Bailey's (Irish Coffee) Marbled Cheesecake

For the sake of St. Patties day, I thought I'd pick up baking again just for a day.

Though it doesn't look festively St. Patrick's Day (as in, you won't find clovers or green sprinkles here). It's definitely Irish to the core. What do I mean? Well, I've taken a Bailey's marbled cheesecake recipe from cooks.com (which I suppose already implies "St. Patties Day treat") and made it my own by adding espresso for kind of an Irish coffee feel. Minus the Jameson. Sorry, whiskey folk.

Crust:

4Tbs unsalted sweet cream butter, melted

3Tbs sugar

1/4C unsweetened cocoa powder

2Tbs ground instant espresso

1 pkg Honey Maid Graham Crackers, ground to crumbs

Combine butter, sugar, espresso, cocoa, and crumbs.

Press evenly in bottom of a 9in. spring form pan

Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.

Let cool.

Grease the sides of pan.

Filling:

3 8 ounce pkgs cream cheese, softened

3/4 C sugar

3 eggs

3/4 C Bailey's Irish Cream

2 Squares (2 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate, melted

3-4 Tbs ground instant espresso

Beat cream cheese until smooth.

Gradually beat in sugar.

Beat in eggs one at a time.

Blend in Bailey's.

Pour 1/3 of the mixture into the melted chocolate, and stir in espresso

Pour 1/2 of the plain mixture into prepared pan.

Drizzle with half of the chocolate mixture.

Repeat layers.

Create desired marbled design with a butter knife.

As you can tell from the picture, I had some cosmetic issues with my cake (I'm definitely not an avid baker)--the more my cheesecake cooled the more cracked it became, any suggestions on how to prevent that?

As much as I love espresso, I think I was a little too generous with the amount in both the crust and the filling--I'll look into tweaking that this weekend.

P.S.: Stay posted for pics from my trip to Yountville. It includes pictures of what Matt and I had at Bouchon!