Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

So I'm not going to win any points here for variety (yet...give me some time), but seeing as Hayley commented and asked for the recipe for the sneaky picture at the end of my last post, I'm indulging you all again with some Red Velvet goodness.

Trust me, it is completely acceptable to bake these the same day as Red Velvet Cupcakes. Plus, you just feel SO good using ingredients twice in one go (food colouring - I'm looking at you)

These were for Aimee's mum Jackie, who was a stunning model for our makeup night at work a few weeks ago.

These tick all the right boxes - brownies - tick! Red velvet - tick! Cream cheese - tick! It's the perfect match if you ask me :)

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients:
120g unsalted butter
60g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used Cadbury Old Gold). I know this doesn't seem like much, but remember Red Velvet is only supposed to have a hint of chocolate.
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
1 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring
2/3 cup plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
250g Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or paste
Directions:

Preheat oven to 180C. Butter or spray-oil the bottom and sides of a brownie or slice pan (just your normal sponge-roll sized one). Put a long piece of baking paper in the pan, extending up the sides so you can lift the whole brownie out afterwards.

In a small, heatproof bowl, melt butter and chocolate together (I did this stove-top, but you could microwave in short bursts) Stir until combined and very smooth. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, vinegar and red food coloring (preferably use your brand new KitchenAid mixer :). Add chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Add flour and salt and stir until just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
To prepare cheesecake mixture, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until smooth. Distribute the cheesecake mixture in 8 dollops over batter in the pan. Swirl in with a knife or spatula.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until brownies and cheesecake are set. Watch out that it doesn't get too brown - it looks prettier on the cheesecake part if it stays cream coloured.
A knife inserted into the cheesecake mixture should come out clean and the edges will be lightly browned.
Let cool completely in pan on a cooling rack before lifting out the parchment paper to remove the brownies. Careful - it's pretty soft and delicate.

Cut up and devour. I highly recommend cutting of the edges, then cutting into squares (because then you get to eat all the edges - bonus!)

Don't you love the colour? This would be great at Christmas. Actually, I think i'll put this straight onto the Doctor's Christmas Shout list.

Enjoy, 

Gem

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Of course, I had to kick off this blog with my Red Velvet Cupcakes, as they would easily be the most commented on sweet treat I make - I love the flavor - sweet, tangy, with a  hint of chocolatey goodness - moist texture, and creative options when decorating with Cream Cheese Frosting (got to be my favourite frosting for sure!). They are also really easy, as you don't have to melt anything/heat anything/cream and butter & sugar.

I made these cupcakes for quite a few people - if I am doing a baking marathon, I usually like to bless/feed as many people as possible! So one batch of these went to my workmate Ann, and the rest went to Lester (husband, consumer of many calorie laden treats) and also as a thank you to my hairdresser.

I found this recipe on Pinterest (yes - completely addicted), and someone commented on my pin that they were really good - hence this recipe won against the other 101 versions on Pinterest.

Red Velvet Cupcakes 

Recipe from Annie's Eats 

Makes 24 standard sized cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:
2½ cups plain flour
1½ cups caster sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. cocoa powder (I always use Equagold Dutch cocoa)
1 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1½ cups vegetable oil (Grapeseed for me)
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp. liquid red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract or paste (Heilala Vanilla Paste is amazing)
1 tsp. white vinegar

For the frosting:
1 Block (250g) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, (coolish)
50g unsalted Butter, just soft enough to beat (Mainland do an unsalted one in NZ)
2 tsp. vanilla extract - or paste if you don't mind the little black vanilla flecks.
3 cups icing sugar, sifted

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.  Line 24 cupcake pans with paper liners.  

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda (sift this in!), cocoa powder and salt; whisk to blend. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar.  Beat on medium speed until well blended.  Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared liners (see below for my tip on this).  Turn oven onto fan-bake if you have it, and turn down slightly to 170-ish degrees. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes.  Let cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer (or with a hand mixer).  Beat on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.  Mix in the vanilla extract.  Gradually beat in the icing sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth. Chill for a bit in the fridge if you think it needs to firm up a bit before frosting.  Frost cooled cupcakes as desired. (I used a Wilton 2B tip to pipe these cupcakes.)

My new gadget - an ice-cream scoop (with the bit that scoops it out when you press the handle together) makes putting the cupcake batter in so much easier! = less mess, and even sized cupcakes

Out of the oven - freshly baked deliciousness

All packed up and ready to go!

So if you want to create the 'rosy' swirl, paint gel food coloring down the inside of the piping bag in 3 vertical stripes. I used Wilton 'Red Red' gel coloring. Fill your bag with icing, then pipe from centre outwards to create a rose effect.

I actually froze these cupcakes, and iced a different day - they freeze very well un-iced.

I also made some Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies: They were REAL good!

A new start...

Hello readers - friends, family, hungry people...

I have long been an avid reader of blogs, especially those of the food variety, so I thought heck - let's get some work/life balance going here, and give myself a new creative outlet.

So here goes - welcome to Savour and Devour - my little part of the world (wide web) to share the recipes, ingredients, authors, people, restaurants that have been inspiring me lately, and putting good food on our table and on those of the people we care about.

I will try and keep this relatively mixed, but we all know I have a sweet tooth...

Enjoy - and thanks so much for stopping by.

Gem