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November 27, 2011

Cheesecake Brownie

Cheesecake Brownie

Cheesecake and Brownie, who would have thought? Two of the most famous desserts in one fascinating combination. Luckily, making a vegan version is simple enough and the result...heavenly. I'd already made a cheesecake which came out great, so all I needed was the brownie to go with it. I found a great eggless brownie recipe on Chow Times and adapted it to make it richer and more fudge-like. Not all the recipes I try come out perfectly in the first attempt, but with this one everything was just right.

This brownie mix is so good, the top part rises beautifully, creating a lighter, cakey texture, while the base layer remains dense and fudgy. The deep chocolaty, crunchy brownie with its subtle coffee and vanilla aroma matches perfectly the creamy, orange-infused cheesecake. The combo is utterly irresistible and addictive. Just have a look at the pictures/recipes that inspired me to make this delicious dessert: David Lebovitz, Food Network, My Kitchen.

This recipe makes a 23 x 23 cm (9"x9") cake (16 pieces).

Vegan Brownie

Start by preheating the oven to 350°F (180°C). Lightly grease the pan (bottom and sides) with oil, line the bottom with parchment paper, grease again and dust the whole pan with flour (I prefer to do this instead of using aluminium foil and the cake comes off easily).

Dry Ingredients
  • 1 cup organic plain white flour
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup soft brown sugar
  • Sift together the first 4 ingredients, add the sugar and mix well with a whisk.

Wet ingredients
  • In a small bowl combine 1 cup soy milk with 1 Tb apple cider vinegar. Let sit for 5 minutes to curdle (easy way to make buttermilk).
  • In another bowl whisk 2 heaped tsp egg replacer with 4 Tb cold water until fluffy.
  • In a double boiler or microwave, melt 4 squares (50 g) 60% chocolate with 5 Tb vegan butter. Melt only half way, then remove and stir with a wooden spoon until fully melted. Let cool and add 1 tsp vanilla extract.
  • Mix 1 tsp instant coffee (1 x 1.8 g sachet) with 1 Tb hot water. Let cool and add it to the chocolate mix.

Brownie Batter
  • Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a spoon or whisk until well combined (don't overmix). Reserve 1/2 - 3/4 cup of batter and mix the rest with 1/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts (alternatively use almonds, walnuts or pecans). Pour the nutty mix in the prepared pan and even it out with the back of a spoon.



Vegan Cheesecake

  • Blend 1/2 pack (175 g) firm silken tofu until smooth. Add 1/2 tub (110 g) vegan cream cheese and mix till smooth.
  • Mix 1 heaped tsp egg replacer with 2 Tb cold water until fluffy. Add to the cream together with 1 Tb corn flour, 1/4 cup agave nectar and 1 tsp orange extract. Blend until incorporated. Pour into a bowl, add the zest of a medium orange and mix.
  • Carefully spoon the mixture over the brownie layer and even it out.


  • Drop dollops of the reserved brownie and create swirls with the tip of a knife, only between the top brownie and cream cheese layers.


  • Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Insert a toothpick in a few places to check if it's done. It should still have some thick cream on it, but no brownie batter. The cheesecake will set properly when cool.


  • Remove from the oven onto a wire rack and let cool completely. Cut the cake into 16 squares. For clean edges, lightly oil the blade of the knife before cutting. The parchment paper does a great job retaining a little bit of moisture, so the pieces will come off very easily. Place on a serving dish and enjoy!

I wish I could tell you how much this cake keeps in the fridge, but it got over in just a few minutes :)

Cheesecake Brownie


~~~ UPDATE - February 12, 2012 ~~~

Luan, who is a passionate animal rights advocate, shared these beautiful pictures of the Cheesecake Brownie. Thank you, Luan!

Cheesecake Brownie


Cheesecake Brownie

Another beautiful story came from Tina who was so excited about this dessert. Thank you Tina for sharing the pictures and the recipe:)

Cheesecake Brownie

Cheesecake Brownie

~~~ UPDATE - September 01, 2012 ~~~

Ellie was very kind to share these pictures of her gorgeous cheesecake brownie. It looks incredibly moist, doesn't it? Thank you, Ellie!

Cheesecake Brownie

Cheesecake Brownie

~~~ UPDATE - December 20, 2012 ~~~

Sonal, the author of Vegan Mantra, created these mouthwatering cheesecake brownies using cashew nut-based cream cheese and made them even more decadent by adding vegan chocolate chips. Another winner!:) You can find the adapted recipe in Sonal's post Bownie & Cheese Cake - All in One. Thank you, Sonal, for spreading the magic:)

Vegan Cheesecake Brownies


Like this recipe? Share it with your friends and come back for more.

A lot of time, effort and passion goes into each recipe I post. My greatest satisfaction comes from your feedback. If you made this recipe, then please take a minute of your time to leave me a comment. Thank you all in advance!

35 comments:

  1. Oh my Gosh! This is Fabulous! and to think it is Vegan!! love it.
    I will definitely give this a go!
    Thank you for sharing...

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  2. Dima, thank you very much for stopping by. I'm so glad you liked it, it's one of my favourites. Do let me know when you make it, I'm sure you'll add your magic Middle Eastern touch to it:) Have a great day!

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  3. I'm so happy you like it:) It sure is a great choice for Christmas. Let me know how it turns out. Happy Holidays!

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  4. I agree:) Thank you for checking it out.

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  5. I made them yesterday! So delicious and light, really yummy!!! Everybody loved them :)
    Thank you very much Adya

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  6. Thank you, Laura, I'm so happy you liked it:) Hugs

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  7. Making this for a bbq. Hoping its a good advocate for veganism for all those carnies lol. Instead of the orange juice I added rosewater and then some orange zest to the cheese mixture. The uncooked mix tasted great fingers crossed it cooks ok :D Love you Adya <3 <3

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  8. Luan, you've just made my day:) I'm so happy that you chose this recipe, it's absolutely delicious. I love rosewater, your idea was great! Looking forward to your feedback after they try it:)

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  9. Tina EdwardsFebruary 02, 2012

    My grandmother used to make wonderful marbled brownies..I sure miss them. I will be making these as soon as I can! Of course, her's weren't Vegan but back then, neither was I. I'm so excited to see these, you have no idea! Thank you so much.

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  10. Tina, thank you so much for your wonderful comment:) I'm happy this brownie brings back beautiful memories. Enjoy making it and sharing it with your loved ones:)

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  11. I made them, they are so wonderful! I posted and shared on Facebook. My aunt said they look like my grandmother's!! lol, and they do. Mine are not as pretty as yours but they are oh so good!! Thank you so much.

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  12. Thank you so much Tina for this great feedback:) I've just seen the pictures and your brownies came out beautiful:) Thank you for trying out the recipe and for sharing it, I appreciate it.

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  13. Those are so worth trying! :-) They look fantastic!

    At the "cheese" filling, you say 1/2 tube cream cheese....what do you mean? Is it the "cream cheese" resulted from the silken tofu? Just a little confused...

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  14. These are indeed worth trying, they're so delicious:)

    The cream filling has 2 main ingredients: silken tofu and cream cheese. Cream cheese is a soft, creamy, spreadable type of cheese. The Tofutti brand (vegan) is widely available and comes in an 8 oz. (227 g) container. If you can't find it in stores, you can order it online. You only need half for this recipe. If there's anything else you'd like to ask, I'd be happy to help.

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  15. Thanks, Adriana! Yes, we have Tofutti Cream Cheese in suoermarkets here.

    Adriana, ti-am scris un mesaj, dar pe pagina dupa "send" nu am inteles daca l-a trimis sau nu...Sper ca l-ai primit.

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  16. Daniela, am primit mesajul pe 8 si am raspuns chiar atunci, un mail luuuuuuung:) Dupa care ti-am mai trimis unul. Vezi sa nu fie in junk mail. Daca nu le-ai primit, da-mi de stire si le trimit din nou de pe alt cont.

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  17. Oh, yeah!! I will definitely be trying THIS recipe!! By the way, what kind of cream cheese is being used in this one? Regular Philly?

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  18. Thank you very much for your comment, Micki. Great choice:) You'll love it! All the recipes on the blog are vegan and use vegan ingredients, in this case non-dairy cream cheese. The Tofutti brand is widely available, I gave more details in the comments above. I look forward to your feedback when you make this recipe:)

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  19. I love both cheesecake and brownies! Going to give this a try! Looks amazing!

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  20. I'm very happy you like this combination:) Thank you for stopping by and I look forward to your feedback when you make them:)

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  21. Do you have a FB page?

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  22. Hi there:) I haven't created a FB page, maybe in the future...
    Thanks for stopping by:)

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  23. Delicious! I could barely restrain myself to let them cool off. The brownie alone is fabulous. With the addition of the light orange infused cream cheese layer, this becomes a delicacy.
    I made a few subs: mini vegan chocolate chips for the nuts, coffee extract for the instant coffee and maple syrup for the agave!
    Rises to the top of my list of favorite desserts! Thank you!

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  24. Ellie, you've made my day! I'm so happy you enjoyed them and I agree, they're a bit of a torture once they're out of the oven, all those aromas make it so hard to wait:)) You know, I've never been much into chocolate chips, don't know why, but recently I was convinced to make some oat cookies with chocolate chips and they came out sooo good, I instantly became a fan:) So I believe you that they are a great replacement for nuts in the brownie. Maple syrup is another favourite of mine, its flavour surely takes the brownie the extra mile. Thank you so much for the feedback, Ellie, it means a lot to me:) Have a lovely day!

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  25. Joe the VeganNovember 22, 2012

    Each year I make my girlfriend a vegan birthday feast. She's much more of an accomplished cook than I am and she told me she wanted a brownie or a cheesecake this year. What a surprise to find a recipe for them combined!
    I tweaked the recipe slightly and it still turned out fantastically well. She's still telling her friend about it, so thank you for posting this recipe. It definitely made her day!

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  26. Joe, this is the most fascinating feedback I have received until now:) I couldn't be happier to know that you made this dessert for such a wonderful occasion and succeeded in making it extra special for your girlfriend. Please wish her Happy Birthday and a fabulous year ahead from my side. I hope you'll find more exciting recipes on the blog to impress her with:) From my heart, thank you for taking the time to let me know how it all went:)

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  27. What pan size did you use for this?

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  28. Alina, it's a 23 x 23 cm pan (the note is just above the recipe). Thank you for visiting:)

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  29. AnonymousJuly 23, 2015

    Hi,

    By corn flour, do you mean the yellow flour you use to make tortillas? Just wanted to make sure before I made these!

    Thanks!

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  30. Hi, thank you for stopping by. It's not that one. It's the fine white powder that's also used for thickening sauces. You can find it in the bakery section of the supermarket.

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  31. Sarah HawkinsJuly 31, 2015

    Do you have the nutritional information on these? they look great!

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  32. Sarah, sorry for the late reply. Unfortunately I don't have the nutritional info for my recipes (too focused on the taste;) ).

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  33. What egg replacer do you use?? :) thanks

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  34. Emma, apologies for the late reply. I made this recipe years ago, can't remember exactly which brand I used as I was experimenting at one point with different ones. Any powder egg replacer will do. Thank you for asking.

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