Traditional Cheesecake with Nutella Swirls (and How to Make Chocolate Truffles!)

July 30 is coming, World Cheesecake Day, and here is our proposal for this year: a traditional and creamy cheesecake, filled with cocoa cream and hazelnuts . Without a doubt it is a winning combination! But also, this recipe brings a surprise! What do you think about decorating it with some homemade chocolate truffles that are the easiest to make?

I think this cheesecake brings together several qualities to take into account: it is a very easy recipe for beginners, with a very standard cheesecake base in ingredients (it is soft, without strong cheeses, ideal for all palates - even those with those who are not very fond of cheese), which achieves a delicious creamy texture and also, with the swirls of chocolate and truffles, it acquires a most beautiful presentation .

It's time to enjoy this creamy and soft filling and these homemade chocolate truffles!

Ingredients

For the cookie base:

200 g of Digestive type cookies*
50g sugar
100 g unsalted butter, melted

*Use chocolate DIsgestive if you want to give a chocolatey touch to the base as well.

For the cheesecake filling:

1 kg cream cheese (Philadelphia type)
210g sugar
45 ml pastry flour
5 eggs L
125 ml cooking cream
5 ml vanilla essence
175 g of Nutella or Nocilla type hazelnut cream

For the Nutella truffles (makes about 20 truffles):

200 g chocolate cookies
75g Nutella
100g (250ml) cocoa powder

Preparation

To make the cookie base:

1. Process the cookies and sugar in the food processor until the mixture has a texture similar to fine crumbs.
2. Add the melted butter and mix until well combined.
3. Pour the mixture into the Le Creuset 24cm springform cake pan . With the help of a spatula or spoon, press evenly on the bottom, and up to half the height of the mold on the sides.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 120°C.

We prepare the filling:

1. In the bowl of the KitchenAid or a deep mixing bowl, add the cream cheese, white sugar and flour. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed with the balloon whisk, so that the cheese softens and everything is integrated.
2. Scrape down whatever has risen on the sides with a silicone spatula, and add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.
3. Add the cooking cream and vanilla essence and continue mixing for 5 minutes.
4. Remove the mold from the freezer and carefully pour the mixture into the cake mold lined with the cookie (do it slowly and from the lowest possible height, so that the bottom does not come off).
5. Place the Nutella in a pastry bag and swirl it over the filling (when baking, much or all of that chocolate cream will go into the filling, but later you will add more chocolate to decorate... reserve some of that cream for a few more eddies later).
6. Place the mold in the oven and bake for 2 hours at 120ºC. Turn off the oven, open the oven door slightly and allow it to cool slowly before removing it from the oven.
7. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in the refrigerator overnight.

We make the Nutella truffles:

1. Place and crush the cookies in a food processor until you obtain fine crumbs. Add the Nutella and mix well.
2. In a bowl, add the cocoa powder. Use a 5ml measuring spoon to scoop the cookie mixture into a ball in the palm of your hand (you can also use a small ice cream scoop). Once formed, leave it in the bowl and roll the ball through the cocoa powder.
3. Place the truffles on a not very wide tray, lined with baking paper, and repeat the process with the rest of the mixture, until you finish the cookie dough.
4. Let them harden by placing the tray in the refrigerator.

To assemble and present the cake:

1. The next day and with the cake rested, carefully remove the cake from the removable mold.
2. Decorate the cheesecake with the rest of the Nutella, making a few more swirls on the surface, using the pastry bag and place the truffles on top of the cake.

Grades:

• If you do not have a pastry bag to make the swirl, heat the hazelnut cream in the microwave for a few seconds so that it is fluid, and make the swirl by holding it with a spoon... There is a risk of thicker or irregular pieces remaining, but it is a solution.
• We suggest that you put the cake in the oven for 2 hours at just 120ºC so that the eggs set but the cake does not break (if you do it quickly, the most common thing is that there are cracks on the top, or that the cake burns on the inside). on top but it is raw inside). If you want to speed up the process, you can cover the mold loosely with aluminum foil and bake it at 150ºC. You will gain some time without great danger to those cracks in the surface.
• It is important to serve the cheesecakes rested and cold. Don't skip those hours of rest in the refrigerator!