Cheesecake Chocolate Brownies

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Four layers of complete and utter deliciousness:

• a crispy, buttery biscuit base
• an intense, soft and fudgy chocolate brownie layer
• topped with a silky smooth layer of cheesecake with a slight tang
• and finished with a thick layer of finely grated dark chocolate.

Not going to lie – these little squares of sheer sweet delight, are an incredible blend of complementary and fabulous textures and flavours. Every now and then, you make something which quite simply blows your mind. For me, that was these, this weekend. I was in a sweet brownie/cheesecake stupor!

For the avoidance of doubt, these aren’t bad!

They make a fabulous treat for morning coffee or afternoon tea and they also work as the perfect dessert. They make a wonderful extra snack when you want a pick me up, or like me, treat yourself last thing at night and then first thing in the morning. Trust me, they make a delicious breakfast!

How to make Cheesecake Chocolate Brownies

This recipe is adapted from my Daffodil Brownies – Core Recipe. For further brownie ideas and inspiration, see here.

Collect all your ingredients together and line the baking tin:

In order to guarantee soft and fudgy brownie and soft and silky cheesecake layers, it is important to use the correct size tin – in this case it is a 20cm/8inch square tin. If your tin is larger the depth of your cake batter will be less and the cake will cook more quickly. Equally if the tin is smaller, your cake batter will be deeper and cook more slowly.

1. Sit the tin on greaseproof paper making sure the paper is large enough to line the tin, come up the sides and have a little overhang.
2. Cut out the corners of the paper so it will fit easily into the tin
3. Fold the paper from corner to corner so the size of the centre of the paper matches the base of the tin. Slot inside the tin.

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For the biscuit base –

• unsalted butter
• digestive biscuits
• fine salt

For the brownie layer –

• unsalted butter, in cubes
• dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, broken into pieces
• soft brown sugar
• caster sugar
• large eggs
• fine salt
• plain/all-purpose flour, sieved
• cocoa, sieved
• instant coffee powder, sieved

Cheesecake topping –

• full fat cream cheese
• sour cream
• icing sugar
• large egg
• vanilla extract

Finished with –

• dark chocolate, finely grated

How to make these heavenly bars:

Make the biscuit crumb layer –

1. Put all the digestives in a freezer/sandwich bag and, using a rolling pin, bash and roll them until they make fine crumbs.
2. Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan over a moderate heat. Add the biscuit crumbs and salt to the butter and mix thoroughly.
3. Press the biscuit crumbs into a lined cake tin and bake in a pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.

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For the brownie layer –

This is the same recipe as the Daffodil Brownies – Core Recipe but the ingredients have been reduced by ⅓ to balance the recipe with the biscuit crumb, cheesecake and grated chocolate layers.

1. Chop the butter into squares and place in a microwave safe bowl with the chopped chocolate. Melt in a microwave or a bain marie or and mix until smooth. (See Recipe Notes for details.)
2. Meanwhile put the sugars, eggs and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until thick and creamy. This will take around 3 – 4 minutes.
3. Pour the chocolate and butter into the eggs and sugar, whilst whisking, and mix thoroughly with the electric whisk until smooth and glossy.
4. Put a sieve over the bowl and add the flour, cocoa and coffee
5. Sift directly over the cake batter and fold until completely mixed in but be careful not to over-mix at this stage.
6. Pour over the biscuit base and spread evenly over the surface.

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Cheesecake Layer –

1. Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir together with a spoon – this helps avoid an icing sugar cloud in the kitchen.
2. Beat with a hand held or electric whisk until smooth.
3. Tip over the brownie mix and gently spread evenly over the surface.
4. Bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.

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Grated Chocolate Layer –

1. Take the Cheesecake Brownies out of the oven and leave to cool completely. Grate the chocolate, using a fine grater, and scatter evenly over the surface.
2. Slice into squares

NB Do not add the grated chocolate until the Cheesecake Brownies, or the chocolate will melt.

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Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.