Orange Chocolate Cheesecake brings together bright citrus and rich chocolate in a creamy cheesecake that feels light, fresh and intentional. The orange deepens the chocolate flavor yet lightens up the richness and combines perfectly with the smooth and creamy texture of cheesecake. It is a great choice when you want a dessert that feels fun and familiar yet also a little different.
Chocolate and cherry is a great combination, and chocolate with strawberries is always popular. But sometimes you want chocolate with something a little different, something that feels less expected. Chocolate and orange is a pairing that always tastes fresh and modern. The acidity of the orange balances the richness of the chocolate without overpowering it. You still get a deep chocolate flavor, just brighter, lighter and with a hint of orange.
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Ingredients for the cheesecake crust and filling
- Chocolate sandwich cookies
- Salted butter
- White sugar
- Cream cheese
- Eggs
- Fresh oranges
- Cocoa powder
- Orange extract (optional)
See recipe card for quantities.
Ingredients for toppings
- Semi sweet chocolate
- Heavy whipping cream
- Orange extract
- Powdered sugar
- Cocoa powder
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions for the quick ganache drizzle
Step 1: Rough chop the chocolate into small pieces.
Step 2: Heat the heavy whipping cream in the microwave until very hot but not boiling. Poor over the chopped chocolate and orange extract.
Step 3: Stir until the chocolate chunks have melted and all lumps are gone.
Substitutions
- Oreos - you can substitute another chocolate sandwich cookie in the crust. Or you can pick another crust from my cheesecake collection to swap out with.
- Fresh orange juice - if you don't want to use fresh-squeezed orange juice in the cheesecake filling, you can substitute store-bought orange juice or use 1 teaspoon of orange extract instead. You can also add orange zest to the cheesecake crust, filling or use it as a garnish. However, if you add orange zest, I recommend using a fine grater.
Equipment
A stand mixer or hand mixer is helpful to make cheesecakes. A spring form pan, a large cake pan, and a roasting pan are also helpful to reduce cracks.
Storage
Store any leftover chocolate orange cheesecake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
General Cheesecake Baking Tips
- Always use room temperature cream cheese and room temperature eggs for cheesecakes.
- The very best way to avoid cracks is to bake it at 325 degrees and use the moat method, described more detail below. But, the moat method is where you place your springform pan inside of a cake pan and then put the cake pan in a roasting pan with water. This avoids leaky aluminum foil and direct heat on the springform pan.
- Allow the cheesecake to cool in the oven without touching it for two hours. Then move it to a cooling rack and allow it to come to room temperature before placing it in the refrigerator.
- Cheesecake also need 6 hours to overnight to set in the refrigerator after baking. The texture and taste is the very best when you make it the day before anyway. You can even make it 2-3 days ahead and then decorate the top (optional) on the day you will be serving it.
More Next Level Tips
- Use high quality chocolate if you can! Valrhona cocoa powder is my very favorite, but sometimes I run out and sometimes it's just too expensive. I know you can buy it in smaller containers in the bulk sections at Whole Foods, but there isn't a Whole Foods near me. My next favorites are Ghiradelli or organic cocoa powder.
- Did you notice there was some sort of chocolate and orange in every part of the cheesecake? I love layering flavors! There is chocolate in every layer and orange in every layer, but no layer has an overwhelming flavor. It's all intentionally balanced.
- Be careful with the orange extract though. It can be very strong. If you truly love orange, you can add another ¼ teaspoon to the chocolate orange whipped topping. It's really good as long as you eat as part of a cheesecake bite and not on its own. On its own, it can be overwhelmingly orange with that extra ¼ teaspoon.
HOW TO BAKE A CHEESECAKE WITHOUT CRACKS
Everyone wants to bake a pretty cheesecake even though the cracks themselves don't make the cheesecake taste any differently. And, of course, they could be covered up. But, there are two main things to know to avoid cracks: baking temperature and water baths.
BAKE AT A LOWER TEMPERATURE
For temperature, cheesecakes turn out best when baked at a lower temperature. For that reason, I bake almost all of my cheesecakes, including this one, at 325 degrees.
USE THE MOAT METHOD FOR THE WATER BATH
The most basic way to do a water bath is to wrap the springform pan with aluminum foil and place it in a roasting pan with water and then hope it doesn't leak. But, have you ever wrapped it super carefully with the extra wide aluminum foil only to discover that it still leaked? Yes, me too. Instead, I use the moat method. To use the moat method, place your 8 or 9 inch springform pan inside a 10 inch cake pan. Then place the 10 inch cake pan into a larger roasting pan with water. With this moat method, there is no possible way that water can get in to your springform pan. I've never had a cheesecake crack when I've combined a lower baking temperature with the moat method.
STEAM BATHS
Ok, say you don't have a roasting pan big enough to fit your springform pan and cake pan. You can do the steam bath method, which usually works. I say usually because it's not quite as fool proof as the moat method. But, you can fill a 9x13 pan with one inch of water and place it on the oven rack directly beneath the springform pan. (If you have a cake pan, you can still put the springform pan in a cake pan according to the above moat method.) The water in the pan creates steam and a humid environment in the oven which helps to prevent cracks.
FAQ
Currently, bulk Oreos come in sleeves of 13 cookies. If you chop up just the cookie part of 24 cookies, you get about 1 ¾ cups of cookie crumbs. This is a perfect amount and leaves you two cookies to eat while you are baking! Or sample. We can call it sampling. Two cookies to sample while you are baking.
Par-baking the crust is optional but highly recommended. Par-baking the crust doesn't take very long and it helps maintain a crisp crust for your cheesecake.
The reason we pack the crust tightly, but not too tightly, into the springform pan is so that we can easily remove the bottom of the springform pan without the crust crumbling. After the rim of the springform pan is off, take a cake lifter (or metal pizza peel or a very large spatula) and gently slide it in between cheesecake crust and bottom of springform pan. Don't lift the cheesecake up in the air. Instead, use the cake lifter to slide the cheesecake sideways off of the springform bottom onto a serving plate or a round cardboard cake board. You can buy a cheap cake lifter on Amazon or at a Hobby Lobby type store in the baking section. If you're using a large metal spatula, run it under the entire outer edge first before using it to gently slide the cheesecake.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Orange Chocolate Cheesecake
Equipment
- 1 Stand or hand mixer
- 1 8 or 9 inch springform pan
- 1 10 inch cake pan
- 1 roasting pan
Ingredients
Cheesecake crust
- 24 chocolate Oreo cookies
- 5 tablespoons salted butter melted
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- ½ teaspoon orange extract optional
Cheesecake filling
- 4 blocks cream cheese (8 ounces each) room temperature
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup white sugar
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice
- 4 large eggs room temperature
Ganache drizzle
- 2 ounces semi sweet chocolate rough chopped
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ teaspoon orange extract
Chocolate whipped cream
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon orange extract
Garnish
- 1 orange sliced
Instructions
Make the Crust
- Preheat the oven to 325°. Spray an 8 or 9 inch springform pan, including the sides, with cooking spray and set aside.
- Remove the white centers of the Oreos and discard.
- Put the chocolate parts of the Oreos in a food processor or blender and grind the cookies into small crumbs. [It's ok to have some bigger pieces of cookies as the grind doesn't need to be super fine.]
- Mix the Oreos, melted butter, 2 tablespoons of white sugar and orange extract together in a medium bowl until well combined.
- Add the crust mixture to the springform pan. Pat it down flat with your hands or a flat-bottom measuring cup with medium pressure. It should be packed firmly but not too hard.
- Bake the crust for 6 minutes and set aside to cool. [This step is optional but highly recommended for a crisp crust.]
Make the filling
- Place the room temperature cream cheese and the cocoa powder into a mixing bowl and mix on low speed until creamy, all the lumps are gone and all the cocoa powder has been incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed and before adding any other ingredients.
- Add the white sugar and orange juice to the cream cheese mixture in the mixing bowl and mix on low speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.
- Next, add the eggs one at a time. Mix on low speed just until each egg is combined before adding the next egg. Between eggs, scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.
Bake and cool the cheesecake
- Pour the filling on top of the crust in the springform pan. Place the springform pan in a larger cake pan (or cover the sides of the springform pan with aluminum foil). Fill the roasting pan with one inch of water to create the water bath. Carefully add the cake pan (or the wrapped springform pan) into the water.
- Bake at 325° for about 60 minutes until the center is set or mostly set. Then, turn off the oven and open the oven door to start cooling. Leave the oven door open for 2 hours as the cheesecake cools. After 2 hours, remove the cake pan from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack until room temperature.
- Before placing the cheesecake in the refrigerator, run a knife around the edge to loosen the cheesecake from the side of the springform pan. Cover lightly and refrigerate a minimum of 6 hours but preferably overnight or longer.
- After refrigerating, remove the rim of the spring form pan. Also, remove the cheesecake from the bottom of the springform pan if so desired (see FAQ for help) and decorate the cheesecake.
Make the ganache drizzle (optional)
- Rough chop the chocolate and place it in a small bowl. Add the orange extract.
- Heat the heavy whipping cream in the microwave until it's very hot but not boiling. Because the heavy whipping cream is a small amount, start with 20-30 seconds and watch it to make sure it doesn't boil.
- Pour the heated heavy whipping cream over the chocolate. Stir firmly, but not vigorously, until all the chocolate has melted and there are no lumps remaining.
- Add the hot, runny ganache to a squeeze bottle and let it cool and thicken for about 5 minutes. Then drizzle it over the cheesecake in any design you wish using the squeeze bottle or a spoon or knife. You can also spread a thin layer across the whole cheesecake. Place the cheesecake back in the refrigerator.
Make the whipped cream (optional)
- Add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and orange extract to a mixing bowl. Use the whisk attachment and whisk on medium high to high until medium to stiff peaks form. Be patient. It may take 3-5 minutes.
- Pipe on or spoon on the whipped chocolate cream onto the cheesecake.
- Garnish with orange slices. Serve immediately or place back in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
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