Cheesecake plus brownies – best of both world’s – now this is what I call pure indulgence .Sharing with you today a super easy eggless , gelatin free recipe which is so rich in itself that you do not need any frosting or toppings – Lemon cheesecake brownies. Enjoy it with a cup of tea or coffee or anytime of the day. These treats are addictive, so do not blame me if you eat more than your share.
I mean imagine biting into rich ,creamy and tangy lemon cheesecake layer followed by fudgy , oh so chocolaty gooey brownie. Its like a match made in heaven . Texture and taste wise they are so different , but the combination is to die for.
I baked these previous evening , let it set in the fridge overnight (ok ..waiting is the hardest part ) The entire night I was dreaming about them.
Next morning hubby dear left for office, I dropped my son to school rushed home and started my day with a “feel good factor” breakfast – Me , my tea and these gorgeous cheesecake brownies . Do I need to say more.
I had 2 slices in one go .
Honestly I am not a cheesecake fan . A bite or two that’s it I am done because its too creamy for my palate . But these ones are so balanced – not overly sweet and just right , exactly the way I want.
I wish I was the one to come up with this idea. But I didn’t . These cheesecake brownies are inspired by Starbucks . The day I saw them I knew I had to make them – an egg less version – yayyyyy!! Sometimes only an idea is enough to develop a recipe.
This is like 2 recipes in one.
You can just make brownies or these lovely cheesecake plus brownies.
If you are not in the mood to make lemon cheesecake , feel free to skip the tang – though I feel it gives a nice freshness to the overall brownies.
You can substitute it with orange zest , chai spice or simply grated ginger , cinnamon , cardamom etc. or just keep it plain.
You can spruce up the brownie layer with chocolate chunks , nuts or dried fruits too.
Highlights-
decadent
balanced sweetness
customize to your taste
2 in 1 recipe
No need of frosting
easy substitutes
Enjoy the recipe and important notes and substitution.
This recipe is super simple, but you need to read the instructions and notes well.
Important notes and Do’s and Don’ts –
All ingredients have to be at room temperature unless and otherwise mentioned including the cream cheese
Always pre heat your oven at least for 20 minutes and cook on the middle rack with both heating elements on.
No , this cannot be made on the microwave setting.
I am not a fan of glass pans – uneven heat conduction and slow baking . I always use metal pans. Feel free to use glass pans if you have luck with them.
Make cheesecake part preparation before the brownie ones .
Who says brownies has to be square in shape , but if you desire you can use 8″ or 9″ square or round tins for this recipe. The thickness and time taken to cook will differ a bit.
You do not need a springform pan to make this one. Simply cross lay the parchment paper with an over hang so that its easy for you to pull it out of the pan once its done. But if you have spring form or loose bottom pans , feel free to use them.
Do not use whipping attachment for creaming cream cheese – we do not want to fill air in the cheese cake layer , just a beater attachment, food processor or even a mixer will work.
I have used silken tofu , you can substitute it with same amount of hung curd ( thick curd) in both – brownies and cheesecake layers
Do not over cook your cheesecake brownies .
You can by all means skip cheesecake part and make brownies – baking time will decrease – somewhere around 25-28 minutes.
No , toothpick test doesn’t work for cheesecake brownies As cheesecake is custard types .. the only test for this cake is that the top of cheesecake should be just set firm , the cheesecake has left the sides of the pan but is still jiggly . And the brownie batter swirls on the top are fully set .
It will keep on cooking after you take it out of the oven , so best follow my time instructions and it will further set in the fridge.
I know waiting to dig in is the hardest part , but you need to patiently wait until the cheesecake brownies have cooled down at room temperature and further set in the fridge for 3-4 hours for a clean firm cut. Unlike other cakes , these taste even better chilled .
I have used raw sugar for entire preparation (in cheesecake and brownie part ), hence my cheesecake looks a bit beige in color. You can use any granulated sugar of your choice but avoid very big granules as it doesn’t quiet cream up well with cream cheese .
Too many notes, I don’t intend to scare you – just follow these instructions and you will have the best egg less lemon cheesecake brownies of your life.
Lemon cheesecake brownies
Ingredients
- For Cheesecake layer
- Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese bar *
- 125 grams / ¾ cup - silken tofu pureed / hung curd *
- 75 grams / ⅓rd cup - castor / fine granulated sugar *
- 8 grams / 1 tablespoon – corn flour / corn starch*
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice *
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest*
- Pinch of salt
- For brownie layer
- 135 grams/ 1 cup - all purpose flour *
- 8 grams/ 1 tablespoon - corn flour / corn starch
- 48 grams / ½ cup - unsweetened cocoa powder
- 250 grams / 1 and ¼ cup - granulated sugar
- 85 grams / 3oz / ½ cup - silken tofu puree
- 56 grams/ 2 oz semi sweet chocolate bar chopped into pieces *
- 3 grams/ ½ - teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon -salt
- ½ teaspoon - lemon juice/ vinegar
- 75 grams / 2.6 oz / 5 tablespoon - butter at room temperature
- 3 tablespoon - oil
- 3 tablespoon – milk / water
- 1 teaspoon – vanilla essence
Instructions
- For cheese cake layer
- Cream the cream cheese until smooth , 30 seconds or so
- Add in the silken tofu puree and blend in smooth , 10 seconds or so
- Add in the sugar and beat the mixture until smooth , 1 minute
- Now add in the lemon juice, lemon zest and sifted corn flour and beat until smooth.
- For brownie layer
- Pre heat oven at 350 deg f / 180 deg c for at least 20 minutes.
- Grease and dust base and sides of 9” spring form pan – for other pan types refer to important notes above.
- I have used double boiler method . For microwave one please refer the notes.
- Place a heat proof bowl over bowl of simmering water . Add the butter , oil , sugar and sift in cocoa powder to the bowl . Keep stirring gently. At first it will look very tough and gritty . Just keep stirring . It will come together at the end. After the mentioned 4 ingredients have blended well , add chopped chocolate and keep stirring until chocolate is melted . The mixture will still look pretty grainy. Now take it off the stove top . When it isn’t too hot too touch, say after 2 minutes, add in the tofu puree/ hung curd and give it a nice vigourous mix with a spatula/ spoon. It will become smooth and shiny. Add in vanilla essence milk and lemon juice , mix well . Keep aside.
- Now time for dry ingredients – In another bowl sift other ingredients – flour , baking soda and salt. Add in the prepared chocolate mixture and fold it into the dry ingredients with spoon/ spatula . Everything should be mixed well and lump free within 40 strokes. Taste test .
- Assembling.
- Reserve ¼ cup brownie mixture for the top swirls.
- Pour the rest of the brownie mixture in the pan .Give it a gentle tap . Now blob up the cheesecake mixture and gently smooth it out with a spoon or spatula.
- Now to it up with brownie mixture . Swirl it up unevenly with a toothpick or a fork. Bake it somewhere between 38-45 minutes . Mine was done at 41 minute mark.
- Start checking after 38 minute mark.
- For doneness test – refer to important notes above
- Take it out of the oven and let it sit in the pan for 15 minutes. Now loosen the sides with a butter knife and gently unlock the springform and let the cake cook on cooling rack .
- After cooled completely at room temperature , cover it with plastic cling wrap or transfer it into an airtight container and place it in the fridge to further firm up for 3-4 hours or overnight.
Notes
If you are unable to find silken tofu , use soft or medium tofu – just puree it smooth before adding to cream cheese mixture.
Quick Sift the corn flour before adding it to avoid lumps .
Use small granule sugar because big ones will stay grainy .
Use vegan cream cheese if you want to make this vegan.
You can substitute tofu for hung curd in brownies and cheesecake.
You can skip double boiler method for brownie and make butter,oil , cocoa , sugar and chocolate mixture in microwave on 50% power , stopping and stirring in between until the mixture has come together
You can substitute chocolate bar for choco chips ⅓ cup semi sweet choco chips
For possible pan sizes and types please refer to do’s and don’ts mentioned above
You can store these brownies in the fridge for upto a week.
Some quick pictorial below –
The brownie part
on double boiler , see how thick and gritty t is at first . After adding tofu it becomes smooth and shiny. And after adding it to the dry ingredients and folding it in , it becomes perfect
Putting everything together
grease and dusted the pan . Added brownie layer . Give it a gentle tap . Added blobs of cheesecake layer . Spread it with a help of an of set spatula or back of a spoon leveling as much as possible.Then top it with reserved brownie batter and make random swirls with toothpick or fork.
Hope you like this recipe and do give it a try. I would love to hear from you. If you have tried any of my recipes do drop in a feedback in the comment section or on my Facebook page carveyourcraving in messages section and follow me on Pinterest .
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Thanks for stopping by.
What a great combination with perfect recipe.
I did try it and it came out so nice. I just cant atop myself to eat it more and more.
Thank you so much for recipe.
Hii Khushboo can we skip corn flour plus can this be made in convection mode of microwave Nd if not then I will have bake in OTG with both the rods on ryt.
Hello Juhi, cornflour binds it together. Do not skip. Otg is preferred. As much as I know only the bottom element is needed for baking. Only when you pre heat the oven, switch on both the rods.
Hi…lovely recipe.if I have to make just the cheese cake from this recipe..the dry ingredients should I be using the same measurements as used for the brownie and also should I add the mentioned,3tbsp oil,3t so milk mentioned in the brownie recipe for lemon cheesecake baking.?please help.Thank you.
Niveditha.. I didn’t quiet understand your query. If you just want to make cheesecake then have some cracker butter mixture base and use a 6″ pan for the same.
Hi Khusboo, in brownie, when to add cornflour?
Juhi , the place I have mentioned – 11th point- Now time for dry ingredients – In another bowl sift other ingredients – flour ( meaning cornflour and normal flour) , baking soda and salt.
Hi this looks delicious! After preheating the oven for 20 minutes, we will set the oven mode to “Bake” function (where only the bottom heats), at 180’c for about 40 minutes right?
Yes Sonal, right .
Thanks Khushboo! these turned out great, got just slightly burnt at 38 mins, so will bake it for 35 minutes next time. One more query, can these be kept out of the fridge, at room temperature for 6 hours or will they get spoilt?
Sonal , thank you for your lovely feedback. Yes every oven is different . May be try covering it loosely with foil after 30 minutes of baking to avoid burning . I suggest keeping cheesecakes in the fridge as it has perishable ingredients. And a lot depends on the weather. If its cold like under 10 deg C then you may store at room temperature for 2-3 hours. Cheesecake tastes the best chilled.
Thanks Khushboo. I meant to ask this since I wanted to carry it in a 3 hour long flight + car travel. Please let me know!
Hey Sonal how long will be the travel in total . I suggest keeping in cooler bag , something with cold gel packs will work keeping it chilled.
Hi Khusboo, would I need to double the recipe to fit an 11″×7″ rectangular tin? Looking forward to trying them real soon☺
I think you don’t have to double the recipe , whatever fits in 9″ springform pan , it will fit in 11*7 too
Hello Khushboo,
Thanks for this wonderful recipe. I tried the Brownie part of this recipe and it turned out really yummy. I followed the recipe as per your instructions, I used homemade hung curd instead of tofu and made the brownie in a square pan at 350F, it took longer than 25 mins (as mentioned in the recipe) around 30-32mins. I did the toothpick test after 25 mins, the top was done but the center was undercooked, I kept checking every 3 mins. It was finally done around 32 mins.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe, looking forward to more such eggless recipes.
Best wishes,
Ranjitha
Happy to know that Ranjitha. Yes, time taken depends on oven to oven , glad you did the toothpick test and the brownies worked for you. Thank you for a lovely feedback.
I live by your recipes. I have already made these cheesecake brownies twice . Absolutely delicious eggless treat . They are so easy and this one came out perfect. Thank you for coming up with such great recipes. Much love from New York
Thank you Shalini for a great feedback, means a lot.
Hi khushboo
I know you from CAL. I had tried out few recipes for chocolate cake from other bloggers, but your eggless version is the best thing ever. Especially coz my mom in law doesnt eat eggs. That recipe is indeed fool proof. Everyone at my home and office loved the cake.
Though thats your only recipe i have tried so far, but i find your explanatory notes and tips very helpful as they actually work :).
I have just bought stuff to try out your lemon cheesecake over the weekend and i am super excited.
Hope it turns out equally good.
You are doing a great job. !!!
Thanks a lot Shagun , I am all excited to hear back from you. I am sure it will turn out great.
Hi. I tried the brownie part. The brownies turned out to be very sticky n wet from inside and hard crust from outside. Where did i go wrong 🙁 ? Pls help
Sorry to hear sakshi, it didn’t work for you , ca you elaborate more on which pan , pan size , oven temp and time you have used . We will work it out
Hi
I used a sheet pan and baked at 180 fr around 30 mins
ok , was it cooked from inside before you took it out ?
hi khushboo, i have a query. cream cheese is not available at my place and i thought to use the homemade version of creamcheese using hung yogurt. but sadly my yogurt was sour and i couldnt use it for frosting a cake now! any ideas to remove the sour taste?
Thanks for reaching out Sana, I am a bit confused here , cream cheese frosting for this cheesecake brownie ?
I so want to have a bite !! These look super. Can we substitute tofu puree w milmaid in d brownie layer??
thanks, no it will create imbalance in sweetness, substitute with thick curd/yogurt .
never have i seen a brownie flavoured by “lemon cheesecake” before.. I love this!
Thanks for stopping by Thalia , a feedback from you means a lot . I love your work too. It’s simply fantastic.
Hii… Can i use har ng curd instead of tofu in brownie part?? Thank u☺
Hello Adyaa, I haven’t tried that personally but it should work.