extra yummy with a sliver of hazelnut brittle
less than perfect zebra swirls
I have bookmarked the recipe for Chocolate Cheesecake Swirls in my Filipino recipe collection magazine for 2 years already but was hesitant to make it because the cake is super rich and utterly bad, health wise. The crustless cheesecake recipe by Alice Medrich in Baking With Julia cookbook that has low-fat cottage cheese, Neufchâtel cream cheese, and hazelnut praline paste is a better choice. I adapted her recipe using Nutella and making the zebra swirl effect just like the Filipino recipe. I like that the cheesecake is much lighter and the Nutella is just perfect. I used the hazelnut brittle I made for the original recipe to decorate and enhance the hazelnut flavor of the cheesecake. The zebra effect is not perfect but the cheesecake is very yummy.
Nutella Zebra Cheesecake
2 cups low fat small curd cottage cheese
½ cup sugar, add more to taste
8 ounces Neufchâtel cheese, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup Nutella, whipped
hazelnut brittle, optional
- Drain the cottage cheese for at least 1 hour.
- Butter sides of an 8-inch cake pan and line with parchment paper.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spoon the drained cottage cheese into the work bowl of a food processor and process for 3 minutes until cheese is silken. Add the soft Neufchâtel cheese along with the sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and salt. Pulse until smooth, scraping down the sides a couple of times during the process. Don't overdo or you'll have a thin batter.
- Divide the batter and transfer into measuring cups with pouring spout. Stir in the Nutella in one batter, mixing very well.
- To create the zebra pattern: Pour half of the Nutella batter into the prepared pan. Then from 1 foot above the pan, slowly pour the white batter into the center of the Nutella batter. Repeat with the batter 3 times, pouring into the center of the pan, lessening the amount of batter with each pouring.
- Place the pan on a roasting pan, fill roasting pan with hot water halfway up the side of the round pan. Bake for 50 minutes. Turn off oven and leave cheesecake in the oven for 30 minutes. Transfer on a wire rack, loosen cheesecake with a thin knife, and cool completely in the pan. Chill for 24 hours before slicing. Serve with hazelnut brittle if desired.