Monday, August 23, 2010

Cheesecake Swirl Chocolate Brownies - enough said!


I've always wanted to bake an elegant type of tart.  You know, the ones that have a thin, crisp, perfectly uniform shortcrust pastry with a smooth, rich, glossy filling of chocolate. It would be displayed with a slice slightly cut out, with razor sharp edges, and sprinkled with fine Dutch cocoa..

But I've made this 'rustic' cheesecake swirl chocolate brownie instead.
Just because.

Cheesecake swirl chocolate brownie
makes 16

Ingredients
200g dark chocolate
250g butter
1 3/4 cups (300g) brown sugar, lightly packed
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups (300g) plain flour, sifted
1/4 tsp baking powder, sifted
1/3 cup (35g) cocoa, sifted

Cheesecake swirl
250g cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup (75g) caster (superfine) sugar
2 eggs

Method
1.  Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
2.  Place chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat, and stir until melted and smooth.  Cool slightly
3.  Place melted chocolate mixture in a bowl with the brown sugar and eggs.  Whisk to combine.
4.  Add the flour, baking powder and cocoa and whisk until smooth.
5.  Pour into a lightly greased 22cm tin lined with non-stick paper.  Set aside.
6.  For the cheesecake swirl: place the cream cheese, caster sugar and eggs into the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth.  Place large spoonfuls of the cheesecake mixture on top of the chocolate mixture and, using a butter knife, swirl to partially combine.
7.  Bake for 50 minutes or until set.  Cool in the tin before slicing.

Recipe from donna hay magazine

Ingredients, including heaps of butter, sugar, eggs and chocolate

Mixing the chocolate with the flour; blend the cream cheese, caster sugar and eggs in a food process to produce a smooth, gorgeous, lick-the-spoon cream; dollop on the chocolate brownie mix

Made a bit of a mess with this, but was it worth it...?
Yes! It was very worthwhile!

Admittedly, due to lack of a wide cake tin, my brownie looks more like a cake.

Appearances can be deceiving, as this moist, fudgey interior and crisp top attest.

32 comments:

  1. I'm drooling! This reminds me of those black & white muffins you see in cafe's around town. I need some now!

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  2. Your'e so funny, Bel! And, yes, those tarts you described are beautiful, but so are you're rustic cheesecake brownies. They are my favorite too-so tempting;)
    By the way, your lighting is so perfect. I always wonder how you do that or if it's just how your place is lit, etc. Really nice...

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  3. Bel, this is one of those things that you make once and you never forget. I am making this now... Yumm I cant wait!

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  4. Fantastic looking brownies! I could do with one of these everyday!

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  5. They look delicious!

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  6. Wow, can I have a small piece of this gorgeous brownie?

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  7. the topping is just great , congrats !! Pierre

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  8. I need to try one of these chocolate cheesecake-brownie recipes that i keep seeing pop up everywhere. A friend directed me to an American site last year which used a thin layer of brownie as the base with roughly the usual amount of cream cheese on top - I tried it twice and it failed me both times =(

    So I'll need to give something like this a whirl (or swirl) instead!

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  9. They look fantastic! I could do with one right now!

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  10. omg! The brownie looks sooo good!

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  11. Yumm, I've always wanted to try a cheesecake browie. This looks fabulous, love the swirls!

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  12. brownies made with top quality ingredients just can't be beat - adding the cheesecake swirl is a killer! These look fab and just as (if not more) appealing than a chocolate tart.

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  13. Cheesecake brownies are the bomb! I actually turned a few of mine into cakes too because of the lack of thinner tins so because they looked like cake I thought why not just turn them into cake.

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  14. I would occasionally like my food to be refined and elegant as well. But I'll settle for mindblowingly delicious and rustic. Seems like a fair compromise. These look awesome!

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  15. mmm swirlies! looks delish and i <3 that last pic!

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  16. Yum, this looks so good. I shouldn't have read this before lunch!

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  17. Yummm... Hurray for cheesecakes! :D

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  18. Looks so rich and undoubtedly YUMMY. Mess? No problems.

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  19. Mmm....this looks so good! I've always wanted to make cheesecake brownies......I love the idea =]

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  20. lol. I see what you mean about the Donna Hay food styling. Awesome work and the brownie sounds scrumptious!

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  21. This has got to be the best cheese swirled brownies I have seen in a long time! Excellent photography too.

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  22. Mmmm swirlies make everything so pretty! They sure look elegant and tasty

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  23. Wow, the brownies looks soooo good! I love the swirly action! Beautiful photos too.

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  24. Oh lordy, look at the fudgey insides! Totally droolworthy.

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  25. Gorgeous swirls! From sight alone they look like they were worth the effort!

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  26. Do they taste better the same day or the next day? Do they need to be refridgerated? Thanks! I look forward to making them soon. :)

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  27. soooo yummy looking, truly decadent treat!
    :)

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  28. THAT is just fantastic. I remember walking up the road with you that day so you could get your ingredients for this -had I known it was going to look this good, I would have stayed with you and gone to your home to watch you prepare it.

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  29. hi Everyone - thanks for your comments. I'm not surprised that brownies are such a firm favourite, but pair them with cheesecake, and WOWEE!!

    hi Stella - the photos were taken in the natural light of my kitchen in the late afternoon. It's winter here, so it's not as glare-y as it normally is, thank goodness :)

    hi Anonymous - thanks for visiting. I've kept the brownies for up to a week in an airtight container on the kitchen bench (they taste the same the next day). If the weather is warm, I'd keep them in the refrigerator then ping them in the microwave for 20 secs. A warm brownie is always nicer!

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  30. Even though its 7:30 in the morning, I am dribbling at my keyboard. The centre of those brownies look so moist and tempting!

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  31. Hey ;)
    Your brownie recipe is really great, so after seeing it, I couldn't wait making them.
    They are just delicious and very easy!
    Thank you :)
    zimtundchili
    http://zimtundchili.blogspot.de/

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