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December is such a busy month! Ok, so that goes without saying. Everyone is running around trying to do waayyy too much. In our home we have two birthday celebrations in the mix of all the holiday hustle and bustle. Yep! Two birthday celebrations for both the boys.
And to make it even more exciting, Dominick just turned 18! An adult. That makes five of the six kids adults. Wow! So this weekend was a celebration, and my step-son has a favorite request every year. Cheesecake. He loves cheesecake. And he loves chocolate. So this year was the year of the chocolate cheesecake.
Now this time of year there seems to be so many sweets around. Between holiday parties, cookie exchanges, and decorating gingerbread houses there seems to be sugar around every corner. Which is why I try to cut back on sugar whenever possible. Cheesecake is one of those places where you can easily cut back on the sugar. All it takes is SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener!
Tis the season for SPLENDA@ Sweeteners and spice and everything nice – with less added sugar! I often swap out the sugar in my cheesecake recipes. It is a simple swap and by swapping one cup of sugar with one cup of SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated, you can save more than 600 calories!
Did you know that the average American consumes more than 22 teaspoons of added sugar a day? That’s more than TRIPLE the recommended amount for women and more than DOUBLE the recommended amount for men! I bet a whole lot of that sugar is consumed during the month of December!
The SPLENDA® SWEET SWAPS™ Initiative is about making smarter, balanced decisions for a healthy lifestyle.
Birthdays are for celebrating and this Triple Chocolate Berry Cheesecake is all about celebrating Dominick turning 18! While I swapped out the sugar, I did not cut back on the creamy chocolaty taste of this melt in your mouth birthday dessert. No way!
Making a cheesecake takes planning. Not because they are hard, but because they take chill time. So you need to plan on making your cheesecake a day before you want to serve it. It is best when they can chill in the refrigerator overnight. Dominick requested this triple chocolate berry cheesecake a week ago. So it was easy for me to stop by Walmart and pick up everything that I needed including the SPLENDA®
This Triple Chocolate Berry Cheesecake is so creamy and decadent! The ganache topping, fresh berries, and chocolate shavings make it over-the-top memorable!
Triple Chocolate Berry Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cheesecake:
- 20 chocolate wafer Cookies
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
- 2 packages (8 ounces each) reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
- 1 and 1/2 cups SPLENDA®
- 2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
For the Chocolate ganache:
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon SPLENDA®
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap 9-inch springform pan with two layers of heavy duty aluminum foil.
- Place cookie wafers in a resealable plastic bag and crush with rolling pin until cookies become fine crumbs.
- Combine cookie crumbs and melted butter in a small bowl until well blended.
- Evenly press cookie crumbs into the bottom of the springform pan. Bake 5 minutes. Cool.
- Fill a large sauce pan with water and bring to a boil.
- While water is heating, beat cream cheese in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Beat in SPLENDA®, cocoa powder, and vanilla until mixed together well. It will be thick!
- Beat in eggs, one at a time, throughly mix in. Scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
- Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan.
- Place the pan into a large roasting pan and carefully pour boiling water into roasting pan and fill pan half way.
- Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes. Do not over bake. When cheesecake is down the sides will be puffy and the center 2- 3 inches will be slightly wobbly.
- Remove roasting pan from oven and remove cheesecake from water bath. Completely cool on wire rack.
- Cover cheesecake and place in refrigerator to chill 4 − 6 hours, or overnight. Overnight is best 🙂
To make the ganache:
- Combine chocolate, heavy cream, and SPLENDA® into a medium sauce pan over low heat. Stir until chocolate is melted and ingredients are all combined.
- Allow to cool.
- Pour cooled ganache over cooled cheesecake.
- Return cheesecake to refrigerator until set.
To Serve:
- Run a knife around the rim to separate cheesecake from the pan.
- Gently remove the ring.
- With a wide spatula, slide the cheesecake off the bottom of the pan and onto a serving platter.
- Top with sliced strawberries (or berries of choice) and chocolate shavings.
Most definitely time to enjoy!
And something more to enjoy –
A $500 Giveaway!
Who could not use this special gift from Walmart? $500 would sure be a great bonus this holiday season! Simply click on the image below to get to the active site to enter. It’s super easy and hopefully one of my readers will be the winner!
J&J Holiday Baking with Splenda
Do you have recipes that you use SPLENDA® to replace sugar? I’d love to hear about some of your favorites!
Here is your printable version of this amazing recipe!
Ingredients
- For the Cheesecake:
- 20 chocolate wafer Cookies
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
- 2 packages (8 ounces each) reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
- 1 and 1/2 cups SPLENDA®
- 2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- For the Chocolate ganache:
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon SPLENDA®
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap 9-inch springform pan with two layers of heavy duty aluminum foil.
- Place cookie wafers in a resealable plastic bag and crush with rolling pin until cookies become fine crumbs. Combine cookie crumbs and melted butter in a small bowl until well blended. Evenly press cookie crumbs into the bottom of the springform pan. Bake 5 minutes. Cool.
- Fill a large sauce pan with water and bring to a boil.
- While water is heating, beat cream cheese in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Beat in SPLENDA®, cocoa powder, and vanilla until mixed together well. It will be thick!
- Beat in eggs, one at a time, throughly mix in. Scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
- Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan.
- Place the pan into a large roasting pan and carefully pour boiling water into roasting pan and fill pan half way.
- Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes. Do not over bake. When cheesecake is down the sides will be puffy and the center 2- 3 inches will be slightly wobbly.
- Remove roasting pan from oven and remove cheesecake from water bath. Completely cool on wire rack.
- Cover cheesecake and place in refrigerator to chill 4 − 6 hours, or overnight. Overnight is best 🙂
- To make the ganache:
- Combine chocolate, heavy cream, and SPLENDA® into a medium sauce pan over low heat. Stir until chocolate is melted and ingredients are all combined.
- Allow to cool.
- Pour cooled ganache over cooled cheesecake.
- Return cheesecake to refrigerator until set.
- To Serve:
- Run a knife around the rim to separate cheesecake from the pan.
- Gently remove the ring.
- With a wide spatula, slide the cheesecake off the bottom of the pan and onto a serving platter.
- Top with sliced strawberries (or berries of choice) and chocolate shavings.
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Yum! I’m drooling and craving now. Damn, this look so good.
It is very hard to believe this cake is low calorie! It is just stunning and I bet it tastes great also.
That looks so good. Cheescake is my husbands favorite dessert. He’d love this.
My husband’s favorite is the REd Velvet cheesecake that I make.
You’re torturing me! It’s 10 pm and I’m now craving a piece of your cheesecake. Love the cute video (that only made me more hungry!).
Thanks! I had a fun time with the video. My 14 year old was the camera girl 🙂
Omg this cheesecake looks absolutely delicious!! Definitely going to have to try your recipe out!
It was divine! Let me know if you try it. I’d love to hear how your family enjoyed it.
That looks WAY too delicious to be sugar free. I am a cheesecake lover, so will definitely be trying this recipe over the holidays to cut calories.
I hope you enjoy it! I really need to make your Ritz cracker tropical cheesecake. It sounds delicious and I hope you win!
This looks amazing and I’m with you on lowering the sugar intake with the holiday season. Happy Birthday to Dominick!
Thank you! Dominick had a wonderful birthday and totally savored his cheesecake for days 🙂
Oh my – this looks like a chocolate lovers fantasy! Thanks so much for sharing. 🙂
The whole family loved this one!
Look at all that chocolate cream cheese goodness! This would be a wonderful dish for potlucks and with the Splenda can really save calories.
The Splenda does help save on calories. You are right – this would be great for a potluck especially since you have to make it ahead of time.
This just looks too delicious. I love how you show all of the steps. It makes it so much easier to follow the recipe!
Thank you! We loved the cheesecake 🙂
I love cheesecake. That looks so good. I need to try and make one soon. I never actually have.
If you love cheesecake you for sure need to make one. The timing is the tricky part other than that they go together super easy!
You had me at chocolate cheesecake! This looks amazing, and I’m all about saving on the calories. Sounds like a win-win to me!
It was delicious and is a family favorite! I love the Splenda because of fewer calories but also because it helps keep my cravings in check.
I love this recipe. I have only made a few cheesecakes, but never a chocolate one. Anything with ganache on top is going to be delish!
You are right about the ganache! It was divine 🙂 I have also shared a recipe for a Red Velvet that is equally scrumptious. That one is also made with Splenda.
My Aunt used to be famous for her cheesecakes and they were amazing, but nobody else in my family has ever made them… not sure why. Maybe I need to give it a try. This looks amazing. #client
They are really easy once you get used to the timing. I started making cheesecakes just a handful of years ago and I have tried many different ones since then. All yummy!
Oh my, the cheesecake looks amazing! I can’t wait to try this.
Thanks, the whole family loved it!
You had me at Cheesecake. Seriously this looks absolutely amazing! I love berries, chocolate and cheesecake together!
Oh I love berries and chocolate together, too! They are perfect paired together!
This look so yummy and perfect for holiday festivities! I LOVE anything chocolate!
I’d sat that’s a pretty unforgettable bday cake! Looks absolutely delicious!!!!
Yum! This looks delicious! I have learned over the past couple of years that the amount of sugar I eat (and also stress) lead to me being sick around the holidays, so last year I decided to drastically cut the amount of sugar I consumed leading up to the holidays (not easy!) and it was the first year I wasn’t sick in years. I love that this gives me a chance to have a sweet treat, without all the sugar!
Ohhhhhhh! Chocolate cheesecake is my favorite, I can’t wait to try your recipe and thanks for the giveaway! 😀
This sounds heavenly I would love to have this after a great Christmas meal. I am looking forward to trying this.
It is yummy!
Sugar is such a problem; because, it’s an additive in EVERYTHING. Yogurt, bread, granola, pasta sauce… junk it’s not supposed to be in. Skip processed foods and your sugar intake will be much lower. Would the recipe be the same if you weren’t using regular sugar instead of splenda?
I know how addictive sugar is to me. It is horrible. When I use Splenda my cravings are not set off the way they are after eating sugar.