A hurricane is about to hit a small island off the coast of Maine. Jacobia and Ellie have been tasked with making chocolate cherry cheesecakes to be auctioned off to pay for the town’s fireworks display and now they find a dead man in their shop. Be glad you can read about these stresses in the cozy mystery rather than live them.
This is book #1 in the Death By Chocolate Series. This series is set in Maine. The lead character, Jacobia (Jake) owns a bakery with her good friend Ellie. Jake lives with her dad, stepmom and may soon have more family moving back in to her old Maine home. If that doesn’t keep her busy, the fact that someone was murdered in her shop could be enough to break her.
Death by Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake by Sarah Graves.
Book Review of Book #1 Cozy Mystery Series
Outline and Tone:
What makes me enjoy a novel? A good plot? Yes. An interesting setting? Yes. A lively mystery? Yes. For me the most important part to enjoying a novel is a realistic character that I can relate to. I once read a book where the protagonist was too shy to put colorful polish on her toes. Given the fact that as I type this I have blue polish on my toes, that should tell you that I could not relate to that character. The protagonist of this novel is a woman living a realistic life doing her best. She left Manhattan for a small town in Maine to start over after a divorce. She raised her son with love and attention, but she could not control his life choices and now she worries that he will break his current sobriety streak. Her dad is elderly, stubborn, and experiencing health issues. All of this sets up a real character to root for.
Back to the cozy mystery plot. A hurricane is coming! Jacobia (Jake) and Ellie own The Chocolate Moose, a popular bakery. They have been enlisted to make chocolate cherry cheesecakes to sell at a local auction to help pay for the fireworks display. The ladies are just about done when Jake discovers a dead body in their shop. Now they have to clear themselves as suspects and bake more cheesecakes, all while dealing with their families and preparing for the hurricane.
The author:
Like so many authors, Sarah Graves is a pen name for novelist Mary Squibb. Like her leading lady Jacobia Tiptree, she lives in Maine and also spends time working on her very old home. In addition to the Death by Chocolate series, she has also written a series titled Home Repair is Homicide which also features Jacobia and precedes the Death by Chocolate series. Sara Graves can be followed on her Facebook profile as well as on Twitter @sarahgraves201.
What is not to like?:
The only thing not to like is the reveal of the mystery. It is a bit convoluted. I listened to the book with an audiobook and I found I had to concentrate strongly during the reveal section. In the end, that didn’t distract from the enjoyment of the novel. I am excited to read the next book in the series.
The verdict:
Read it and enjoy it. Bake it and don’t be intimidated. In the novel, Jake and Ellie use a deluxe hand crafted chocolate. That might sound intimidating, but using a nice chocolate you can get at your local grocery store will still make a delicious cheesecake.
Disclaimer: In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost for you).
The best chocolate cheesecake recipe from a novel
Assemble the Ingredients
Baking a cheesecake is a big project, but much easier if you do it in steps.
First, the crust: use a rolling pin to crush about 3 dozen chocolate wafers between two sheets of wax paper, reducing the wafers to fine crumbs. (You need about 2 cups of crumbs.) Melt 6 tablespoons of butter, add the melted butter to the crumbs in a bowl, and mix until all the crumbs are evenly moistened. Use your fingers to press the crumbs evenly into the bottom and about 1½ inches up the sides of a buttered 9″ x 3″ springform pan. [I could not find plain wafer cookies so I used sandwich cookies like Oreos. They worked great.]
Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes, remove the crust from the oven, and set it aside.
Now turn the oven up to 375 degrees and put a shallow pan of water on the bottom shelf. This preheats and humidifies the oven so the cake doesn’t dry out when it’s baking.
Use a wooden spoon to cream together the cheese, sugar, and lemon zest. Beat in the vanilla, the eggs one at a time, and the sour cream.
It is not necessary to use an electric mixer for this recipe. Use a good nonslip bowl and a sturdy silicone spatula (along with room temperature cream cheese) and you and incorporate the sugar, cream cheese, eggs, and sour cream by had easily. I always use OXO Good Grips Mixing Bowls Set and OXO Good Grips Silicone Spatula.
OXO Good Grips 3- Piece Plastic Mixing Bowl Set LInk
This picture show the flat silicone spatula from the 3 piece set. Also in the picture is the OXO whisk and flipping spatula
Pour the batter into the already-made crust in the springform pan and bake for about 1 3/4 hours at 375 degrees. (Leave the pan of water in the oven during baking.)
Chill the baked cake overnight. Then slip a thin knife blade very carefully between the crust and the pan’s side just to loosen it. Finally open the pan’s latch and remove the side.
For the chocolate top:
Put 4 ounces of chopped bittersweet chocolate in a bowl.
Heat ½ cup of cream with a tablespoon of sugar to a simmer stirring until the sugar dissolves. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate in the bowl, stir to dissolve the chocolate, let the mixture cool until it’s the thickness you want, and pour/spread it over the top of the cake, allowing some to run down the sides.
For the cherries:
Mix the cornstarch with the sugar, add the cherries and stir, add the water and vanilla, and heat the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Then quickly turn the heat down to simmer, cook until thickened (this happens fast!), and taste it. Add a little more lemon juice or sugar if you wish.
Group some of the cherries at the center of the cake top and distribute the rest evenly. Drizzle cherry syrup artistically.
Finally shave bittersweet chocolate curls off a chunk of the stuff and sprinkle/arrange them generously on the cake. Take a moment to congratulate yourself on your achievement, and then Enjoy!
Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake from: Death by Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake
Ingredients
- 3 dozen Chocolate wafer cookies [or oreos]
- 6 Tbsp butter
Filling
- 32 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp grated lemon zest
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
For the chocolate top
- 4 oz bittersweet chocolate
- ½ cup cream
- 1 Tbsp sugar
For the cherries:
- 1 cup frozen cherries
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 4 Tbsp cornstarch
- ½ tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp lemon juice
- ⅛ cup water
Instructions
- First, the crust: use a rolling pin to crush about 3 dozen chocolate wafers between two sheets of wax paper, reducing the wafers to fine crumbs. (You need about 2 cups of crumbs.)
- Melt 6 tablespoons of butter, add the melted butter to the crumbs in a bowl, and mix until all the crumbs are evenly moistened.
- Use your fingers to press the crumbs evenly into the bottom and about 1½ inches up the sides of a buttered 9" x 3" springform pan.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes, remove the crust from the oven, and set it aside.
- Now turn the oven up to 375 degrees and put a shallow pan of water on the bottom shelf. This preheats and humidifies the oven so the cake doesn't dry out when it's baking.
- Next, make the filling
- Use a wooden spoon to cream together the cheese, sugar, and lemon zest.
- Beat in the vanilla, the eggs one at a time, and the sour cream.
- our the batter into the already-made crust in the springform pan and bake for about 1 3/4 hours at 375 degrees. (Leave the pan of water in the oven during baking.)
- Chill the baked cake overnight.
- Then slip a thin knife blade very carefully between the crust and the pan's side just to loosen it. Finally open the pan's latch and remove the side.
- For the chocolate top:
- Put 4 ounces of chopped bittersweet chocolate in a bowl.
- Heat ½ cup of cream with a tablespoon of sugar to a simmer stirring until the sugar dissolves.
- Pour the hot cream over the chocolate in the bowl, stir to dissolve the chocolate
- Let the mixture cool until it's the thickness you want, and pour/spread it over the top of the cake, allowing some to run down the sides.
- For the cherries:
- Mix the cornstarch with the sugar, add the cherries and stir, add the water and vanilla, and heat the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.
- Then quickly turn the heat down to simmer, cook until thickened (this happens fast!), and taste it.
- Add a little more lemon juice or sugar if you wish.
- Group some of the cherries at the center of the cake top and distribute the rest evenly. Drizzle cherry syrup artistically.
- Finally shave bittersweet chocolate curls off a chunk of the stuff and sprinkle/arrange them generously on the cake.
- Take a moment to congratulate yourself on your achievement, and then Enjoy!
What would I do differently next time for this Recipe?
Following the recipe exactly, I found the cheesecake just slightly over cooked. Now I know I will need to adjust the time for how my oven works. Your oven may not have the same problem I did.
Are you a fan of rich chocolate desserts like I am? Then you are going to love Scout’s Brownies from Dying for Chocolate.
