Chocolate Cheesecake With Chilli

Asked by lauren biggs. Answered on 2nd March 2015

Full question

I have baked the Chocolate Cheesecake countless times and it has always been a hit. But I would like to enhance it and make it even more special for my boyfriend's birthday and he suggested making it a chocolate chilli cheesecake. What would be the right type of chilli to add (chilli powder, dried chilli flakes fresh chillies?) and how and when in the receipe would I add it?

Our answer

Tweaking recipes is always interesting when cooking and chocolate and chilli is a popular combination. However we have not tried adding chilli to Nigella's Chocolate Cheesecake (from Feast and on the Nigella website) so regret that we cannot advise on quantities of chilli to use. Different people like varying heats from chillies, so is usually best to let your own taste to be your guide.

A powdered form of chilli would be best but do be aware that some chilli powders contain garlic, cumin and other spices so you need to try and find a powder that is pure chilli and also one that matches the type of heat that you would like to add. For example, ancho chilli powder is usually pure ground ancho chillies, it is not particularly hot and has a fruity, slightly smokey flavour. However cayenne pepper is usually pure ground cayenne chillis and is quite hot. It is best to add the powder at the same time as the cocoa and melted chocolate. Add a little (about half a teaspoon/2.5 mls) at a time and if possible cook a teaspoonful of the batter in a microwave for just a few seconds (to set the batter and cook the eggs in the batter), cool slightly and taste to see if you need more chilli or not.