I do not like pumpkin HOWEVER I really love pumpkin desserts.
I don’t know why, but every year around this time I get excited to see pumpkin desserts. I think pumpkin is so much better in sweet formation than savoury formation.
So I wanted to make one, so I made these pumpkin cheesecake brownies!
Video Tutorial
The brownie layer
As you can probably tell, these brownies have 2 layers. The brownie layer, and then a pumpkin cheesecake layer.
The first thing we are going to make is the brownie batter.
I just wanted to say, you don’t have to make the brownie batter from scratch. A brownie box mix will work if you wanted to save some time and energy.
But if you are making it from scratch, here are the ingredients I used:
- Unsalted butter – I like to use unsalted butter so that I can control the amount of salt in the brownies. But salted butter works too, just don’t add any extra salt.
- Dark chocolate
- Sugar – I used a mixture of both white and brown sugar. The brown sugar is going to make the brownies fudgier, as well as adding some extra flavour.
- Eggs
- Plain flour – also known as all purpose flour.
- Cocoa powder
- Salt – to enhance the flavours. Leave this out if you are using salted butter.
Leave this brownie batter to chill
Once you have made this batter, save a bit of batter and leave this aside. Then with the rest, I recommend adding it into your prepared tin then throw this into your fridge, whiles you make the cheesecake batter.
The reason why I did this is just because it helps stop the brownie batter and the cheesecake batter from mixing together. So chill it for a bit!
The pumpkin cheesecake layer
Whiles the brownie batter is chilling in the fridge, we can make the cheesecake batter.
For this, I just took my regular cheesecake recipe that I use for every cheesecake I make, then I added some pumpkin puree to it.
Side note, if you are from the UK too, pumpkin puree is a little hard to find. I can never find it anywhere to be honest. So I just get mine from Amazon, I use the one from a brand called ‘Bakeroo’,
Anyway, here are the ingredients I used for the cheesecake layer:
- Cream cheese – make sure to use full fat cream cheese.
- Pumpkin puree
- Granulated sugar – caster sugar works too.
- Corn flour – also known as corn starch. This is going to thicken the cheesecake.
- Vanilla
- Double cream
- White chocolate – we’re going to melt this and add it into the batter. This is not going to make the cheesecake taste white chocolate flavoured, it is there to help with the texture. So don’t leave it out.
How to know when the cheesecake brownie is baked
Once the cheesecake batter has been made, we’re going to add it on top of the brownie batter, add a swirl with the brownie batter that we left aside, then throw this into your oven.
You want to bake it at 180c/350f. I baked mine for around 1 hour – 1 hour 10 minutes.
Knowing when this is baked is a little more difficult than knowing when regular brownies are baked, just because we can’t see the brownie, the cheesecake is covering it.
To know if it is baked, insert a toothpick into the centre.
If this toothpick has raw brownie batter on it, it needs to be baked for longer.
You want your toothpick to be mostly clean, a few moist crumbs from the brownie is ok, but you shouldn’t see any raw brownie batter.
The reason why I’m saying it is a little more difficult to know, is because of the cheesecake layer.
Cheesecakes are not fully baked in the oven, they continue to set in the fridge. So your toothpick might have some cheesecake batter on it, this is fine. As long as there is no brownie batter, you’re good to take it out.
Also your cheesecake will seem not done, the edges will look set, but the centre will still be jiggly. Again, this is going to continue to set in the fridge so don’t worry about this.
I hope I haven’t made this confusing. I just wanted to explain incase there was any confusion. Just make sure there is no raw brownie batter.
Leaving this to set
MAKE SURE TO LEAVE IT TO SET.
I am sorry for yelling, but you cannot skip this step.
It will fall apart if you try taking it out of the tin too early.
So once it has baked, leave it to cool at room temperature. Then leave it in your fridge.
2 hours is good enough BUT the texture and taste is so much better the next day. So I recommend leaving it in your fridge overnight.
But then the next day you can take it out of the tin and cut into it.
Here are a few other brownie recipes I think you also need to try:
Pumpkin
Cheesecake Brownies
Ingredients
- For the brownie batter:
140g unsalted butter
85g dark chocolate
120g granulated sugar
120g light brown sugar
3 eggs
60g plain flour
30g cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
- For the cheesecake batter:
300g full fat cream cheese
200g pumpkin puree
80g granulated sugar
20g corn flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
100ml double cream, warm (just heat it in your microwave for about 30 seconds)
60g white chocolate, melted
Directions
- Start by pre-heating your oven to 180c/350f. Also grease and line an 8 inch cake tin, leave this aside.
- Making the brownie batter:
- In a pot, add the butter and dark chocolate. Place this over medium heat and heat until everything has melted and you have a smooth mixture. You could also just do this in your microwave. Leave this aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, add both sugars and the eggs. Aggressively whisk this for 1-2 minutes. You want the mixture to lighten in colour and increase in volume slightly.
- Add the melted butter/chocolate mixture into this, whisk until combined.
- Now add the flour, cocoa powder and salt, whisk just until you get a smooth batter.
- Get about 2 tablespoons of this batter and leave this aside for the swirl on top. Add the rest of the batter into your prepared tin and leave this in your fridge whiles you make the cheesecake batter.
- Making the cheesecake batter:
- In a large bowl, add the cream cheese, pumpkin puree, sugar, corn flour and vanilla. Mix these together until combined.
- Add the warm double cream and whisk this in. Then whisk in the melted white chocolate.
- Add this cheesecake batter on top of the brownie batter and spread this out. Add dollops of the brownie batter that you set aside on top, then using a knife or skewer, swirl this around.
- Baking:
- You want to bake this at 180c/350f for around 1 hour - 1 hour 10 minutes. It is done when a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out with no raw brownie batter on it. A few moist crumbs is ok, and also if you see some cheesecake batter, this is ok too. You just don't want to see any raw brownie batter. Also at this point, the cheesecake layer will be jiggly in the centre, it will seem not done. That's fine it will set up in the fridge.
- Once baked, leave to cool at room temperature, then leave it in your fridge to set for at least 2 hours BUT overnight is much better.
- Once set, you can cut into it and enjoy!
