Lets step in the magic 31… (OOOOOHOHOHOHOOOO, still not me, just my “bro” :)))

I am truly happy that we could celebrate together your birthday – and with some (more) cava makes it not as sad as it sounds!

But first of all: enjoy your Very Birthday Cake!!!

At the beggining let me thanks to Smitten Kitchen and Deb for the idea which i found here in a very boring afternoon. It definitely looks naughty enough to celebrate a birthday with it… And as Deb said in the post about her family, my boys are pretty much the same: everything can come with chocolate, better if its cheesecake and amazing with extra salty peanut butter (well, this last is my favourite)… So i mix this recipe and constructed one which fits perfectly to “the big brother’s” birthday :)))))) happy happy Ismael! :)

Cause we all love cheesecake – anytime – anywhere. But this is way more better….

IT IS A CHEESECAKE WEARING A CHOCOLATE SUIT!!! Isnt it crazy good???

First u get your crust which can be bought or made by u (if u have plenty time) – i m having a bit of mix, cause although i bought the cookies but they were absolutely plain – no flavoured – ones, so i gave my love with bitter cacao powder, dark choc chips and some ‘x-mas’ brown sugar (— i cured my sweetness with orange peel and kardamom). Just smash it all and water with melted butter – voilá, your crust is done. Leave it to cool down in your baking pan (pressed down carefully) till u are making the heavenly cheesy mix. My really personal touch meant to be the tiny pieces of the well-known chocolate bar with melting caramel and crunchy peanut layers inside…. Long loooooooooong time ago (years and years) i did not have a bit of it but always dreaming about (obviously feel free to use anything as a kind of stuffing (other chocolate bars, breakfast cornflakes, nuts or puffed rice etc etc…. i guess all works well with different textures :)))

Ok, so after u fill with the creamy cheesy heaven and bake. Yeah, u have two options, one is with waterbath – to steam your cake for the perfect texture – or without. Both works fine till u check the temperature, it is quite a slow proccess cooking out the eggs as a custard but not to scrambled egg breakfast. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. For me its done when the temperature of the mix in the middle reaches around 70degrees. 65 can be better – after taking out from the heat still automatically keep cooking anyway. Hm, if u dont have a thermometer? Bit difficult. With waterbath needs more time (u heating a big surface of water as well), can be between 50-90 minutes… really really depending on your oven, your cheesecake mix, your springform, the waterbath etc etc etc… the surface of the cake should look dry but with a little wiggle in the middle. If u have time to chill down in the fridge for a couple of hours – gonna be set with perfection.

After this can come the ‘final countdown’… :) cause i believe that “the best way to die today” is from chocolate-poisoning… so finish the cake with sexy ganache topping. I made mine with cream&buttermilk mix to have a bit of sour feeling but use whatever u fancy. It works just fantastic (dont forget to rest again till set).

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo… its not the time for counting the candles just get some chilled bubbles, dig in the cake wishing a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISMAEL!!!

p.p.p.p.p.s.: i am still keeping my ‘no sweet’ diet on – this is an extremly special occasion when i do need to have a tiny piece of this heaven just for not to be unforgivable rude . xxx