Baked Dark Chocolate & Hazelnut Cheesecake

So very, very rich, dark and indulgent. Goes really well with fresh strawberries to cut through the richness. Decorate with Ferrero Roche and any else you can find that's chocolatey to give it height.

SERVES: 12 ish

BASE 200 grams dark chocolate digestive biscuits 50 grams roasted hazelnuts 1/3 cup melted butter

For Liz's function they wanted this to be gluten free, so I used 200g of 'Free from Gluten' chocolate chip cookies, and then just added 2 tablespoons of cocoa to the dry crumb before you put the melted butter in. This makes the base nice and dark. Don't burn the hazelnuts though like I did on the first trail, it makes the base bitter!

FILLING ½ cup cream 200 grams dark chocolate, well chopped, 68% cocoa 1/3 cup Nutella ¼ teaspoon sea salt 1 tablespoon Hazelnut liqueur* 500 grams cream cheese at room temperature ½ cup caster sugar 2 large eggs, size 7

METHOD Grease a 20cm springform cake tin and line the base and side with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 150°C, not fan bake.

BASE: Put the biscuits and nuts in a food processor and blend until fine crumbs. Add the butter and pulse to combine.

Tip into the tin and press down firmly to form an even layer. Chill while making the filling.

FILLING: Put the cream in a saucepan and heat to just below the boil. Take off the heat and add the chocolate, Nutella and salt.

Leave for 2 minutes then whisk until smooth. Stir in the liqueur. Cool until luke warm. Beat the cream cheese until light and airy. Beat in the sugar then the eggs. Add the just warm chocolate and using a large metal spoon, gently but thoroughly fold together. Tip into the tin and smooth the top. Bake for 1 hour until just set but still with a slight wobble in the centre. It will firm up on cooling. Turn off the oven and fully open the door, leaving the cheesecake inside until the oven is cool. Cover and chill. This is very rich so cut into small portions.

TOP WITH ANY OR A COMBINATION OF THE FOLLOWING: chopped roasted hazelnuts, Valrhona chocolate pearls, shaved dark chocolate, crushed Ferreor Rocher chocolates, cocao nibs, freeze dried raspberries or fresh raspberries when in season.

Note: the first time I did this in a 20cm tin - then it broke!! So the second time in was in a 21.5cm tin. Shallower but cooked perfectly :-)

I forgot to take a photo of mine. This is currently the magazine's photo (Dish), however here's a piccy of a slice of it....before I ate it! So yum.

This was Sue's birthday version: