Decadent, gooey chocolate brownie with a layer of sweet cream cheese
Whenever I’ve made these beauties, I’ve always used the recipe from a 2001 book made by Marks and Spencer called Simply Baking. In case anyone’s interested, I managed to track down links to secondhand copies at Abebooks and Amazon.com.
I use the basic recipe from said book, but I double the amount of chocolate mix. The amounts the original recipe suggest don’t give you enough mixture to form a decent layer of chocolate either side of the cream cheese. We wouldn’t want that!
Please note: no matter how I’ve cooked these, the brownie in the middle of the tray is always very gooey and it’s impossible to eat this bit with your fingers. So this recipe will give you several brownies you can eat with your fingers and a dessert for 2-4 people to be eaten in bowls with spoons. I recommend heating it up and serving with a little bit of vanilla ice cream.
Ingredients (16 servings)
- 200 g / 7 oz low-fat cream cheese (it doesn’t have to be low fat)
- 0.5 tsp vanilla essence
- 4 eggs
- 475 g / 17 oz caster sugar
- 200 g / 7 oz butter
- 6 tbsp cocoa powder
- 200 g / 7 oz self-raising flour
Method
Grease and line a brownie pan or a deep 20 cm /8 inch square cake tin. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C / Gas Mark 4 / 350 degrees F.
Beat together the cream cheese, vanilla essence and 25 g/ 1 oz of the caster sugar until smooth. Put aside.
Beat the eggs and the rest of the caster sugar until light and fluffy. Put the butter and cocoa powder in a small pan and heat gently, stirring until the butter melts and the mixture combines (you can also do this, very gradually, in the microwave using short bursts), then stir in the egg mixture. Fold in the flour.
Pour half of your brownie mixture into the tin. Make sure the bottom of the tin is coated completely. Spread the cream cheese mixture on top of this layer. Cover the cream cheese layer with the remaining chocolate mixture. These steps are shown in the following photos:
Bake for 40 – 45 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin. Cut with sharp knife when cool.
This is the chocolate brownie “slab” when cooled and turned out…
Some more pics…
Looking for some other recipes involving plenty of chocolate?
Chocolate fudge cake with chocolate buttercream frosting.
Maltesers rocky road. So delicious; add your favourite sweet treats and no baking required!
Art and Soul 
I want want want!!!!!!!
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If I could send them via WP, I would! 🙂
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THIS LOOKS SO DELICIOUS!
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They are seriously yummy. I try not to make them too often because they’re not exactly “diet” and I could eat a whole tray in one go – haha!
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I’m the exact same! I hardly ever bake because I know I’ll have eaten it all in minutes!
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That looks so yummy! I might try that recipe out!! ✧ʕ̢̣̣̣̣̩̩̩̩·͡˔·ོɁ̡̣̣̣̣̩̩̩̩✧
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They are delicious, but a little addictive… 🙂
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Oooh! Even better!!
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Oh My God :O I want these, they look amazing! ❤
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They are. Even though I do say so myself! It’s a great recipe because they always turn out delicious and moreish 🙂
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I’m off work next week Thursday and Friday, might have to give them a try then 🙂
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I literally stared at all the pictures for like five minutes. These look sooo YUMMY!!
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It’s delicious. Well worth the effort to make 🙂
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Wait a minute; chocolate brownies AND cheesecake in one?! I think I just drooled all over the keyboard haha. I will most definitely try these out ASAP! I’m thinking this could be the perfect Christmas dessert…
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The bit in the middle of the tray which always stays so gooey you have to eat it using a spoon is an ideal dessert. And, to be honest, I’d also eat the rest without any problems too 🙂
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I think I will actually bake it for the 25th; since they don’t celebrate it here in Argentina I will be having the whole tray for just us two. 😉 The gooey part sounds perfect to eat with ice cream and I don’t think I will be having problems eating the rest either haha.
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Wow, these are making me hungry! Lovely job, Claire! 😉
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Thank you! Unlike many recipes I post, I’ve been making these for a long time and they always turn out consistently delicious 🙂
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Ah, I love a dependable recipe! Happy weekend to you! 😉
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These look so delicious!! I imagine they taste even 2x better then they look!
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Wow, these look great, Claire! Yum to gooey chocolate and cream cheese. 🙂
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They are delicious and it’s a recipe that’s never let me down! 🙂
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Oh that sounds so good…
For those of us in the U.S. where caster sugar is somewhat difficult to get (especially in any kind of quantity), do you know if I can substitute granulated sugar?
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For brownies, in particular, there’s no problem using granulated sugar. They’ll still be delicious 🙂
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Yum!!! Looks amazing!!
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They’re lovely. I’m sad they’ve all gone already!
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Those look so yummy. And the idea of warming some up is heavenly
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They are delicious and the recipe is reliable – they’ve always turned out well (apart from the big gooey bit in the middle, but I don’t mind eating that with a spoon). 🙂
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OMG these look so darn good, and I don’t even like cream cheese! LOL
~ Sanaa
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The good news is, once baked into the brownie, it doesn’t taste much like cream cheese – just an extra layer of yummy sweetness *drool*
🙂
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Oh cool! That’s even better then! Lol
~ Sanaa
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I finally made time to prepare these chocolate cheesecake brownies! I have them cooling on the kitchen counter as I type this… And if they taste as delicious as they smell, I’m sure they will disappear VERY soon. 😀
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Oooo! So glad you did, but now I’m so jealous! 🙂 I can imagine the smell… mmmm…
Although, I can’t complain. My mum made her legendary lemon meringue pie for dessert today which is one of my favourites 🙂
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They were delicious, thanks for sharing the recipe! 😀 And that lemon meringue pie doesn’t sound bad either. 😉
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Trop Gourmand !!!
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