Cappuccino Fudge Cheesecake

I have bad news, dear readers. I left my camera cord in San Diego. That means I have no way of uploading pictures and showing you a slew of delicious summertime recipes that I whipped up right before I left for Berkeley. They're trapped on my camera's memory card for the time being.

Instead, I thought I'd write about something wildly out of season (I don't know about you, but during hot summer months I stay as far away from rich, heavy desserts as I can) but extraordinarily delicious. I'm telling you, make this cheesecake.

When I first saw how complicated this cappuccino fudge cheesecake was, I was shocked. This dessert involves a chocolate wafer crust slathered with Kahlua flavored chocolate ganache, followed by a cappuccino cream cheese filling featuring two different kinds of coffee, topped with a sweet, vanilla-sour cream spread, decorated with a ganache lattice, and adorned with chocolate covered espresso beans. On top of that, you need to make it at lease a day in advance to allow the flavors to blend (it gets better day by day; making this cake two or even three days in advance would not be unwise). It seemed like the ultimate challenge, and after it having circulated the blog-o-sphere, it seemed very well received.

I made this cheesecake for my dad's birthday last January. I followed the original recipe from Bon Appetit almost exactly, but topped the cake with chocolate covered espresso beans instead of plain ones, as many of my fellow bloggers did. I know this cake seems daunting, but trust me, the end result is life changing.