Earlier this week I posted a recipe for Chocolate Glazed Triple Layer Cheesecake, a cheesecake with layers of chocolate cheesecake, brown sugar cheesecake and sour cream cheesecake. It's one I wish I could make more often, but since it's rich and serves so many people, I save it for the holidays when there are more gatherings. But not anymore! This scaled down four inch cheesecake is makes two small versions of the three cake.
A four inch cheesecake may appear small, but each cake weighs about 10 ounces and serves anywhere from two to eight people -- and by eight people, I mean people who've had a meal and need just few small bites of dessert. However, if you are a party of two, one cake would be just right and you could freeze the other.
Many thanks to Karen, who motivated me to test a smaller version by requesting it in the comments. For those of you who don't own the small cheesecake pans, the ones I use are the Wilton Mini Springform Pans.
Recipe
Four Inch Cheesecake -- Chocolate Glazed Triple Layer
Ingredients
Crust Layer
- 6 Oreos
- 1 tablespoons butter
Chocolate Layer
- 2 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon of lightly beaten egg
- ⅛ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ ounces of melted semisweet chocolate
- 1 ½ scant tablespoons sour cream
Brown Sugar Layer
- 2 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 ½ packed tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoons lightly beaten egg
- ¼ teaspoon of vanilla
- 1 tablespoons pecans
White Layer
- 2 ½ oz cream cheese softened
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons egg at room temperature
- ½ cup sour cream at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate glaze (see bottom)
Instructions
- Crumb Crust: Grind Oreos (filling and all) in food processor or crush in a bag. Combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press into the bottom of two four inch cheesecake pans.
- Chocolate Layer: cream cheese and sugar and beat until creamy. Add egg and and vanilla; blend well. Stir in melted chocolate and sour cream. Spoon over chocolate crumb layer.
- Brown Sugar Layer: Combine cream cheese, brown sugar and stir well. Add egg and vanilla; blend well. Stir in pecans. Spoon gently over chocolate layer.
- White Sour Cream Layer: Combine cream cheese and sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg and blend well. Stir in remaining sour cream and vanilla. Spoon gently over praline layer.
- Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes. After the cakes have cooled for about 10 minutes, loosen the edges with a knife, but do not completely remove the sides. Let cool for another 40 minutes or so, then remove the sides and make one of the glazes below. Pour over cakes and chill.
- Original Chocolate Glaze: Combine 3 oz chopped semi-sweet chocolate and 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan and melt over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in ⅓ cup of sfited powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon of water and ½ teaspoon of vanilla until smooth. Pour over cakes.
- Alternative Glaze: Heat 3 tablespoons heavy cream and 2 teaspoons of corn syrup in a 2 cup microwave-safe glass measure until very hot but not quite boiling. Add 2 ounces of chopped chocolate and stir until melted. It will be rather thin, so let it sit for about 30 minutes or until it cools and thickens a bit, then pour it over the cheesecake.
- At this point, the cake needs some sort of garnish. You could pile chocolate leaves on top, add nuts or do what I do and drizzle lines of melted white chocolate over the top.
Karen Schmidt-Dill says
Groan, now I better go get some mini springform pans! Thanks so much for working on this, Anna! Happy New Year!!!