Having read an article in a magazine about brownies topped with cream cheese and raspberries I decided I would try it out. The magazine suggested buying a brownie mix, but I prefer to make things from scratch whenever possible. So I came up with my own interpretation.
A rich, moist brownie that was to be topped with the cream cheese and raspberries before being baked.
To add a little extra to the brownies I also incorporated some white chocolate and milk chocolate chips.
The baking time was a bit of a guess, but I started with 45-50 minutes. However after that time I tested with a skewer but the mixture still seemed rather too wet. So I baked for a further fifteen minutes, by which time the cream cheese was still a little wobbly when the cake tin was shaken, but not too much.
So I turned off the oven and left the the brownies in to allow the cream cheese to set just a little firmer before removing and allowing to cool completely. As you would expect with all that extra chocolate added at the last minute this is very moist and must be left to cool completely to firm up before cutting.
The recipe itself is relatively straightforward and doesn’t take too long to prepare. The result is a a rich and moist brownie, so full of chocolate and topped with the delicious cream cheese and the sharp hit of raspberry.
Ingredients:
For the brownies:
- 185g dark chocolate
- 185g unsalted butter
- 85g plain flour
- 40g cocoa powder
- 275g golden caster sugar(caster sugar or granulated would be fine too)
- 50g milk chocolate chips(optional)
- 50g white chocolate chips(optional)
- 3 medium eggs(large in USA)
For the topping:
- 400g cream cheese
- 30g caster sugar
- 20g plain flour
- 1 medium egg(large in USA)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Raspberries to poke into the top(I used 12 as I wanted to divide the baked brownies into 12)
Method:
- In a bain-marie(double boiler) heat the chocolate and butter until melted and mixed together into a silky smooth sauce.
- Remove from heat and leave to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F
- Line a 20cm/8 inch square cake tin with aluminium foil.
- In a stand mixer(or with a hand mixer) whisk the eggs and sugar together until thick, pale and doubled in size.
- Pour the melted chocolate and butter into the eggs and gently fold in, trying not to knock all the air out.
- Sift the plain flour and cocoa powder onto the top of the wet mixture and gently fold in to combine.
- Add the milk and white chocolate chips, if using, and gently fold in.
- Pour the batter into the cake tin and gently spread into the corners and level off.
- With a hand mixer, in a large bowl(can do this by hand too), Beat the cream cheese, egg, vanilla extract, flour and sugar together until well combined.
- Spoon the cream cheese mixture onto the top of the brownie mixture and gently spread all over. Be careful not to spread too vigorously of you may mix the cream cheese into the brownie mix.
- Place raspberries on to the top and push into the cream cheese until almost level.
- Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes and then check with a skewer, if it is very wet bake for a further 15 minutes or so, until the top wobbles only slightly when the tin is shaken.
- Turn off the heat and leave in the oven for a further 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely efore removing from the tin.
- Cut into squares to serve.