Calling all chocolate lovers! This rich and decadent chocolate cake with chocolate cookie crust, chocolate chip cheesecake filling and fudge frosting is not for the faint of heart. No, this Chocolate Cheesecake Cake is for serious chocolate lovers!
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Chocolate Cheesecake Cake
Is cheesecake really cake? I know it’s not pie, but is it really cake? I turned this over and over in my mind, and I finally decided to blue the lines a bit and create a recipe that combines a traditional crumb cake with a traditional cheesecake. I’m so glad I did!
Each dark chocolate cake layer is baked onto a homemade Oreo cookie crust, and in between the layers is… you guessed it, cheesecake! It’s a tangy cheesecake filling with semi-sweet chocolate chips, and it pairs perfectly with the bittersweet chocolate cake. Then, for one more layer of deliciousness, there’s a rich fudge frosting covering it all. This frosting is a little dense than my silky-smooth chocolate buttercream – an absolute decadent dream, befitting my very first cheesecake-cake recipe.
The Best Dark Chocolate Cake Recipe
The chocolate cake recipe for this cake is my absolute favorite. It’s rich, moist, and full of chocolate flavor. I use it for nearly any cake that calls for chocolate layers. Once you try it, I have no doubt you’ll love it as much as I do.
Things to note about this chocolate cake recipe:
- This chocolate cake has a lot of liquid, which is what makes it moist, but it does mean that the cake batter will be thin. Don’t let that stress you out. It bakes beautifully.
- The layers for this cake will bake to a height of 1.25″ – 1.5 — if you want thicker cake layers, you can 1.5x or double the recipe.
- Dark cocoa powder makes a HUGE impact on flavor. I don’t recommend using regular cocoa powder for this cake. We want the slight bittersweet chocolate, as it pairs perfectly with the sweet filling and doesn’t lose any of the chocolate flavor during baking.
- You’re baking the chocolate cake right on top of the cookie crust.
Cheesecake Filling
Forget heading to the Cheesecake Factory for their chocolate cake cheesecake. You can make the easiest and most delicious cheesecake filling for this chocolate cake right at home!
To make the chocolate chip cheesecake filling, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Cream cheese
- Granulated sugar
- Cornstarch
- Milk
- Eggs
- Mini chocolate chips
Rather than bake this mixture in a cheesecake pan, you’ll simply bake it in a square baking pan, until the edges are fairly firm. However, the center will still be lightly jiggly. As the mixture cools, it will thicken.
NOTE: Do not add the chocolate chips until AFTER the cheesecake filling is completely cool.
MAKE AHEAD TIP: the chocolate chip cheesecake filling is a great element to make ahead of time. In fact, I prefer the consistency of the filling when I’ve made it a day before assembly. Once the filling is completely room temperature and you’ve added the chocolate chips, store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Easy Homemade Fudge Frosting
This fudge frosting is a bit different than my typical buttercreams, both in texture and in the process to make it. It is, however, equally delicious!
To make the fudge frosting, you’ll want to use a food processor or blender. I prefer a food processor.
Other Chocolate Cakes You’ll Love
- The Best Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream
- The Best Ever Cookies and Cream Cake
- Mint Oreo Cake
- Decadent Chocolate Peanut Butter Oreo Cake
- Peanut Butter Pie Cake
Chocolate Cheesecake Cake
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cookie Crust
- 25 Oreo cookies finely ground
- 4 tablespoons (56.5 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) salt
For the Dark Chocolate Cake
- 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cups (350 g) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cups (88.5 g) dark cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon (3 g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) salt
- 1 cup (240 g) buttermilk, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (109 g) vegetable oil
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (4.2 g) pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (236.6 g) hot water
For the Cheesecake Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon (7.5 g) cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon (15.13 g) milk
- 1 whole egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 cup (85.5 g) mini chocolate chips
For the Fudge Buttercream
- 1 1/4 cups (282.5 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (125 g) powdered sugar, measured then sifted
- 3/4 cup (75 g) dark cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup (276 g) light corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons (8.4 g) vanilla extract
- 10 ounces (283 g) dark or semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
- 1/2 teaspoons (3 g) salt
Instructions
For the Chocolate Cookie Crust
- Spray three 8-inch round cake pans with nonstick spray, line the bottom with parchment paper, and spray again. Set aside.
- Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to combine. Mixture should resemble wet sand.
- Evenly divide the crumbs between the three pans and firmly pat into an even crust.
- Set aside while you make the chocolate cake batter.
For the Dark Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt on low speed until combined.
- In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, water, and vanilla.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a spatula.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pans (about 16 ounces in each pan), over the chocolate cookie crusts, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.
- Remove the cake pans from the oven and let the layers cool in pans for 15 minutes before inverting onto cooling racks to cool completely.
For the Cheesecake Filling
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Spray an 8”x8” baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat the sugar and cream cheese until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, cornstarch, and salt.
- Add the milk mixture to the sugar mixture and stir until combined.
- Stir in the egg and egg yolk. Beat on medium speed or by hand for a couple minutes.
- Pour the mixture into your prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the mixture is slightly set around the edges but still soft in the middle.
- Let the cheesecake filling cool completely before adding the chocolate chips.
- You can make this element ahead of time and store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week.
For the Fudge Buttercream
- In a microwave safe bowl, heat the chocolate chips in the microwave for about a minute. Stir until smooth and silky.
- In food processor, combine the butter, powdered sugar, cocoa, and salt. Mix until smooth, about 30 to 60 seconds, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl about half way through.
- Add corn syrup and vanilla and mix until just combined, about 20 to 30 seconds.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and then add the melted chocolate. Pulse until the mixture is smooth and creamy, about 30 seconds.
- This frosting will get darker as it sets.
Assembly
- Place the first cake layer, top side up, in the middle of your cake board or cake plate.
- Pipe a rim of the buttercream around the edge of the cake.
- Evenly spread about 1 cup of cheesecake filling over the cake layer, getting eye level with the cake to ensure the filling is level.
- Place the second cake layer on top, pipe a rim of buttercream around the edge and spread another cup of filling over the cake layer.
- Place the final cake layer, top side down, on the second layer of filling.
- Apply a thin coat of frosting around the entire cake to lock in the crumbs. Freeze for about 10 to 15 minutes.
- After the crumb coat is set, continue frosting and decorating the cake with remaining buttercream
Hey Courtney!
For the cookie crust, do you remove the filling from the Oreo’s or keeping them whole before finely grinding them up?
Thanks!
Keep the filling in 🙂
I am trying out your recipe today and for some reason my fudge icing is super runny. It tastes amazing but it is almost soupy. I am not sure what I did wrong.
I’m not sure why it would be runny, try refrigerating to set.
I’ve made probably 10-15 cakes now from Courtney’s recipes and book but this one has been a favorite! The cheesecake filling is easy to make ahead of time (as most fillings are) and works perfectly with the more bitter dark chocolate of the fudge frosting which I particularly enjoyed more than the usual buttercream! I baked this for my BIL’s celebration for matching an emergency medicine residency this week and he loved it!!
Cheesecake filling note: the book and recipe missed how much salt to add and I asked on Instagram to verify after I added what I thought it was – it’s a half tsp salt 🙂
Do you bake the cheesecake filling and then store it in the refrigerator before using it? Is the cheesecake filling soft enough and spreadable? If its in a square pan, I’m assuming you just scoop it out and spread it over the layers?
Yes to all.
The directions for the cheesecake filling say to combine the cornstarch, milk, and salt but the ingredients doesn’t say how much salt to put in….help!
A pinch!
Hi Courtney!
I was wondering if this cake would be just as good with your typical chocolate buttercream and a drizzle of chocolate ganache on top? (I have some extra of the chocolate buttercream I made for your other chocolate cake and figured maybe I could use it and make another small batch to finish up what I would need.) I also have some ganache left over but would love your thoughts as you are the flavor queen when it comes to cake!
Do it!
Hi Courtney!
I want to make this recipe into cupcakes, any idea how to incorporate both the buttercream and the cheesecake filling into/onto a cupcake?
You could scoop out a little of the cupcake and pipe the cheesecake filling in.
This is definitely one of my new favorites! I made this for my friend’s birthday and it was heavenly. SO GOOD. Rich and decadant but not sickly sweet or anything. I can’t wait to make it again!
YAY!
Can the frosting be made in something other than a food processor?
As I’m making this I noticed the grams for butter in the fudge buttercream don’t match up with the cups. What should I go with, or am I missing something?
Go with cups! Sorry about that – I did 3/4 cups in grams. It’s correct now.
Can I bake this in 6 in x 3 in pan? If so, how long should I bake it for?
In 4 6-inch pans. Same cook time.
We were excited about this cake. We are foodie snobs and especially cake snobs so we are always looking for a good recipe to add to our dessert rotation. But my goodness for the time spent on it, which is a lot, it just was not that good. Way too sweet for one thing. The Oreos are unnecessary, and this type of frosting is just way too much sickening sweetness. I suppose if you omitted the Oreos and went with another lighter frosting this would be okay, but we were disappointed.
Hi Courtney. I saw this recipe in BYU magazine, and, being a chocolate cake fan, I had to try it. The parchment paper didn’t go so well (user error), so my rounds really weren’t. My frosting skills are lacking, too. My family laughed at it…until they tried it. They’re no longer laughing. My wife, who isn’t a cake fan, said this is probably the best cake she’s ever had. High praise indeed. It will be a standby for us!
I’m so happy it was a hit! Taste is always more important than how it looks 🙂
Enough of a hit that I’m making it again right now. Our family has renamed it “Mocking Cake”, since they teased about its appearance. I learned some lessons, so this one should look better.
This cake was yummy. Really moist but I probably won’t make this particular cake again because it is quite sweet but still it was quite good. The part about the salt in the cheesecake filling needs to be fixed. It says in the instructions to add salt but it is not listed in the ingredients. I looked through this posts to see how much to add for a while before I saw the answer when someone else asked the same question. Anyway, I love this site and just ordered the cookbook. Thank you for sharing your talent!
This cake looks amazing and I want to try it for my son’s birthday. I’m wondering if I could make the crust/cake layers ahead of time and freeze them or if it all needs to be made in one day?
You can totally make ahead and freeze
What changes would you suggest for high altitude baking, about 3500 feet?
My recipes are made for high altitude so you don’t need to adjust.
Would love to see a video of how you make this!
My son picked this cake for his birthday…Have made a couple of tour crust cakes and they are a big hit! For the frosting, can i substitute the corn syrup for honey, maple syrup or something else?
I haven’t tried it with either of those subs, but I think honey would be your best bet.
Okay, this cake recipe is simply amazing. This is now our go-to for a decadent, rich chocolate cake, perfectly served with a cup of milk. I made this one a few months ago for my husband’s birthday and we couldn’t get enough of this cake. It is rich, but it’s perfectly paired with the fudge frosting. We purposely left out the chocolate chips in the cake and when making the fudge frosting, I melted and used Callebaut dark chocolate 62% and it was so good. It perfectly balanced it. The frosting may look runny at first and is not a frosting I typically make, since mine are usually buttercream based, but frost the cake using the proper tools, set it for a few hours and it will nicely firm up.
Also, I recommend using a good Dutch processed cocoa in the cake. Using quality ingredients matter. I don’t even know why there are low star reviews, because this cake is a winner.
Hello! I am making this recipe for a wedding this week. How do I convert this recipe to a 10 inch cake?
I would probably double the recipe.
The cake came out great! 4 stars because I’m confident this is a great recipe!
However, the cheese cake was eggy and more like a thick, sweet egg custard, no tang and not similar to a cheesecake at all. The icing.. I have to be doing something wrong. It’s thick, gelatinous, and extremely shiny. I’ve read the instructions and ingredient measurements over and over again.
I’m going to just cover the entire cake in a layer of chocolate buttercream and hope everyone thinks I meant to do whatever it is I’ve created.
Please let me know if you can trouble shoot what would cause such a thick, gelatinous catastrophe 🫣
Hi Caitlin, did you happen to use the cream cheese in the tub instead of the foil wrapped blox of cream cheese. That could have changed the texture as you’re describing. For the frosting, this one is definitely a thicker, fudge-like frosting instead of the smooth, fluffy buttercream you might be used to in my recipes.
Could you please add the salt for the cheesecake filling to the blog recipe? It took me a while looking for it in the comments to find (either 1/2 tsp or pinch). Thanks!!
I am going to bake this next week. My husband isn’t crazy about overly rich cakes so I was considering making your chocolate buttercream instead of the fudge one. Do you think it would still taste amazing or alter the cake too much?
Thank you!!
Yes I think that’s a great alternative!