Chocolate Brownie with a Cream Cheese Centre and Chocolate Frosting

This recipe makes enough to fill a 20cm (8 inch) square cake tin. Feel free to adapt the quantities if you want to make more or less brownie mixture!

Ingredients:

For the Brownie:

100g Butter

3 tbsp Cocoa Powder

200g Cream Cheese (I use a low fat variety)

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

250g Caster Sugar

2 Large Eggs

100g Self Raising Flour

For the Icing:

50g Butter

1 tbsp Milk

100g Icing Sugar

2 tbsp Cocoa Powder

Method:

To make the Brownie:

1.  Place the butter and cocoa powder in a small pan on a medium heat. Stir until the butter has melted and everything has combined.

  

2.  Remove the pan from the heat and place the butter-cocoa mixture in the fridge to cool.

3.  Whilst waiting for the mixture to cool place the cream cheese, vanilla extract and 25g of the caster sugar in a small bowl and stir until smooth, then set aside.

4.  Take a large bowl and add the eggs and remaining caster sugar (225g). Beat until light and fluffy.

5.  Line a 20cm (8 inch) square cake tin with baking paper and grease to reduce sticking.

6.  By this point the butter-cocoa mixture should have cooled, remove it from the fridge and pour into the large bowl that already contains the eggs and sugar. Beat everything together until well combined.

7.  Sieve the flour into the mixture and fold in gently.

8.  Pour roughly half of the brownie mixture into the cake tin and spread evenly.

9.  Spread the cream cheese mixture on top ensuring that it gets right to the edges (note this can be quite tricky so I recommend taking your time and using a silicone spatula or palette knife to help)

10.Place the remaining half of the brownie mixture on top and spread evenly.

11.Bake in a pre-heated oven for 40-45mins until the mixture begins to come away from the edge of the tin. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. Don't worry if there are cracks on the top, these will be covered with frosting later anyway.

To make the icing:

1.  Place the butter and milk in a small saucepan on a medium heat. Stir until the butter is melted.

2.  Sieve the icing sugar and cocoa powder together and stir in the melted butter.

3.  Remove the brownie from the tin and spread the icing all over the top.

4.  Wait for the icing to set, then cut into squares and enjoy! If you want to add even more dairy then why not serve your brownie with a scoop of ice cream on the side.

Hope you enjoy baking and eating this as much as I do :)