Chocolate Cheesecake . . . In the Crockpot?

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

Desserts are totally new territory for me and the crockpot. While I’ve used the slow cooker for stews, soups, veggies, and all manner of roasts, I didn’t take the plunge into the dessert arena until very recently. I mean, it seemed like a double entendre, a ‘why would I want/need/have any desire’ to do that?

Most days it’s enough of a challenge just to get dinner on the table without figuring dessert into the equation. Especially if it’s not a quick I-can-whip-it-together recipe that doesn’t require a slew of ingredients. Not to mention that most desserts are notorious for adding pounds to the hips and inches to the waistline—and that’s definitely not needed at this time of the year, when spring is right around the corner.

But I do love dessert. Even if it’s one cookie with coffee or a thin sliver of cake, it’s the finishing touch for a meal. Even better when it’s chocolate. I always save a little room for dessert! It’s especially disappointing when there isn’t anything in the house for dessert—but so very sweet to remember that there’s an utterly divine creation (chocolate too!) sitting on the shelf in the fridge, forgotten until now.

That’s what happens when you make cheesecake in the crockpot! Since it needs to cool after it’s slow cooked for 3 hours, you slide it onto the shelf in the fridge and forget about it. Until it’s dessert time, that is. Then you pull it out, sigh a huge sigh of relief (and anticipation!) and dig in.

I have to admit: I had a lot of reservations about making dessert in the slow cooker. I thought: I’ve got an oven, got a microwave, got a toaster oven. Why bother using the crockpot?

Now I know why! It’s the perfect little cheesecake maker, particularly for healthier versions. They cook slowly and evenly when exposed to the gentle heat. They don’t need a sugary, buttery crust since the low-key heat of the slow cooker makes the crust moist and tender. They cook through to the very middle (no undone centers!) when cooked in the crockpot.

Best of all, this cooking method makes it uber-easy to make a tofu-based cheesecake that doesn’t taste like the tub it came in. The slow, even cooking method ensures that the middle is just as delicious as the edge, and the crust can be a simple graham cracker crumble since it needs no extra moisture to act as a binder. No syrups, no sugar, no butter. Just straight-up graham crackers. Easy and healthy.

It’s quick-to-make too: the filling can be blended in 2-3 minutes, and then poured on top of the crust. Wasn’t sure that a plain ol' round 8-inch cake pan would work, but it certainly did (since my springform pan was too big for the crockpot). It fit inside the 6-quart crock perfectly.

It’s really easier than it sounds. A trivet and several small sauce bowls (turned upside-down) serve as a ‘platform’ for the cake pan. This little table holds the filled cake pan on top of the ½-inch of hot water. Best of all, this is a cheesecake to write home about. It’s not only delicious (it passed the kids approval rating with high fives!), it is healthier than standard cheesecake. With only one 8-oz. package of low-fat cream cheese and half a pound of tofu, it’s also low on the sugar but high on flavor.

Thanks to Robin Robertson and her book Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker for the recipe for Worth-the-Wait Chocolate-Almond Cheesecake. I changed it up to suit our family’s tastes (dropped the almond extract and nuts, and had to sub out the silken tofu since we didn’t have any on hand).

We love it -- let me know what you think!

Serves/Makes: 8

***CRUST***

• 6 graham crackers
• non-stick cooking spray

***FILLING***

• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 8 ounces tofu (regular, firm or extra-firm)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted