Chocolate and soy cheesecake

He sat there, eating the cake bit by bit, and said, “I think this is the best chocolate cheesecake you have ever made.” Meanwhile, someone else finished a second piece and said: “This is so dense that you can cut this cake into 24 pieces”. It was the first day of fall with cold autumn days just around the corner. Yesterday’s rains had left. Tomorrow was still approaching. Blue skies and the never-ending wind were with us.

I must admit, both things they said are true. As I have evolved throughout my years of cheesecake baking, starting from a Junior’s cookbook in 2005 to many books today with the different techniques everyone is using. I have done 180°C water bath baking and 140° C almost 1,5 h baking, and now this – 90°C to bake a cake. Don't get me wrong — all of the recipes I have shared in my previous books and blog are beautiful and very good, it's just that this one is different. Maybe because of the technique, but maybe because of the tremendous umami the soy sauce gives or maybe because I have even more passion for food. And it is essential to use only the best soy sauce in this cake, otherwise, just omit it.

base:
145 g oat cookies
40 g pecans
50 g melted butter

filling:
140 sweet cream
200 g milk chocolate
30 g cacao
800 g cream cheese, room temperature
1 vanilla pod, seeds only
140 g golden caster sugar
30 g cornstarch
4 medium eggs
140 g sour cream
3 tbsp soy sauce, but only a good one like Kamebishi
1/2 tsp sea salt

ganache:
150 ml whipping cream
110 g dark chocolate, in pieces
15 g cold butter, small pieces
pinch of sea salt


Heat the oven to 200°C from the top and bottom. Place the rack one level below the middle. Line the bottom of a 23 cm diameter cake pan with parchment paper. Prepare the base. Butter the sides of the pan.

Process the cookies and nuts, so they are quite fine, and place them in a bowl. Add the butter and mix. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan about 5 mm thick. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and then remove.

Heat the sweet cream. When almost bubbling, take off the heat, add the chocolate and let stand for a minute. Then stir (I do this with a small hand whisk). Add the cacao and mix in. Set aside.

Place cream cheese and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat for 1-2 minutes. Add starch and sugar and beat for another 1-2 minutes until blended. Beating on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating each one in well and scraping down the sides. Turn the mixer to low, add sour cream, salt, chocolate mixture, and soy sauce. Mix everything well at low speed just until fully incorporated, not longer.

Pour the filling into the pan. Place the pan into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Lower heat to 90° and bake for 40 minutes. The middle has to be a bit jiggly. Open the door slightly (10 cm) and keep it like that for two hours. Remove from the oven and let it cool until it reaches room temperature. Only then, not earlier, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 12 hours for the flavors to meld.

In the meantime, heat the cream in a saucepan to boiling. Put chocolate in a bowl and when the cream is hot, pour over the chocolate, leaving for a minute. Mix vigorously, adding butter somewhere in the middle. Mix to a smooth cream. Add salt, mix and leave to cool for a few hours until still runny but more like a very thick hot chocolate.

When the cake is cool, pour the ganache over and leave to cool in the fridge for 12h at least, better 24h.

Cut into thin slices to serve, as this cake is very dense and filling.