Raspberry cheesecake brownies

June 10, 2024

   

Our friend Natalie decided to have a little 'brownies and biscuits' gathering to celebrate her birthday this year. I've got a lot of brownie recipes under my belt but even more bookmarked to try so I went searching the latter set. In particular, I knew I had a vegan cheesecake brownie recipe tucked away. It uses cashews, one of my favourite dairy substitutes, and also aquafaba, which I'm inexperienced with. I thought a brownie might be a gentler way in to aquafaba than, say, a meringue.

I was in the mood for baking and optimistic about this recipe, so I went ahead and doubled it (though I've posted the original single quantity below). I included the optional orange zest because I'd received some homegrown ones from Natalie herself, and I thought it'd taste nice with the raspberries.

   

Whipping up the aquafaba went really well, and I managed to retain a decent amount of air as I folded in the other brownie ingredients. Nevertheless, the brownie mixture ended up quite thick. It definitely needed coaxing to spread evenly across the baking tray and the portion I held in reserve absolutely did not marble prettily with the cheesecake. Thank goodness for the raspberries to distract from those ungainly blobs!

I wasn't surprised that my double-sized brownie needed extra time to bake, and I didn't mind that that caused it to go extra-brown on top. Ultimately, the texture was excellent! Chewy around the edges, densely cakey in the middle, velvetty on top. I really liked the sour bursts from the raspberries cutting through the brownie's richness. There were no issues finishing off this extra-large batch.

   

Raspberry cheesecake brownies

(a recipe from lazy cat kitchen)

cheesecake layer

1 cup raw unsalted cashews

2 tablespoons margarine

1/3 cup caster sugar

1/3 cup vegan milk (I used almond)

1/4 cup lemon juice + zest of 1/2 lemon

zest of 1/2 orange (optional)

2 teaspoons vanilla

frozen raspberries, to decorate (optional)

brownie layer

150g dark chocolate

100g margarine

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup plain flour

1 tablespoon cornflour

50g cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 cup aquafaba (canning liquid from chickpeas)

1 cup caster sugar

Place the cashews in a small heatproof bowl and cover them with boiling water. Allow them to soak for at least 20 minutes.

In a medium-large saucepan, gently melt together the chocolate, margarine and brown sugar for the brownie layer. Stir them together to combine well, then turn off the heat and allow the mixture to cool.

Drain the cashews. Place all of the cheesecake ingredients, except for the raspberries, into a blender and blend until smooth.

Preheat an oven to 180°C. Line a 20cm square high-walled baking tray with paper. In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the flour, cornflour, cocoa, salt and bicarb soda. Stir them all together to combine.

In a separate medium-sized bowl, pour in the aquafaba and beat at high power for several minutes to form a foam that resembles whipped egg whites with soft peaks. Gradually beat in the caster sugar. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the melted chocolate mixture into the foam. Gradually fold in the flour mixture until it's fully combined into the batter. 

If you want to attempt the marbling, set aside 1/2 cup of brownie batter and pour the rest into the baking tray, gently spreading it into an even layer. Pour the cheesecake mixture over the top. If marbling, drop spoonfuls of the remaining brownie batter across the cheesecake. Use a chopstick to swirl the brownie batter decoratively through the cheesecake. Drop raspberries across the top if you're using them.

Bake the brownies for 30 minutes. Cover the top with kitchen foil and bake for a further 13-15 minutes (I think mine actually took a further 20-30 minutes). The cheesecake should look cooked but it's OK if it fails the skewer test. Allow the brownies to cool completely and store them in the refrigerator, initially for 1-2 hours before slicing and serving.