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Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake - Rich, Cream Dessert with a Sweet Cherry Topping

This Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake is a delicious dessert that combines smooth creamy chocolate cheesecake with a cherries inside and a chocolate streusel. Baked on a buttery chocolate cookie crust, each bite is rich, creamy, and perfectly balanced between sweet chocolate and tart cherries. It's an elegant dessert that's perfect for holidays, special occasions, or whenever you want to impress with a stunning homemade cheesecake.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 53 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 18 minutes
Servings: 12 Slices
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: German
Calories: 422
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the Dough & Streusel:
  • 150 g Butter, softened
  • 100 g Sugar
  • 1 Medium Egg
  • 3 Tbsp Cocoa powder
  • 250 g All-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp Baking powder
  • 1 pinch Salt if using unsalted butter
For the Filling:
  • 1 Glass jar (350g) Sour cherries, drained
  • 125 g Butter, softened
  • 120 g Sugar
  • 2 Medium Eggs
  • 500 g Quark (Greek yogurt)
  • 1 Package Vanilla pudding powder If you don't have it see notes below
  • Powdered sugar for dusting

Equipment

  • 1 Hand mixer
  • 1 10-inch springform pan

Method
 

  1. Make the dough: In a mixing bowl combine the butter, sugar, egg, cocoa powder, flour, and salt. Mix until a soft dough forms.
  2. Prepare the pan: Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Grease a 10 - inch (26 cm) springform pan.
  3. Form the base: Press about two-thirds of the dough into the bottom of the pan and slightly up the sides to create a small edge. Set the rest of the dough aside for later.
  4. Add the cherries: Drain the sour cherries well and spread them evenly over the crust.
  5. Prepare the filling: Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix in the quark and vanilla pudding powder until smooth.
  6. Assemble the cake: Pour the quark filling over the cherries. Crumble the remaining dough and sprinkle it over the top as streusel.
  7. Bake: Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the top is golden.
  8. Cool: Let the cake cool completely before removing it from the pan. Dust with powdered sugar before serving if desired.

Notes

  • This recipe calls for vanilla pudding powder bought in a German store. If you don't have that you can still make the cake by substituting 2 Tbsp cornstarch, 2 Tbsp sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Add this to the filling in place of the pudding powder. The pudding powder mainly thickens the quark filling and adds vanilla flavor, so you can replace it easily. Also the quark is usually hard to purchase in Canada so I buy the vanilla Greek yogurt 2% and it turns out amazing every time.