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
Notes
Have you made this recipe?
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Mary says
Why doesn’t the ingredients list include the cheesecake ingredients?
CCK Media Team says
Hi, they are there – just down under the brownie crust part 🙂
Mary says
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?
Mae Qing says
Does this apply to regular cream cheese and yoghurt ?
CCK Media Team says
Yup those are fine to use.
-stace. says
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!
CCK Media Team says
Happy birthday to her, and that combination of the keto brownies and addition of the vegan sour cream sound amazing!
Angela says
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.)
LORINE ANN NICKERSON says
Hi! I really want to try this, but, could I cut everything in half to make a smaller version?
CCK Media Team says
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.
Jennifer says
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 !
Karen says
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.
Grammy says
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).
CCK Media Team says
Thank you so much for making the cheesecake! Hope you like the chocolate one too!
Victoria says
I had the same issue as some other commenters. The brownie bottom did not cook in 20 minutes, so I left it in for another 7 minutes. It still wasn’t done but I was too nervous to let it bake longer. I added the cream cheese mixture on top but putting it around the edges first (where the brownie was solid) and then smoothing toward the liquid center. :/
I also wonder if using regular (not vegan) cream cheese and greek full fat yogurt made the cream cheese section too “heavy” on top of the brownie part. I love that the recipes here are flexible for a wide variety of ingredients that readers may have in the fridge already, but I have to wonder how it alters the recipe. Either way, at least there’s no eggs in either section so if it’s not actually done there’s not much harm.
CCK Media Team says
Hi Victoria, did you refrigerate it overnight? It should definitely still be underdone when you take it out of the oven 🙂
Dorothy says
I made this and took it to a potluck meal for a group that are on the Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease. To make the recipe complaint with the program, meaning fat free, I made some substitutions. I used applesauce instead of oil in the crust and used fat free cream cheese and zero fat Greek yogurt in the cheesecake.
It was a hit, especially with the men. Several people asked for the recipe. For me, the taste of the cocoa powder was too strong.
If I made this again, I would increase the cooking time for both the crust and the cheesecake. The middle of both were too soft and mushy. This may have been caused by my substitutions.
Thanks for the recipe!
Dorothy says
Please remove my last name from my prior review. Thanks!