These rich, tasty, and utterly gorgeous red velvet cheesecake brownies! Ideal for fans of red velvet cake; gives the traditional cake a unique touch. A wonderful dessert for Valentine’s Day that may be prepared in advance.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 8×8-inch pan |
Ingredients
- 1 cup white sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ounce red food coloring
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs, slightly beaten
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese at room temperature
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8×8-inch baking pan.
- For the red velvet brownies: Whisk 1 cup sugar and melted butter in a large mixing bowl; stir in cocoa, red food coloring, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, vinegar, and salt, one at a time, mixing well after each addition to avoid lumps. Mix in 2 eggs until thoroughly combined.
- Stir flour into cocoa mixture just until combined; set aside 1/4 cup batter. Pour remaining batter into the prepared baking dish.
- For the cheesecake filling: Beat cream cheese in a bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add 1/4 cup sugar, 1 egg, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract; continue to beat until well blended and only small lumps remain, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Spoon cream cheese mixture in dollops over the batter in pan; gently smooth tops of dollops even with batter using a knife or offset spatula. Do not overmix. Drizzle reserved 1/4 cup of batter over the dollops of cream cheese mixture. Drag a knife or skewer through the batter and cream cheese mixture to create swirls.
- Bake in the preheated oven until top is dry and edges have started to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars; store covered in refrigerator.
- The fluffier and smooth you can get the cheesecake mixture, the easier it will be to spread. I think this is best served the next day!
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 265 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 28 g |
| Cholesterol | 87 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 123 mg |
| Sugars | 21 g |
| Fat | 16 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Made twice. Second time in circle pan with double cheesecake. Red velvet part still not super flavorful. Would nave be better with cake, not brownie.
Hmmm…. I may need to try another run at these. For the brownie portion, the dough was very thick (wondering if I did something wrong?), and cooked was quite dry. Taste was pretty good (of course! 🙂 ). For the cream cheese part, I inadvertently used reduced fat cream cheese. It turned-out good, but I think it would be better with full-fat cheese. I’ll try that next time. Enjoy!
Left out all the food coloring; it’s pretty just as it is. Had it for my birthday cake; my 15 year old made it for me. It was delicious. This will definitely be something we d[ again.
My husband and I both love it. It was a nice balance. Not too sweet. I used cherry extract instead of vanilla.
i made it, it was promising… don’t subsitute the distilled vinegar for any type I will try this again maybe without any vinegar.
Yum! These were very easy to make and absolutely decadent. Huge hit. No changes made to recipe. I thought at first that an oz of red food coloring was a bit much but as I had plenty on hand I went for it. Good decision.
This RED VELVET CHEESECAKE was so amazing. I had a piece of cake 30 minutes after I came out of the oven, OMG the BEST EVER!
Thank you!! It was delish! My fam and friends loved it
These were awesome!
Very good recipe. I doubled it for a 9×13 pan and it came out well. The batter is too thick to “drizzle”, but I found it works to fully pour the cream over the batter and then dollop the excess and swirl with a toothpick.
Super good! Will try with oil next time.
I didn’t make any changes to the recipe. My husband does not like brownies, but he absolutely loved this recipe. I can’t wait to share this at my next family gathering.
This went over well with my family, who are big fans of red velvet cake, cheese cake, and brownies. It was easy to put together.
I made several batches of these red velvet cheesecake brownies for Christmas last year and again this year and each one turned out awesome!!! I love them and so does my family.
I made this for a Thanksgiving dessert. I doubled the recipe (which I often do with recipes) for a larger pan. The brownie base was very dry looking when I put it into the pan. It looked like it should have more liquid in it and did seem dry when we ate it. Also the cheesecake top was too thin…I actually poured it onto the brownie base. Very liquid with the consistency of half & half! I even tripled the cheesecake part and it was still not as thick as the base. I would make this again with a few modifications. You have to be very careful to NOT overbake this!! Maybe it’s one of those recipes that can’t be doubled successfully.
I added chopped pecans the 2nd time I made it.
I always follow a recipe to the letter the first time I make it and then decide if any tweaking is needed. The ONLY ingredient I had to alter was the red food coloring. I had red “gel” and it worked out just fine. Very happy with the outcome and don’t see needing to modify. They were moist and cooked for 35 minutes to perfection.
Made this for my daughter to take to culinary class. Loved it!! Unfortunately I didn’t use red food coloring because I didn’t have any but it was still a hit!
I used salted butter and skipped the salt. I only had salted butter at hand. Turned out great.
Excellent! My wife loves them
Followed directions exactly and they came out perfect and delicious. My guests loved them and wanted the recipe!