Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

For all the cheesecake, brownie and red velvet lovers! Why not combine everything and call it 'Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies'?! Trust me, it's super easy to bake. Besides the food coloring you probably have all the ingredients at home anyway. Basically it's just a cheesecake layer on top of a brownie layer.

The raw dough was already so delicious that I couldn't wait to try the brownies. I wasn't expecting too much, the brownie layer was super moist and absolutely chocolaty, the cheesecake layer soft and creamy. All in all a perfectly tasty combination and obviously nice to look at!

fresh eggs, cream cheese, food coloring, flour and cacao

pouring the brownie dough in the baking pan

after spreading the cream cheese layer.....and swirling through the dough

after 30 minutes in the oven and 10 minutes cooling time....

....finally ready to eat: super delicious brownies

For the brownie layer you need:

100 g unsalted butter (melted)

100 g sugar

100 g flour

30 g cacao powder

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 tbsp red food coloring ( I guess I used more, just to be sure)

1 tbsp vinegar (makes the brownies moist)

Cheesecake layer:

250 g soft cheese

30 g sugar

1 egg

Preheat the oven to 180°C 

In a bowl mix together the melted butter, sugar, vanilla extract, cacao powder, food coloring and vinegar. In another small bowl whisk the eggs and add them to the brownie mixture. At the end stir in flour, until everything is well combined. 

Butter a baking pan. Ideally a rectangular baking pan, mine was in use, but it worked perfectly fine with an oval-shaped one as well. Now pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan.

For the cream cheese layer mix all the ingredients together (in a bowl). Then spread the cream on top of the brownie layer until the brownie dough is covered. Now get creative, use a skewer or the tip of a sharp knife to swirl through the cream cheese layer and create a nice pattern.  

Bake the Cheesecake Brownies for about 30 minutes, let them cool down and cut into small pieces.

Valentine's Day gift idea: cut out heart-shaped Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownie Hearts (using a heart shaped biscuit cutter) 

Enjoy!