Raspberry Cheesecake Brownie

I got the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook a couple of years ago and this raspberry cheesecake brownie is the thing I've made most because a) it's pretty easy, b) it's pretty impressive looking, and c) it tastes like harrarrarrrrr.

(That's a good thing.)

I've been threatening to make this for my housemates all year and finally (in our last week), I did it! It's probably not the cheapest thing to make and it's not quite as fast as my Norwegian Apple Cake, but it's definitely worth the effort. 

 Ingredients:

For the Brownie bit:
- 200g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
- 200g unsalted butter
- 250g icing sugar
- 3 eggs
- 110g plain flour

For the Cheesecake bit:
- 400g Philadelphia cream cheese
- 150g icing sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 2 eggs

For the Raspberry bit:
- 300ml whipping cream
- 100g icing sugar
- 150g raspberries, plus extra to decorate

- Line a 33 x 23 x 5cm baking tray with greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 170°C.
- Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and let it melt, stirring occasionally.

 - Put the butter and icing sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat until the ingredients are well incorporated (I've already sent my Kenwood home so I did this all by hand and it was absolutely fine).

 - Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well to incorporate everything.
- Gradually beat in the flour, mixing well after each addition, then turn the mixer (or your arm!) up to high speed and beat for longer until the mixture is smoother.

 - Slowly pour in the slightly-cooled, melted chocolate and mix thoroughly. Pour into the prepared baking tray and smooth over.

 - For the cheesecake-y bit....put the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract into freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on a slow speed until smooth and thick.
- Whilst still mixing, add one egg at a time. The mixture should be very smooth and creamy.

 - The mixer can be turned up to a higher speed at the end to make the mix a little lighter and fluffier. Make sure not to over-mix and split the cream cheese.

 - Spoon on top of the brownie mix and spread it evenly.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes or until the cheesecake is firm to the touch and slightly golden at the edges. The centre should still be pale; as you can see, mine was slightly overdone, but I think this was due to the scales running out of batteries halfway through and some educated guesses about the measurements...

 - Leave this to cool completely, and then refrigerate for at least 2 hours, although it's better to leave it overnight, if you can resist.
- For the creamy, raspberry bit...put the cream, sugar and raspberries into a freestanding electric mixer with a whisk attachment and beat until firm but not stiff.
- Turn the brownie out onto a board the the right way up (so the cheesecake bit is on top).
- Spread the raspberry mix over the top and decorate with extra raspberries (I ran out...)

And you're done! Wait for the masses to come running. I don't think I took a picture to do it justice, but the effect of it is really quite impressive for a recipe that consists mainly of a lot of whisking. The chocolate/cheesecake/raspberry colours have sort of a Neopolitan quality about them and, if I do say so myself, they tasted pretty wonderful together too.
So far my Hummingbird books (I now have Cake Days, too!) have been foolproof - everything so far works and has been delicious - especially this recipe and the choc chip cookies...which I may now have to go and make...

Blueberry Muffins

When I said I'd post once or twice a week, that was whilst I had essays and dissertations and job applications to fill out. So when I handed in said essays and dissertation and ran out of hope that I'll ever get a proper job, I found other ways to procrastinate, like going on holiday. But I am back, nearly a month later, with some fresh enthusiasm to avoid job applications and a recipe for blueberry muffins. I made this at home, using a recipe from one of my mum's Mary Berry books.

Ingredients:

250g self-raising flour

50g margarine

1 tsp baking powder

75g caster sugar

175g blueberries

grated zest of 1 lemon

2 eggs

250ml milk

- Preheat the oven to 200C & place 12 muffin cases into a muffin tin.
- Measure the flour, baking powder, and margarine into a bowl. Rub them together using fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs

- Stir in the sugar, blueberries and lemon zest.

- In a separate jug, mix together the milk and eggs.

- Pour into the dry ingredients in one go and mix quickly.

- The mixture should have a lumpy consistency.

- Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases until it reaches the top (although the recipe says it makes 12, I only had 10 muffin cases and found that the mixture was suitable for this).

- Bake for 2--25 minutes until well-risen, golden and firm to the touch. Leave to cool for a few minutes before placing them onto a wire rack.

- I meant to get a nice picture of the first one, a couple of bites in, but...it didn't last that long. Such a good recipe.