Plaza Bakery's Cream Cheese Topped Chocolate
Submitted by honey1
Cream cheese topped chocolate brownies with a fudgy bittersweet base, chocolate chips, and a piped cream cheese swirl baked into a decorative V pattern. Bakery-style brownies served cold.
YIELD
12 servingsPREP
25 minCOOK
40 minREADY
6 hrsThese bakery-style brownies are a two-layer affair: a dense, fudgy chocolate base loaded with semisweet chips, topped with piped cream cheese in a decorative chevron pattern. Served cold, straight from the fridge, they’re rich and firm with a cheesecake-like top layer.
The brownie batter uses melted bittersweet chocolate and butter as its base, not cocoa powder. That’s what gives it a glossy, truffle-like density. Beating the eggs with sugar for a full three minutes before folding in the chocolate creates a slightly lighter texture than a typical one-bowl brownie.
The cream cheese pattern looks impressive but is simple: pipe diagonal lines with a round tip, then drag a knife through on the opposite diagonal to create V shapes. Do this quickly before the cream cheese sets and you’ll get clean, sharp lines.
Chef Tips
- Bring the cream cheese and eggs to room temperature before mixing. Cold cream cheese stays lumpy no matter how long you beat it.
- Melt the chocolate over very low heat and stir constantly. Bittersweet chocolate seizes easily if it gets too hot.
- Pull from the oven when a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs, not clean. These firm up significantly as they cool and chill.
- The full chill time matters: 3 hours cooling plus 2 hours in the fridge. Cutting them warm gives you a gooey mess instead of clean squares.
Variations
- Peanut butter swirl: Replace the cream cheese topping with a sweetened peanut butter mixture for a chocolate-PB combination.
- Espresso kick: Add a tablespoon of instant espresso to the melted chocolate for a mocha-flavored brownie.
Ingredients
Directions
For topping: Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃).
Lightly grease 9 inch square baking pan.
The pan must be at least 2 inches deep.
Dust pan with flour; tap out excess.
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese with sugar in medium bowl until smooth.
Blend in egg, vanilla and salt.
Set topping aside while preparing brownie batter.
For Brownies: Melt chocolate and butter in heavy saucepan over very low heat, stirring until smooth.
Cool slightly.
Using electric mixer, beat eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt in a large bowl until thick, about 3 minutes.
Stir in melted chocolate, then flour and semisweet chocolate chips.
Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth top.
Spoon cream cheese topping into pastry bag fitted with ½ inch round tip.
Pipe cheese mixture in diagonal lines atop brownie batter, spacing line ½ to ¾ inches apart.
Run tip of small knife through cream cheese on opposite diagonal, spacing ½ inch apart and creating V pattern.
Bake until toothpick inserted comes out with a few moist crumbs still attached, about 40 minutes.
Cool dessert in pan on rack for 3 hours.
Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
Can be prepared up to 2 days ahead.
Run sharp knife around pan to loosen.
Cut dessert into 12 brownies.
Serve cold.
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