Brownies and Cheesecake Get Married

Sweetie loves cheesecake. When I read through the four choices for the March Cake Slice Bakers challenge I pretty much decided on the cheesecake right away. Homemade brownies are delicious and wonderful by themselves, but imagine how good they are when folded into a decadent classic vanilla cheesecake batter and that combination is baked in a water bath for the most creamy, decadent dessert ever. What a marriage made in baker's heaven!

Since I wasn't able to even taste the batter, I made sure to bake this delight for Sweetie's Birthday Bash, so that at least some of the two dozen or so other guests could enjoy it and even take leftovers home. You would not believe the groans of delight, the compliments I was showered with, nor the realization that we would only have one small slice for leftovers. This was amazing considering that I made it in an oversized heart shaped pan, using an extra 4 oz. of cream cheese on top of the two pounds...I know, that's a lot of cream cheese...two pounds of cream cheese, almost a whole batch of brownies, 4 eggs, and a lot of love.

As you can see, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I think that Maida Heatter has some of the best recipes for sweets, but sometimes she seems to complicate things. For the brownies she wanted us to mold aluminum foil first outside of the pan, then inside it. I just sprayed my 8" square pan with baking spray and it worked just fine. The brownies came right out, were diced in about 1/2-inch dice, then frozen.

For the cheesecake she wanted us to use a one piece cheesecake pan. Well, I don't have one of those, so I used the heart shaped springform pan, lined the bottom with a piece of parchment paper, did the foil molding on this pan so that the outside of the pan was surrounded by foil...this keeps any water out during the bake in the water bath. I also created some chocolate cookie crumbs plus butter to put in the bottom of the pan on top of the parchment. Maida wanted us to bake the cheesecake, turn it upside down and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs, and, I think, then turn it right side up. My cheesecake would never have made it through that. There were some pretty good sized cracks and the texture was so creamy that I think the whole thing would have fallen apart. Sorry Maida.

Although I was able to bake the brownies with no dairy, so I was able to enjoy a taste, there was no way I could taste the cheesecake batter, so I had Sweetie do it. He pronounced it good and when he had the first piece today at the party he pronounced the cake great! The intensely chocolate brownies married to that rich white cheesecake was, by all reports, one of the best cheesecakes ever!

This recipe is really two recipes in one but it is worth the effort for a show stopping cake. If you are rushed for time, just make the brownie part. The brownies are moist, dense, deeply chocolate, a tiny bit chewy on the outside and very tender and soft on the inside, except for the crunch of the walnuts. They make a fine dessert all by themselves. Just cut them in larger pieces than the dice in the photo above. The dice worked great for the cake, but a nice sized square would be better for dessert.

Do check out the cakes baked by the other Cake Slice Bakers...we had some really good choices this month. Click on the photos at the bottom of the post. They will show up once I do the Linky tool.

Brownie Cheesecake
a variation on the recipe in Maida Heatter's Cakes 

Brownies:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, Dutch-process is best
1 teaspoon powdered coffee (espresso powder) or instant coffee granules
pinch of salt
4 oz. (1/2 cup) or 1 stick margarine or butter
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, cut or broken into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
1 cup (3.5 oz.) walnuts, broken or chopped into large pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8-inch square cake pan with baking spray. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, coffee powder and salt and set aside.

Place the butter and the chocolate in a large microwave-safe mixing bowl. Microwave on half power for a minute at a time, stirring well after each heating, until mixture is smooth. Use a potholder to move the bowl to your work counter and stir in the sugar, vanilla and almond extracts, until well mixed. Let sit 10 minutes.

Stir in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg is added. Add the sifted dry ingredients in two batches, stirring well to mix after each addition. Stir in the nuts.

Turn the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake for 22-25 minutes. You'll know it is done when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the brownies comes out clean and dry.

Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Place a plate or board on top of pan and turn brownie out onto it. Then place a cutting board over that and turn the brownie right side up. Place in freezer for 30 minutes. Remove from freezer and cut brownie into 4 equal pieces. Set one quarter aside for another use (or just to snack on!) and cut the remaining three quarters into 1/2 inch dice. Return diced brownies to the freezer and freeze for at least an hour.

The Cheesecake:
When brownie dice have had enough time in the freezer to become very firm, begin making the cheesecake batter.

2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature. Maida specified Philadelphia brand, and that is what I usually use, but a good quality cream cheese is what is needed, no matter the brand.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 cup chocolate cookie or graham cracker crumbs
Pinch of cinnamon if using graham cracker crumbs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 or 10 inch spring form pan with baking spray. Line the bottom with a sheet of parchment, Spray with baking spray again. Using a very large sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil, set the pan in the middle and mold the foil up the sides of the pan. Cut the foil off at the top of the pan and fold any part of the foil that sit above the pan edges down onto the pan edges. Set aside. Find a large pan that can hold the springform pan with a little space on the sides and that is tall enough to hold water halfway up the sides of the springform pan. I used a large roasting pan. Set that aside as well.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until it is soft and smooth, scraping sides, bottom and beaters with a spatula frequently. Add vanilla extract, salt and sugar. Beat well until well mixed. There should be no lumps of cheese visible.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, using low speed and only beating until the egg is incorporated. Set aside.

In a microwave safe bowl melt the butter or margarine. Add the crumbs (and the cinnamon if using graham cracker crumbs) and stir to combine. Spread this mixture on the bottom of the prepared pan. It will be a very thin layer. On top of that spoon enough of the cheese mixture to make a layer of about 1/2 inch. I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup to place dollops of the batter all around the pan edge and then the middle, then used a spatula to gently even out the batter.

Add the frozen, diced brownies to the rest of the cheesecake batter. Very gently fold them together, being careful not to break up or crumble the brownies any more than necessary. Turn this mixture into the pan and use the bottom of a spoon the smooth the mixture.

Place the cake pan into the larger pan and add hot water until the water is about 1 1/2 inches deep.

Carefully place the pan into the preheated oven. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. The top of the cake will rise, maybe even slightly above the rim of the pan, during baking and then sink when the cake is cooling. When the cake is done, remove the cake pan from the hot water and place it on a rack to cool. There may be some cracks...that is OK.

Once the cake has cooled, remove the foil outer covering and discard.

When ready to serve, run a knife around the edge of the cake, then loosen the pan sides. Either place the cake with the spring form pan bottom included onto a serving plate, or, if you are daring, try to slice the cake and parchment away from the springform bottom and onto the serving plate.

Decorate as desired and serve. Having a hot towel handy to wipe the knife after each cut will make for nicer slices.

An InLinkz Link-up

Meyer Lemon Cheesecake with Coconut Crust

Oohhhh this is so good! I know it is a terrible choice for healthy eating, but every now and then a treat like this is essential. When I realized that our daughter had arrived a day early and that she was going to be with us for dinner, I decided that the cheesecake would become the only birthday cake we were likely to have with her, even though it is a bit early. She and her fellow loved it and I sent a huge piece along with them for the journey, too. Then Sweetie and I had another piece for breakfast...decadent.

You don't really need Meyer lemons to make this cheesecake. Regular lemons or limes or Key limes all would work just fine. With limes I would use a graham cracker crust and a little cinnamon in the crust instead of vanilla wafers and coconut, but for lemon cheesecake the coconut is sublime. This cake is actually a version of one I made a while back HERE.

I only have the one photo, but hope to add another one tomorrow. Happy Birthday a little early K!

Meyer Lemon Cheesecake with Coconut Crust

Crust:
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 ½ cups vanilla wafer crumbs
1 cup flaked coconut
1/3 cup melted butter

Rub a little of the butter in the bottom of a 9” spring form pan. Use the rest of the butter to butter the sides of the pan. Line the bottom with a circle cut out of baking parchment paper.

Mix the wafer crumbs, coconut and melted butter together until well mixed. Pour the crumb mixture into the bottom of the pan. Spread out with clean fingers, making the layer as even as possible, with some of the mixture pushed up the sides about a half inch to an inch. Using the bottom of a flat bottomed glass, press the mixture down and press the mixture up against the sides. Sides will be uneven in height. Refrigerate the pan 5 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree F. oven for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. When cool, wrap the whole pan, on the outside, in heavy duty foil. Turn oven temperature down to 325.

Filling:
Have everything at room temperature.
1 ½ lbs cream cheese
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons grated peel of Meyer lemon zest, colored part only
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup sour cream
½ cup Meyer lemon juice (about 4-6 lemons), seeds removed
4 large eggs

Using an electric mixer, on low speed, beat the cream cheese just to soften. Scrape bowl and beaters often throughout the rest of the recipe. Add the sugar in a slow stream, beating on low just until mixed. Add the flour, salt, vanilla, zest and beat on low just to mix. Add the sweetened condensed milk and sour cream. Beat on low just until mixed. With mixer running on low speed, add the lemon juice in a slow stream, beating just until mixed. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing each in before adding the next egg. Beat last egg in just until mixed.

Pour the filling into the prepared crust. Place the foil-wrapped pan into a large roasting pan. Place pans in oven and fill roasting pan with hot water until water is half way up the cheesecake pan. Bake for 1 hour, or until filling is set, but center is still a bit jiggly.

Remove roasting pan from oven carefully. Remove cheesecake pan from roaster water bath and place on wire rack. Run a sharp small knife around the sides of the pan to loosen and keep the cheesecake from cracking as it cools. Cool at room temperature. When cool, remove foil wrapping, wrap in plastic and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

To serve, remove from refrigerator. Run a sharp knife around the pan sides to loosen the cheesecake. Remove the pan sides. Slide the cheesecake onto a serving plate and bring to room temperature.

If desired, frost the sides of the cake with whipped cream and pat on some toasted coconut. Garnish with whipped cream and thin lemon slices. (No time for this decoration last night.) Serve thin slices of the cheesecake, using a knife which has been run under (or dipped into) hot water, then wiped dry.

Daring Bakers' April Magic

It’s the end of April and the Daring Bakers are out in force. Time for another visit to the Land of St. Honore’. The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.


Not so long ago in the Land of St. Honore’, the fairy godmother received an urgent summons from the castle.

Cinderella, now called Ella to distance her from her sordid past, was on the board of a charity. As is often the case these days just being a do-gooder wasn’t enough. She had been “asked” to provide a “Spectacular” dessert for an upcoming event and it was supposed to be something that she had baked herself. Now she had been a whiz at cleaning everything from the chamber pots to the fireplaces at her stepmother’s place, but no one had trusted her with baking since the fiasco of the well burnt cookies.

Her fairy godmother arrived and heard her tale of woe. “What did you have in mind”, she asked?

“Well, the only things in the castle kitchen include some plain cream cheese, plain cream, plain sugar, plain eggs, plain butter and the usual pantry items like crackers. I suppose there are some fresh strawberries, too. I can’t imagine that anything grand enough to be a centerpiece could come of all that.”

Ah, she certainly was a forgetful princess, wasn’t she? Didn’t she remember the transformations necessary to get her to the ball, all those years ago?

Wasting no time, “Bibity-bobbity-boo!”, cried the fairy godmother with a swirl of her magic wand. This time there were no gourds involved, but instead Ella saw a glorious cheesecake, crowned with strawberries and decorated with whipped cream stars appear on the counter in the kitchen.



“I’m sorry I doubted you”, she said breathlessly. “Now how do you suppose I’m going to carry that to the event in my Pumpkin SUV?”

But her fairy godmother had flown off to her yoga class, leaving Ella to call for her footmen. Surely they would figure it out. A cheesecake like this isn’t created every day.

If you’d like to work a little magic of your own, the recipe for the cheesecake can be found here.

The additions I used to make Ella’s fairy godmother’s version include adding 1 teaspoon of lemon zest to the batter, not using any liquor, and adding ½ teaspoon cinnamon to the crust mixture. The top is decorated with sliced strawberries.

Small stars of whipped cream are piped on the sides


and a swirl is piped on the top near the center. I didn’t wave a wand or cry any magic words, but this cheesecake is an easy one and really doesn’t require magic, just careful attention to the recipe and a few hours of your time.

For the water bath part, I used a double layer of heavy duty foil to wrap the bottom and sides of the springform pan and that was successful. No water infiltrated the foil, so the crust was dry and delicious.

This is a truly spectacular cheesecake, not just because it looks awesome, but because it isn’t too sweet, it has a rich, soft and creamy texture and, if left almost plain, has true cheesecake flavor. Try it and see!


Since the challenge this month encourages imagination, do visit other Daring Bakers’ blogs to see what magic has been created in hundreds of ways! Click here for the blogroll.

A huge ‘Thank you!’ to Jenny for choosing such a great challenge recipe!