Aunt Joanne's Chocolate Cheesecake

This chocolate cheesecake is so good.  How good?  Make it yourself and find out.  I will say that it has been my daughter's birthday cake of choice since she was 4 years old, and she has a very sophisticated palate. Another brilliant thing about this cheesecake is that it actually tastes better if you make it in advance, like days in advance.  You can still eat it the day after you make it, but it's great for those times when you'll need the last minute to deal with other stuff. . . like christmas for example.   I got this recipe from my Aunt Joanne (I bet you're really surprised given the title of the post), and she's one in a long line of great cooks in my family.  She said I could share it with you.

Chocolate Cheesecake

40 chocolate wafers (I use Newman's own chocolate alphabet cookies, and it takes about 60 I think)

1/3 cup butter, melted*

8 oz. bar of semi-sweet chocolate (I use ghirardelli)

1 1/2 pounds cream cheese

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. sour cream (I always throw in the whole pound container. . . nothing bad happens)

1. Crush the wafers and combine with butter.  This would be a good job for your trusty kitchen assistants.
2. Press it into a 10" Springform pan (I always cover the bottom - outside- with foil since the first time I made it some butter leaked out and made my oven smoke.  When I called my Aunt all panicky that's what she suggested I do).  You can use the bottom of a flat cup measure to do this nice and evenly if you want. . .or you can let the kitchen assistants go to town with their hands, I opt for the former.  Chill the crust while making the cake.
3. Melt the chocolate and cool it.
4. Beat the cream cheese in a mixer until smooth.  Add the sugar, and eggs (one at a time).  Add the cooled chocolate, cocoa, vanilla and sour cream.
5. Pour into the pan and smooth the top.
6. Bake 45 minutes.  The cake will be soft but will firm as it cools.
7. Cool in the oven with the door open for 1 hour.  Refrigerate at least overnight, and up to 5 days in advance.

*1/3 of a cup. . . but that's not marked on the butter wrapper. . . throw this one at your kids:  "Hey, if there are 16 tablespoons in a cup of butter how many tablespoons are there in a third of a cup. . . quick I need to know now!"  - the answer, btw is 5 1/3 Tbsp.  if you don't feel like doing the math and have no one around to badger about doing division and "real life math."

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