Chocolate Brownie and Cheesecake Cupcakes

Chocolate Brownie and Cheesecake Cupcakes


I asked my husband what birthday cakes he would like for his family birthday tea, and he replied with- chocolate.  That's it, just chocolate. With that rather flexible license to bake, I played around with a few ideas and settled on some kind of chocolate cake/cheesecake combo.

These Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake Cupcakes have a lovely, soft, chocolatey sponge with patches of baked cheesecake distributed through them.  They are, in one word, delicious! 


I had a fair bit of trouble with the cheesecake mixture, namely that it was very runny. I have had this recently with cream cheese icing as well. Quite frustrated, I googled around and discovered that this is an issue with British cream cheese. Even the full fat varieties have quite a lot of liquid in them compared to US versions, which are much more dense. When cooked, it tastes the same. It's the consistency during the process that's the issue. I have explained as best I can in the method, how to handle it.


Cream cheese issues aside, these cakes turn out beautifully and they look very inviting. Make sure you use good quality dark chocolate for the chocolate brownie batter, or you'll lose that deep chocolate flavour. 


Next time you have a party, put Chocolate Brownie and Cheesecake Cupcakes on the menu!






Ingredients
(makes 12-15)

For the brownie:

200g good chocolate (more than 70%)
100g butter
250g light Muscavado sugar
100g self-raising flour
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract


For the cheesecake:

250g light cream cheese
1 egg
50g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence


Method


1) Break up the chocolate and melt it with the butter on a low heat in a saucepan. If you want to do it in the microwave, do it on a low setting, in short bursts, and be very careful, as the chocolate can burn very quickly.

2) Let the melted ingredients cool while you beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
3) Stir in the chocolate and butter until you have a thick, glossy, brown mixture.
4) Sieve the flour into the mixture and stir it until it's well combined.
5) In a bowl, mix together the cheesecake ingredients until they are well combined. If it's still lumpy, use a whisk to smooth it out, ideally an electric one, if you have it. Set it to one side.
6)  Spoon a tablespoon of chocolate mixture into each cupcake case. Then spoon a tablespoon of the cheesecake mixture on top. As it's runny, it will fill in any gaps.
7) Continue spooning them into the cases alternately, putting the chocolate in a different place in the case each time. (see picture below)
8) Make sure that you leave enough cheesecake mixture to put some on the top for the visual effect.
9) Pop them in the oven at 180 (170 fan, gas mark 4)  for 15-18 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.


Brownie and cheesecake batter in the cupcake cases.

Chocolate Brownie and Cheesecake Cupcakes

Chocolate Brownie and Cheesecake Cupcakes

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