn’t possibly be the world’s greatest mom with so many other great moms around. Kathy’s lawyer, the dashing and suave Pierce Brosnan, smiled seductively has he mentioned mothers such as Donna Reed, Mary Bailey, and Lucy Ricardo, who publicly displayed time after time loving and heartfelt moments with their children that were certainly worthy of “best mother” awards. “Kathy,” Pierce said, “has never been on TV, so she must not be as good as them!”

The courtroom hushed as Molly stood for the prosecution. She gently pushed back her chair and adjusted her glasses as she stepped around her desk to face the jury. The only sound in the room was her high heels lightly tapping on the ground as she slowly approached the crowd of 10.

“It’s become clear to me in the last 26 years that my mom, Kathy, who is sitting right over there in the white sweater, is the best mom in the entire world. Some thick headed and devilishly handsome acto… I mean lawyers… may disagree, but they have not grown up witnessing the acts of kindness and compassion that my siblings and I have had the privilege of experiencing. Whether at the end of this argument you agree with me or not, I will forever be convinced that Kathy has a heart that is bigger than any mother you can meet, and that her devotion to her family is unparalleled.

“I could go on and give specific accounts of how she has sacrificed her time again and again for each one of her children and how she has worked harder than anyone I know to keep her family happy and thriving, but I fear that I will embarrass her, and since I love her so much I won’t go into specifics in that area. I will say, however, that she has passed on some amazing traits that I truly value and would not be the same person I am today without. Kathy loves to enjoy little moments, and it’s because of her taking advantage of life and loving the small things that I am able to enjoy life so much. She has always loved drinking coffee with people and talking. Through this ritual, I have had some great conversations with my mom, and though it may seem like a small thing, her love for coffee allowed a new door to open so that we could spend more intimate time with her and love her more. It’s because of her that I started collecting coffee mugs so that when I have children of my own, I can sit and drink coffee with them and they can pick out whatever mug they want on special occasions to drink from.

“She is a wonderful friend, and an extremely kind person. I don’t think I have ever met anyone as genuinely kind and caring as my mother. She taught me how to listen to friends, be there for them, and to care for everyone, including strangers, even when it’s hard to do so. I remember a time when we were on a road trip and stopped at McDonald’s to eat, and there was a man in front of us in line who was having a hard time relaying his order to the cashier. She wasn’t understanding what he was saying, and my mom was getting frustrated with the girl who was neither compassionate nor friendly to the man. Kathy understood what the man was saying and told the girl what he wanted, helping the man and saving him from the unhelpful worker. For some reason that memory has always stuck with me, that I need to help others when they need it, even if they are strangers. My mom taught me that kindness is always right.

“Kathy has always been 100% supportive of anything her children want to do with their careers. She is such a great motivator, and she would do anything to help her children succeed in their passions and dreams. I am a very indecisive person, but every time I had a new idea she would get excited and talk to me about it like it was the best idea she’d ever heard. She built my confidence so that I knew I could do anything I wanted to do, and she continues to do that with me and my siblings today. Like Tina Fey said in her Emmy acceptance speech in 2009 when 30 Rock won something, “Thank you Mom and Dad for giving me a confidence that far exceeds my looks or abilities! Well done! That is what every parent should do!” Well Tina was right, and my mom did just that as I grew up, making my outlook on life, my self esteem, and my accomplishments much more positive than they would have been otherwise.

“It’s true that these things can’t be measured in hard facts, but believe me, if you looked into the hearts and minds of me and my siblings, you would see that our mother is in fact the most amazing person you’ll ever meet. I’m so glad that my dad fell in love with her and that he still loves her more than anything today (it’s pretty obvious he thinks she’s pretty cool) and that they decided to have 3 kids and love them, support them, and raise them to be great people. My life would be so different and less wonderful without my mom. Thank you for listening. Now please excuse me, I need to go make my mom this birthday cake.”

Cappuccino Fudge Cheesecake for the Best Mom in the World

I have a few notes to give about this cake before we get started. I found the recipe from The Smitten Kitchen, who got it from Bon Appetit. The Smitten Kitchen has a version suited for a 9-inch round springform pan. This recipe is the original, which uses a 10-inch springform pan. If you want to make it for the smaller pan click here and visit the Smitten Kitchen blog, which is probably my favorite cooking blog that I’ve seen so far. This is the Bon Appetit version, only slightly adapted.

Crust

• 1 9-ounce box chocolate wafer cookies **Molly note: I couldn’t find chocolate wafer cookies, so I used chocolate graham crackers instead. They worked very well with this.
• 6 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped **Molly Note: I used bittersweet and loved it
• 1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 7 tablespoons hot melted unsalted butter

Ganache

• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 20 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/4 cup Kahlúa or other coffee-flavored liqueur

Filling

• 4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons dark rum
• 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder or coffee crystals
• 2 tablespoons ground whole espresso coffee beans (medium-coarse grind) **Molly Note: I didn’t put this in because I was afraid of adding ground coffee that wouldn’t dissolve completely into the creamy cheesecake. The cake tasted enough of coffee without this, but you could always add extra instant espresso powder if you want the coffee flavor without the coffee bean crunch.
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons mild-flavored (light) molasses **Molly Note: I used 1 tsp dark molasses because I didn’t have mild. I don’t know what the difference would have been but it tasted great.
• 4 large eggs

Topping

• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• Espresso coffee beans (optional)

For crust:

Finely grind cookies, chopped chocolate, brown sugar, and nutmeg in processor. Add butter and process until crumbs begin to stick together, scraping down bowl occasionally, about 1 minute. Transfer crumbs to 10-inch-diameter springform pan with 3-inch-high sides. Wrap plastic wrap around fingers and press crumb mixture firmly up sides to within 1/2 inch of top edge, then over bottom of pan.

For ganache:

Bring whipping cream to simmer in large saucepan. Remove from heat; add chocolate and Kahlúa. Whisk until chocolate is melted and ganache is smooth. Pour 2 cups ganache over bottom of crust. Freeze until ganache layer is firm, about 30 minutes. Reserve remaining ganache; cover and let stand at room temperature to use later for creating lattice pattern. **Molly Note: they want you to save this at room temperature until it’s time to decorate, which if you read on is about 4 hours later. There is an hour of baking, then chilling for 3 hours before you add the ganache. I made my cake at night and I didn’t want to wake up in the middle of the night to put ganache on the cake, so what I did was I saved the ganache in the refrigerator, and when I was ready to decorate the next day I simply heated about 3 tablespoons of whipping cream a saucepan then added the cold and hardened ganache to the pan. It melted very easily. I took the pan off the heat when it was almost completely melted, then I let the ganache get a little harder (room temperature) before I added it to my pastry bag to decorate.

For filling

Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350°F. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until blended. Beat in flour. Stir rum, espresso powder, ground coffee, vanilla, and molasses in small bowl until instant coffee dissolves; beat into cream cheese mixture. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl.

Pour filling over cold ganache in crust. Place cheesecake on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until top is brown, puffed and cracked at edges, and center 2 inches moves only slightly when pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Transfer cheesecake to rack. Cool 15 minutes while preparing topping (top of cheesecake will fall slightly). Maintain oven temperature.

For topping:

Whisk sour cream, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl to blend. Pour topping over hot cheesecake, spreading to cover filling completely. Bake until topping is set, about 10 minutes. Transfer cheesecake to rack. Refrigerate hot cheesecake on rack until cool, about 3 hours.

Run small sharp knife between crust and pan sides to loosen cake; release pan sides. Transfer cheesecake to platter. Spoon reserved ganache into pastry bag fitted with small star tip. Pipe 6 diagonal lines atop cheesecake (**or polka dots!), spacing 1 inch apart. Repeat in opposite direction, making lattice. Pipe rosettes of ganache around top edge of cake. Garnish with coffee beans, if desired. Chill until lattice is firm, at least 6 hours. (Can be made 4 days ahead. Wrap loosely in foil, forming dome over lattice; keep chilled.)