Chocolate Cheesecake with a Peanut Butter Cake Crust (and Salted Peanut Dulce de Leche Topping)
This chocolate cheesecake recipe was first published in 2018 on my previous blog, The Culinary Jumble. The recipe has been updated to include spelt flour, but the images remain unchanged.
There’s an awful lot to say about this chocolate cheesecake with a peanut butter cake crust and salted peanut dulce de leche topping. In fact, I am not sure what is the biggest mouthful: the recipe title, or a massive slab of this pure extravaganza.
Describing a recipe is often total simplicity. Then there are times when you have so much to include. It’s not just a chocolate cheesecake, has a more unusual cake base (as opposed to a traditional cookie crust) and it wouldn’t be half the dessert it is without the salted peanut dulce de leche topping.
Titling issues aside, actually describing the dessert is hardly simple, either. First, there is the gluten free peanut butter cake as its base. Then we have a rich cream cheese, Greek yoghurt and dark chocolate cheesecake filling. And finally, the pièce de résistance, the salted peanut dulce de leche topping with whole peanuts. Oh, yes.
The decadence is through the roof. I know that, and I own it. Although I have a strong emphasis on healthy eating (I do. Promise), we all need a splurge. And if you are going to do it, you might as well do it right. I love coming up with crazily decadent desserts. Remember my off the charts overload cake and butterscotch and Daim layer cake?
You know what though? They taste all the better for being simple. Yep, there’s nothing more taxing in this chocolate cheesecake than scooping the dulce de leche out of its can for the topping. And yes, I did say can. Homemade caramel is beyond divine, but it’s also okay to cheat every now and again.
However, all of my recipes are easily adaptable, so if you’d like to make your own from scratch, or just learn a little more about the sweet, gooey ambrosia, have a read of Food 52’s article about it.
This chocolate cheesecake with a peanut butter cake crust is a fairly small dessert (made in a 6” pan) but you need only a slither. Trust me on that one. It could easily be sliced into ten bits!
Chocolate Cheesecake with a Peanut Butter Cake Crust
Ingredients
Base/Crust:
- 80g (½ cup) gluten free flour blend - see notes
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 50g (¼ cup) peanut butter
- 50g (¼ cup) butter (softened)
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
Filling:
- 100g (⅜ cup) Greek yoghurt
- 300g (1⅓ cups) cream cheese
- 150g (1½ cups) icing sugar
- 200g (1½ cups) good quality dark chocolate
Topping:
- 400g (1½ cups) dulce de leche (one can in the UK/Sweden)
- 20g (2 tbs) icing sugar
- 100g (¾ cup) salted peanuts
Instructions
Base/Crust:
- Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF (175ºF).
- Beat the butter, peanut butter and sugar together until nice and light. Beat in the egg.
- Add the flour, baking soda and vanilla sugar. Pour into a greased 6 inch springform pan and bake for around 14 minutes.
- Using the back of a spoon, smooth down the top (it should have risen a little), so that you have a fairly flat surface. Allow to cool completely.
Cheesecake:
- Melt the chocolate (I use a Bain Marie/double boiler). While this is happening, mix the greek yoghurt and cream cheese together, then add the icing sugar.
- Stir in the chocolate and mix until everything is combined. Pour over the cooled base. Place in the fridge for an hour or so.
Topping:
- Pour the dulce de leche into a bowl. Sift the icing sugar in and mix until everything is combined. Throw in the salted peanuts and stir them in. Pour over the cheesecake filling.
- Cover and refrigerate for three hours or better still, overnight. When ready to serve remove the outer part of springform. Leave at room temperature for a while so that the filling is silkier and the dulce de leche can drip a little over the sides. Slice and enjoy!
Notes