Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

Chocolate. Vanilla. Raspberry. Cheesecake. Brownie. Swirl. Need I say more? I’m not really sure if the name accurately describes this tasty treat, but the picture of these in the cookbook looked so good I had to try making them! The recipe is from the delicious. magazine cookbook called Sweet. This is not the only scrumptious looking recipe in the book however. I inherited it from a previous housemate who thought I was just a little absurd for making a colour coded excel spreadsheet of all the recipes in this book that I wanted to make. How could I pick just one! I haven’t yet completed the entire list, but I have made most of the recipes in the chocolate section!

I also purchased a new rectangular pie tin this weekend which I wanted to test out. So although the recipe says to use a brownie tin, the photos show my fancy new tin. I would suggest sticking to the brownie tin recommendation as a fair chunk of the mixture spilled over the edges of the pie tin. Still tasted fine, but couldn’t really be classified as a slice.

INGREDIENTS

200g dark chocolate, chopped

200g butter, softened

400g caster sugar, sifted

5 eggs

110g (3/4 cup) plain flour, sifted

400g cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

125g punnet raspberries (or 125g frozen raspberries if fresh ones cost too much)

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 170°Celsius. Grease and line a rectangular brownie tin.

2. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, then set aside to cool.

    

3. Beat butter and 250g of the caster sugar with an electric mixer until thick and pale.

4. Add 3 eggs one by one, beating well after each addition, until combined.

5. Stir in the melted chocolate.

6. Fold in the flour.

7. Spread three-quarters of the mixture into the prepared tin. Keep the other quarter of the mixture in a bowl to be used later.

8. In a separate bowl with the electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth and the same consistency. Add all of the remaining sugar and beat until creamy.

9. Add the remaining 2 eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.

10. Spread cream cheese mixture over the chocolate base in the tin.

11. Spoon on the reserved chocolate mixture in blobs and swirl the 2 mixtures together with a knife. Be careful not to over-swirl.

12. Scatter the raspberries over the top of the mixture and press them down slightly.

13. Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes until it looks less wobbly.

14. Remove from oven and cool in tin, then remove and cut into squares.

This was a pretty fun recipe to make, layering the chocolate base and then the cheesecake topping and swirling it all around. Takes a bit longer than a regular brownie or cake, having to make two separate mixtures but I think worth the effort in the end! Now I have to go lie down from all the sugar...