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Photograph of Cheesecake Chocolate Brownies

Cheesecake Chocolate Brownies

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.

Course afternoon tea, Dessert, Morning Coffee, treat
Keyword biscuit base, brownies, cheesecake, grated chocolate
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 16
Author Susan

Ingredients

For the biscuit base –

  • 75g unsalted butter
  • 150g digestive biscuits
  • ⅛ teaspoon fine salt

For the brownie layer –

  • 140g unsalted butter, in cubes
  • 140g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, broken into pieces
  • 70g soft brown sugar
  • 70g caster sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • small ¼ teaspoon fine salt
  • 70g plain/all-purpose flour, sieved
  • 15g cocoa, sieved
  • ½ teaspoon instant coffee powder, sieved

Cheesecake topping –

  • 250g full-fat cream cheese
  • 50g sour cream
  • 75g icing sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Finished with –

  • 40g dark chocolate, finely grated

Instructions

  1. Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.

  2. Preheat oven to fan oven 160°C /180°C/350°F/Gas 4

  3. Make the biscuit crumb layer – put all the digestives in a freezer/sandwich bag and, using a rolling pin, bash and roll them until they make fine crumbs.

  4. Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan over a moderate heat. Add the biscuit crumbs and salt to the butter and mix thoroughly.

  5. Press the biscuit crumbs into a lined cake tin and bake in a pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.

  6. For the brownie layer – 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.)

  7. 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.

  8. Pour the chocolate and butter into the eggs and sugar, whilst whisking, and mix thoroughly with the electric whisk until smooth and glossy.

  9. Put a sieve over the bowl and add the flour, cocoa and coffee

  10. Sift directly over the cake batter and fold until completely mixed in but be careful not to over-mix at this stage.

  11. Pour over the biscuit base and spread evenly over the surface.

  12. Cheesecake Layer – put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir together with a spoon – this helps avoid an icing sugar cloud in the kitchen.

  13. Beat with a hand held or electric whisk until smooth.

  14. Tip over the brownie mix and gently spread evenly over the surface.

  15. Bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin.

  16. Grated Chocolate Layer – take the Cheesecake Chocolate Brownies out of the oven and leave to cool completely.

  17. Grate the chocolate, using a fine grater, and scatter evenly over the surface. NB Do not add the grated chocolate until the Cheesecake Brownies, or the chocolate will melt.

  18. Slice into squares, eat and be amazed!

Recipe Notes

Equipment

  • Electric whisk and mixing bowl
  • Kitchen scales and measuring spoons

Biscuit Base - 

  • medium sized saucepan
  • 20cm/8inch square baking tin lined with baking parchment

Brownie Layer - 

  • Large microwave safe jug or heatproof bowl
  • Mixing bowl and electric whisk
  • Sieve

Cheesecake Layer - 

  • mixing bowl and electric whisk

Chocolate Layer - 

  • fine grater

 

Be very careful melting the chocolate. Chocolate can be very difficult to work with. You can overheat it very easily and the mixture will go grainy. When this happens, there is no way to resolve it I’m afraid!

Microwave: I give the chocolate and butter a minute in the microwave, take it out and stir it well, then let it sit for a few minutes to see if it continues melting sufficiently to melt all the chocolate. If not, I then continue with the microwave but in 10 – 15 second bursts.

Bain Marie: if you do not have a microwave, put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Do not let the base of the bowl touch the water. Heat until the chocolate and butter are very nearly melted then take it off the heat and take the bowl off the saucepan. Be very careful not to burn yourself as the bowl will be hot and steam will escape from the saucepan. Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes for the residual heat to melt the remainder of the mixture. Again, be careful not to over-heat.