So, I had some hot fudge leftover this past week.
Awww shucks, right?
And, well…I was totally cool with just eating it by the spoonful. Like, no problem. What.SO.Ever.
But then I thought…
I could be eating this by the forkful…
Atop cheesecake…
Which lay atop a large, thick intense chocolate brownie.
And the fork wins again.
I get some really good thinking done in front of that fridge of mine.
Like, I don’t have a large enough butter reserve, I need more limes (gin and tonic too, for that matter), I need to stop by bags of carrots and bunches of bananas, and there is no use in hiding chocolate behind the yogurt …
Screw the shower.
Watch as an idea comes to life…it is kind of the greatest. Even if it is just a cheesecake.
We build from the bottom up…brownie crust first.
Butter + unsweetened chocolate is the base to the base.
My go to double boiler – glass bowl and smallest saucepan I can find. Same set up, each time. Works like a dream.
Sugar, eggs, and a bit of flour round out the brownie. KISS….Keep. It. Simple. Silly…..
First goes the sugar…
Eggs are whisked…one at a time…(and then vanilla….always, vanilla)
Flour and salt round out the brownie batter…heed the warning and don’t over mix brownie batter. Like. Ever. This has been a public service announcement.
Springform pan it goes…and let bowl licking commence.
Just the basics for the filling: Cream cheese, sugar, eggs, flour, vanilla. No more. No less.
Ready for some magic?
Just like that…we have a baked cheesecake, a table set, and hot fudge at the ready.
Honestly…I lost natural light as the cheesecake was being mixed…so you missed cream cheese, sugar,and flour being beat until smooth; eggs added one at a time; a lot of bowl scraping – different from bowl licking.
And then you expose your chubby hand to the world and drizzle/pour/drench your cake in hot fudge.
Keep it coming…because we are going for this end result…
Hot fudge waterfall.
Fridge thinking has yet and probably will never produce any major breakthrough plans/skeems ending world wars or curing cancer…however, at least, every now and then I buy fewer bananas and you get a Hot Fudge slathered cheesecake with a rich chocolate brownie crust to drool over…In the short run, it is a total win win.
- Brownie Crust
- 3 Ounces Unsweetened Chocolate (not bittersweet/semi/milk)
- 1 Stick (1/2 Cup) Unsalted Butter
- 1+1/3 Cup Sugar
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 2/3 Cup All-Purpose Flour
- Cheesecake Filling
- 40 Ounces Cream Cheese, room temperature
- 1+3/4 Cups Sugar
- 3 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
- 5 Large Eggs
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla
- Hot Fudge Topping – about 1+1/2 Cups (never had a problem with too much hot fudge!)
- Line a 9inch springform pan’s removable base with parchment paper. Butter sides or spray with cooking spray.
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a double boiler (bowl sitting atop a pan of simmering water ) or in microwave in 30 second bouts, stirring between each, melt together butter and chocolate. Remove from heat.
- Stir in sugar until combined. (it will be rather grainy)
- Whisk in eggs and vanilla.
- Whisk together salt and flour. Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients, and mix just until combined. DO NOT OVERMIX.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and place in preheated oven for about 20 to 25 minutes, until toothpick comes out nearly clean with just a few crumbs sticking around.
- Remove from oven and let cool while you prepare filling.
- Brownie crust can be made a day or two before you prepare filling. Keep at room temperature and cover tightly with foil/plastic wrap.
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Beat together cream cheese, sugar, and flour until smooth.
- Add vanilla and eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Remember to scrape sides and bottom of bowl between each addition.
- To bake cheesecake in a water bath (makes for even baking), double wrap springform pan in heavy duty aluminum foil. Place wrapped spring form pan in a roasting pan ( I used a disposable one )
- Pour filling into crust, the filling will reach the very brim of the springform pan. Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to reach about 1/2 way up the sides of springform pan. Place roasting pan with cheesecake into preheated oven and bake for about 75 to 90 minutes until top of cheesecake is browned/golden, the top is just barely firm to touch (the very center of cake should giggle only slightly when pan is nudged), and the top appears dry. Turn oven off and open oven door so it is just ajar (I place a wooden spoon in oven door to keep it just barely open) and let cheesecake sit in warm water bath for an additional hour. Remove from oven and water bath and remove tinfoil from around pan. Let cool completely on wire rack and then transfer cake to fridge and chill completely for at least 6 hours.
- If you are choosing to make hot fudge from scratch, make it while the cake is chilling. Recipe on previous post and to follow…
- Once chilled, remove from fridge and run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from sides of pan, remove side of pan from cake and transfer cake to a plate. Pour hot fudge onto the top of the cheesecake, spreading the fudge to the edges of the cheesecake, allowing fudge to drip down sides. Return cake to fridge, allowing fudge to thicken/harden – let chill until ready to serve. Chilling once fudge is atop cake will allow for easier slicing.
Hot Fudge topping … recipe here (my last post) or head to the grocery/local ice cream shoppe and grab your favorite. Either way, you can’t go wrong.
Fork Vs Spoon 
The hot fudge cheesecake looks delicious. Your photos are amazingly awesome!!
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Thanks! We are still in a bit of a sugar coma/overdose over here 🙂
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This is ridiculous. Just ridiculous…….you’re killing me, Mal.
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OMG THAT HOT FUDGE WATERFALL. (!!!) So sexy. F’real. Loving the photos and frankly I’m now wondering why more people don’t put cheesecakes on top of brownies. It’s like a huge DUH moment happening in my brain now thanks to you! 🙂 I will seriously regret it if I don’t make this delightfully decadent dessert!
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This is what dreams are made of!! It looks so amazing, I wanna devour it all. Pinned.
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Thanks! It was devoured, rather quickly … easy way to get in good with co-workers!
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My step-daughter love to make cheese cake… I will be passing this along to here… cause I love to eat cheese cake
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Thanks for stopping by!
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OMG…words can not even express the amount of mouth-watering going on at my desk right now. This looks absolutely DIVINE! I love cooking – so I’m not usually all ‘omg…that looks so good’ online…but truth speaks.
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What does 5 – 8 oz cream cheese mean??? does it mean a total of 2.5 lbs?
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It does mean 5 packages of the 8 ounce cream cheese blocks…which does equate to 2.5lbs! This is a thick and more dense cheesecake than your light and airy variety. Thanks for stopping by!
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Maybe you can phrase it like that in the ingredients: 5 packages of 8 ounce cream cheese blocks. 5 – 8 can be confusing, it may be read as a range, like “between 5 and 8 ounces.”
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Thanks for the heads up on the recipe list – I updated it to say the total ounces as there are some that don’t have 8 ounce packages of cream cheese readily available. Again, thank you for the need for clarification….always looking for ways to improve!
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When my chocoholic boyfriend requested a brownie-bottom cheesecake for his birthday, I diligently scoured the internet for guidance…it’s reassuring to know he’s not alone in his affection for this dessert. After the requisite baker testing, I’m eagerly waiting for it to finish cooling while I make (and sample) the fudge sauce. I appreciate your providing the recipe and enjoyed the commentary and photos that accompanied it. Now that I know how easy it is to make, he might not have to wait another year before we indulge again.
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Oh, I haven’t made this in a while … I should crack it out for the coming holidays. Hope yours turned out lovely and that your husband enjoyed!
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So you bake the brownie “crust” and then re-bake it with the cheesecake on top? Just didnt want to overdue the brownies by baking twice.
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yes, bake the crust first and then pour in filling and bake filling. The filling insulates the crust and it will not be overdone. If you are using a water bath (pain in the butt, i know) just be sure to really wrap the springform pan securely so no water gets in and soaks your crust. It really is quite upsetting when that happens. A water bath isn’t completely necessary as my brother refused to use one and while his cake did crack a bit, it tasted overall wonderful. He did place it on a baking sheet while it was baking. Million ways to skin this cat of a cake! Hope you enjoy!
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