Smooth chocolate cheesecake blankets a rich and fudgy brownie crust, in this absolutely show-stopping chocolate brownie cheesecake recipe.
Velvety Brownie Cheesecake
If your two favorite desserts in the world happen to be brownies and cheesecake like mine are, this decadently dark chocolate brownie cheesecake recipe is pretty much the best dessert you could ever make, because it solves the problem of being forced to choose one over the other.
Now there is no need to choose at all – you can have both.
You may also like: Vegan Cheesecake Recipe – NO cashews!
Basic Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe
This chocolate cheesecake looks fancy, but it’s deceptively simple to make.
And if you’re short on time, you can easily skip the brownie crust for a plain chocolate cheesecake that comes together in just minutes.
I used my go-to vegan brownie recipe for the base, but if you have a favorite brownie recipe, feel free to use it instead.
Just remember to undercook the brownie layer, because you’ll be baking it a second time when you bake the cheesecake.
I bet my Black Bean Brownies recipe would be amazing here.
The flax or cornstarch in the recipe is optional because I accidentally forgot it the second time I made the cheesecake (yes, I make baking mistakes too!), and surprisingly I didn’t notice a difference.
The brownie bottom still held together as if I hadn’t forgotten the binder ingredient – so I marked it as optional.
Also try this popular Keto Cheesecake Recipe
Above – watch the video how to make brownie cheesecake
Because I really love you, I made you a video.
Or maybe I made the video because I wanted an excuse to make this cheesecake again.
I’ll never tell.
The recipe was adapted from my Healthy Cheesecake and this Vegan Chocolate Pie.
Brownie Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 1 tbsp milk of choice
- 2/3 cup oil
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup spelt or white flour, or packed 3/4 cup Bob’s gf
- 1 cup cocoa powder (I used mostly regular, plus 2 tbsp dutch, to make 1 cup)
- 1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup brown sugar or packed coconut sugar
- 1/3 cup regular sugar OR stevia baking blend
- 2 tbsp flaxmeal or cornstarch, optional
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, optional
Instructions
- Whisk together the first 3 ingredients, then set aside. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan, and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly combine all remaining ingredients. Pour wet into dry, stir to combine, and pour into prepared pan. Smooth down. Bake 12 minutes.For The Cheesecake: 24 oz cream cheese or vegan cream cheese, 2 cups plain yogurt (vegan if desired), 2 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract, 3/4 cup sugar or maple syrup, honey, or xylitol for sugar-free, 3/4 cup cocoa powder (I used mostly regular, plus 2 tbsp dutch, to make up the full amount)Preheat oven to 350 F. Fill a 9×13 pan about halfway with water and place it on your oven’s lower rack. Bring cream cheese to room temperature. In a blender or food processor, beat all cheesecake ingredients just until smooth. (Don’t overbeat, as this would introduce air bubbles that could burst in the oven and thus cause cracking.) Smooth into the 9-inch springform pan with the baked brownies. Place on the middle rack above the other pan. Bake 30 minutes, and do not open the oven during this time. When the time is up, leave oven door closed and turn off heat. Leave in the closed oven an additional 5 minutes. Then remove—it will look underdone—and let cool 20 minutes before placing the still-underdone cheesecake in the fridge. Chill at least 6 hours, during which time it will firm up. Leftovers covered in the fridge will last around 3-4 days.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
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It is a good cheesecake. The following are just some things I discovered making it; The crust takes longer than 12 minutes. Mine ended up being in about the 20 minute range. The cheesecake took waaaay longer than 20. I ended up doing mine around 45-50 minutes like a traditional cheesecake before it was cooked. The crust was not dry at all. We cut into ours at the 6 hour mark, and the cheesecake top was a little bitter, but fine with whipped cream and making sure you had a bite of the crust. Had some more today and it has sweetned up more overnight as the flavors have had a chance to meld. Once again, it’s a good cheesecake, but I would personally add more sugar just due to personal taste
The hubby and I enjoyed it! Low sugar taste but rich and fudgy so you don’t miss the uber sweetness. A much healthier version of my favorite gluten free chocolate cheesecake from a popular restaurant.
Hi Katie
Have you tried making this cheesecake in the Instant Pot?
We unfortunately haven’t tried, but it sounds like a fun experiment! Be sure to report back if you try 🙂
Jason (media relations)
Katie this recipe is outstanding! I have successfully tried so many of your recipes and this was delicious. The brownie layer baked perfectly. I’ll admit I was worried after baking the cheesecake layer because it was not firm, but I had faith and refrigerated it over night. Perfection! I used soy yogurt, Daiya cream cheese and Dutch cocoa. Tangy from the yogurt and silky texture. I think all cheesecake should have a brownie crust now! Thank you!
So glad to know it works with Daiya! I want to try that one now 🙂
Can you substitute sour cream in for the plain yogurt? I am completely out of yogurt.
Yes!
I can’t justify spending money for THREE packages of cream cheese right now. I live overseas, and while Philadelphia original has finally arrived in some grocery stores, it is super-expensive. Would it be possible to scale the recipe down and make only one-third of a batch, with one 8-ozpackage of cream cheese? I don’t have much experience with cheesecakes, so am concerned this would ruin it. If you think it would work okay.
You can! It could fit an 8×8 pan. Here are two of her recipes that are similar, one that uses 8oz and another 12oz:
https://lett-trim.today/2016/08/18/chocolate-mousse-cheesecake-bars/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> https://lett-trim.today/2016/05/16/cheesecake-bars-vegan-chocolate-chip/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I just baked these last night. Amazing recipe! Delicious and easy. With all that cocoa powder and butter, it’s hardly economical, but its totally worth it. If you don’t like a fudgy brownie, you can add a few tablespoons of water to the batter. I added 1/4 cup of and they turned out fine. 5 stars!
Are we supposed to bake the brownies FIRST. Sorry, I’m confused. Love you black bean brownies BT
Yes! Bake the brownie part 12 minutes, then pour the cheesecake on top and bake again 🙂
Why doesn’t the ingredients list include the cheesecake ingredients?
Hi, they are there – just down under the brownie crust part 🙂
Yes, but why aren’t they listed in the ingredients list? What’s the point of having a list of ingredients, if it only includes half the recipe?
Does this apply to regular cream cheese and yoghurt ?
Yup those are fine to use.
I made this for my (very picky, very un-vegan) Mom, for her birthday this weekend.
I used your Keto Brownie recipe for the crust and a combination of Kite Hill plain cream cheese and Forager sour cream for the cheesecake. The texture was Amazing and the taste was even better!
Best of all, the birthday girl LOVED it!
Happy birthday to her, and that combination of the keto brownies and addition of the vegan sour cream sound amazing!
In the recipe box ingredients list, only the crust ingredients are in the bulleted list. The cheesecake ingredients are listed in the paragraph after the crust instructions. This makes them difficult to find if you just shop from the bulleted ingredients list because you’d expect everything to be there. They get lost in amongst the instructions, and since the cheesecake is the whole point, it’s rather frustrating. I think that’s what Mary is trying to explain. I was rather lost as well. (Sorry this shows up twice, I tried to respond to the media team’s unhelpful answer, but it popped up as an answer to Mary’s question so I didn’t know if you’d read it there. I think this is a formatting issue that should be addressed.)
Hi! I really want to try this, but, could I cut everything in half to make a smaller version?
Sure! You’d need to change the pan size and baking time, but it will work! Probably for 12 oz cream cheese, an 8×8 pan should work well.
Just to make sure .. when making the brownie layer you add brown sugar and regular sugar ? And can you use regular sugar or does it have to be refined ?Thanks !
I’m confused on the recipe..you go through the recipe, and then below that it says “for the cheesecake.” Is this two steps that go into the oven.
Made Katie’s 5 ingredient cheesecake last week, and we loved it. I was hoping to find a similar recipe for a chocolate version, and here it is. Can’t wait to make it. Thankful for all the tips from other bakers in the comments. I will bake the brownie layer longer, and patiently wait for the refrigerated cheesecake to set up properly. Thanks Katie (and Jason).
Thank you so much for making the cheesecake! Hope you like the chocolate one too!