When Two Become One: Cheesecake Topped Chocolate Brownies

This tray bake combines two of my favourite desserts, and I love that someone looked at a chocolate brownie, and decided that the best thing to do with it would be to cover it in another dessert. 

I have been wanting to test out this for a little while now, and as I have a party to cater for next week, I thought if I could master them they would make a great addition to the finger buffet. I have seen quite a few American recipes for Cheesecake Topped Brownies, however this time I have amalgamated my favourite brownie recipe, and added a simple baked cheesecake topping.

So, the ingredients needed are as follows;

For the Brownies

• 115g Dark Chocolate, broken into pieces
• 115g Butter
• 300g Golden Caster Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Pinch of Salt
• 2 Eggs
• 140g Plain Flour
• 2 tbsp Cocoa Powder

For the Cheesecake Topping

• 200g Cream Cheese
• 75g Golden Caster Sugar
• 2 Egg Yolks

Line a 20cm square tin with baking parchment and grease.

Start by melting the chocolate and butter together over hot water, stir through until smooth. Add the sugar, vanilla extract and salt, and combine.

Beat the two eggs into the mixture.

Sift the flour and cocoa into a large mixing bowl.

Add the chocolate mixture to the flour, and fold through until well combined.

Keep a couple of large spoonfuls of the mixture aside for the top of the bake, and transfer the remainder to the greased tin, spreading out evenly to the edges.

In a separate bowl, beat together the cream cheese, caster sugar and yolks together until completely blended.

 Pour the mixture on top of the brownie mixture.

Add the remaining brownie mixture to the tin in random blobs, and then swirl through with a toothpick as below.

Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees, or until the top is a golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Leave to cool and cut into small 1 inch squares.