Irish Car Bomb Cheesecake

I have yet to have an Irish Car Bomb, the actual drink that combines Guiness, whiskey and Baileys. Quite frankly, I have no interest in drinking one. I'd much rather eat all the Irish Carbomb desserts. I've made Irish Car Bomb cupcakes, including an ice cream version.

I made Irish Car Bomb cake milkshakes this weekend, using leftover ingredients from those cupcakes. Those were delicious as well, but I loved this cheesecake from Yes to Yolks. I'm not sure if I was just in the mood for cheesecake, but this was phenomenal in my opinion. My only change would be to use a larger springform pan, which I've indicated in the recipe below.

Irish Car Bomb Cheesecake  

Crust

1 1/2 cups crushed chocolate sandwich cookies

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup stout beer

24 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla bean paste

2 Tbsp. flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

Pinch of fine salt

Topping

1 cup sour cream

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp. Irish whiskey 

1 1/2 Tbsp. Irish cream liqueur

4 oz. dark chocolate, for grating over top

Arrange your oven racks so that one is in the middle of the oven and one is below that. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 10-inch springform pan with butter and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Place the springform pan on a baking sheet.

In a food processor, process the chocolate cookies until fine crumbs form. Add in the sugar, and pulse to combine. With the machine running, slowly stream in the butter, and process until the mixture resembles wet sand. Pour the mixture into the prepared spring form pan and press down evenly to form a compact layer. (I smushed some up the sides, and used the bottom of a glass to press the crust into place. Set aside.

In a pot over medium high heat, add the chopped chocolate and the beer. Stir until melted, and then remove from heat. Allow to cool to close to room temperature. Place the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of stand mixer. Turn on the mixer, and blend until the cream cheese is fluffy. With the machine running, crack in the eggs, one at a time, and mix until smooth and incorporated. Beat in the vanilla bean paste. Pour in the cooled chocolate-beer mixture, and beat until well combined.

Whisk together the cocoa powder, flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Gradually add to the cream cheese mixture, a little at a time, and mix on low speed until just combined.

Pour the batter into the pan with the prepared crust. Place the baking sheet with the springform pan into the preheated oven on the middle rack. Place a baking dish on the lower rack of the oven and carefully fill that dish with warm water.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the center of the cheesecake is set. Remove from the oven, and set aside while you make the topping.

Add the topping ingredients to a bowl, and whisk until well combined. Top the cheesecake with the sour cream topping, and return to the oven for 8 minutes. Remove cheesecake from the oven, allow to cool to room temperature, and then transfer the whole pan to the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours (longer is even better!). Before serving, grate the dark chocolate over top and slice. Makes one large cheesecake that serves 12 reasonably, less if you want larger portions.