Chocolate Orange Cheesecake
This chocolate orange cheesecake has a bright citrus flavor that pairs perfectly with its chocolate Oreo crust. The texture is just the way that I like cheesecake – not too heavy and not super light and fluffy.
While the texture of this cheesecake is balanced, the flavor is anything but subtle!
Like my orange pie, the intense orange flavor in this orange cheesecake comes from using both orange zest and frozen orange concentrate in the recipe. I very much prefer drinking fresh orange juice rather than orange juice from concentrate. However, orange concentrate is a valuable commodity for baking as its orange flavor is much more intense than fresh juice.
Serve the cheesecake with a dollop of chantilly cream, chocolate cream cheese frosting, or orange frosting and a candied orange slice on every piece for the ultimate chocolate orange flavor!
How to Make Chocolate Orange Cheesecake
First, make sure that all of your ingredients are at room temperature.
I can not stress enough how important this is. If your cream cheese is too cold, it won’t mix well with the other ingredients in the recipe and you will end up with off-putting, lumpy cheesecake.
Mix together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, salt, and zest until fully combined. Stop and scrape down the side of your mixing bowl as needed.
Add orange concentrate and sour cream. I’m throwing in another reminder here that these MUST be at room temperature. (Tip: You can substitute Greek yogurt if you want a lighter cheesecake.)
Lastly, mix in eggs, one at a time.
Pour the batter over prepared Oreo crust.
How to Keep Cheesecake From Cracking
To help keep the cheesecake from cracking:
- Bake the cheesecake in a water bath.
- Use foil to around the bottom of the springform pan to keep water from seeping into the batter.
- Place the wrapped pan in a large baking dish.
- Pour hot water into the dish until it comes about halfway up the sides of the springform pan.
- Let the cheesecake cool slowly.
- When the cheesecake is done baking, don’t pull it from the oven immediately.
- Turn the oven off and crack the oven door open slightly; I wedge a broom handle between the oven and the oven door to do this.
- Leave the cheesecake in the oven for at least 45 minutes before removing it.
How to Make the Chocolate Oreo Crust
Making homemade chocolate crust using Oreos is simple!
Crush Oreos (fillings and all) in a food processor or by placing them in a sealed sandwich bag and rolling the bag over with a rolling pin. This is the same technique that I use for my Oreo cupcakes and my cookies and cream frosting.
Combine crushed Oreos with melted butter and press the mixture into the bottom of a greased springform pan. Pre-bake the crust (also known as blind baking it) to set it before pouring the batter on top of it.
Chocolate Orange Cheesecake Recipe Variations
I love making these orange cheesecakes as mini cheesecakes using small spingform pans [paid link]. This recipe yields four mini cheesecakes. In the image below, you can see where I made this recipe around Halloween as mini cheesecakes and topped them with a chocolate ganache.
Another fun variation is to top the orange cheesecake with candied clementines. It makes the cheesecake look so orange and festive.
If you want a small hand-held cheesecake-like dessert, try making my cream cheese cookies and adding some crushed Oreos and orange zest to the batter.
If You Like This Recipe, You May Also Like…
- Basque cheesecake / burnt cheesecake (This is insanely easy to make and is absolutely wonderful!)
- Turtle cheesecake
- Dulce de leche cheesecake
- Cheesecake brownie pie (It’s rich and chocolaty and generally scrumptious.)
- Mini lemon cheesecakes from Life Made Simple
Chocolate Orange Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust Ingredients
- 12 ounces Oreos crushed into small pieces, 2 dozen Oreos
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
Filling Ingredients
- 24 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- zest of 1 large orange
- 1 cup frozen orange concentrate room temperature
- 2/3 cup sour cream room temperature
- 4 large eggs room temperature
Instructions
Crust Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 F and grease the bottom of a 9" springform pan.
- Mix crushed Oreos and butter together until fully combined. Press into the bottom of the pan.
- Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven, and set aside until ready to use.
Filling Directions
- Reduce oven temperature to 300 F. In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, salt, and zest until fully combined.
- Add orange concentrate and sour cream.
- Mix in eggs, one at a time, until just combined.
- Wrap the bottom of the springform pan containing the Oreo crust in two layers of aluminum foil and set it in a large baking dish.
- Pour batter over pre-baked Oreo crust.
- Pour hot water into the baking dish so that it comes halfway up the sides of the springform pan.
- Put the baking dish into the oven and bake for 60 minutes. The edge of the cheesecake should be set, but the center will still look a little moist and will jiggle if you shake the pan.
- Turn the oven off and prop the door slightly open. Let the cheesecake cool in the oven for 45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, let sit on the counter until it reaches room temperature, and then cover and chill in the refrigerator overnight before slicing and serving.
Notes
- Make sure that all of your ingredients are at room temperature. The cream cheese won't mix well into the recipe if it is cold.
- You can use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream for a lighter cheesecake.
- The easiest way to crush Oreos is in a food processor. You can also put them in a sealed sandwich bag and roll over them with a rolling pin.
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