chilled chocolate cheesecake

my brother in law's girlfriend received a recipe book of 365 chocolate recipes for christmas so we were fortunate to be visiting the other week and she tested this one out on us. it was extremely delicious and went down well with the whole family and aoife assured me it was a doddle to whip up. there is uncooked eggs in it though so best not served to very young, old or pregnant chocoholics.

cheesecake bit

50g softened butter + extra for greasing

400g softened cream cheese

2 eggs lightly beaten

5 tbsp caster sugar

150g dark chocolate melted and slightly cooled

chocolate shavings to scatter (place skelligs milk dark and white bars in the fridge and use a vegetable peeler along the side to make easy and attractive chocolate curls)

chocolate crumb bit

250g digestive biscuits (crushed)

75g butter

2 tbsp cocoa powder

to make the crumb
preheat the oven to 200c. mix the crushed biscuits, cocoa powder and butter until well combined. press the mixture into the base of a 9" springform cake tin. bake in the oven for 10 minutes. leave to cool completely.

1. in a large bowl beat the cream cheese, eggs, butter, sugar and melted chocolate together until the mixture is smooth and thick. spoon over the cooled chocolate crumb base and smooth the surface.

2. refrigerate for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.

3. remove the cheesecake from the tin and scatter with the chocolate shavings just before serving.