Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Cheesecake (from Feast and on the Nigella website) makes a 23cm/9-inch large cheesecake. Unfortunately we have not used this recipe to make individual cheesecakes, but we suspect that you may be able to use Nigella's recipe for Mini-Cheesecakes (in Domestic Goddess) as a guideline for a smaller chocolate version.

We would guess that the Chocolate Cheesecake recipe will make approximately 12 cheesecakes in a standard muffin pan. If you have any mixture left over then it can be refrigerated in covered containers for up to 3 days and used to bake a second batch. We would also suggest lining the muffin pan with paper liners. Put 1-2 tablespoons of the crumb base mixture in each paper liner and press to flatten out. You should have a base about 2mm (just less than 1/8 inch) thick. Add enough cheesecake batter to come 3/4 of the way up the paper liner, then bake at 190c/350F for about 15 minutes, until the cheesecake mixture is set on top but still has a slight wobble in the very centre. As ovens vary it is worth checking a couple of minutes early and you may need to allow a few minutes extra baking time, but try to make sure that the cheesecakes are not fully set when they come out of the oven otherwise they will be dry. Let the cheesecakes cool in their pan for an hour then transfer the pan to the fridge and leave (for about 6 hours) until completely chilled, before lifting the cheesecakes, in their paper lines, from the pan. The cheesecakes should keep in the fridge for up to 3 days, loosely covered with foil or clingfilm (plastic wrap). However the paper lines will start become damp very quickly so you may prefer to remove the cheesecakes from the liners before storing. We would also emphasise that we have not tried this method ourselves so these are just guidelines and we regret that we cannot guarantee the results.