# Chocolate and Cherry Cheesecake Brownies
Picture a chocolate cake. Now add a mouth-watering vanilla cheese filling and top it off with cherries. That’s what you’ll get with these gorgeous, moist brownies. With complementary flavours, this simple recipe is ideal for a guilty pleasure snack. (Modified recipe from the magazine *Palce Lizać*, 2011.)
## Indulgent Chocolate Brownies with Cherries
### Ingredients
**Mixture (make sure all ingredients are at room temperature):**
- 200g dark chocolate (I used 100g of chocolate with 64% cocoa content and 100g of chocolate with 80% cocoa content)
- 200g unsalted butter at room temperature,
- 180g sugar
- 3 eggs
- 100g plain flour
**Cheese filling:**
- 250g mascarpone cheese
- 250g cream cheese
- 80g sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
**Decoration:**
- 250g cherries (fresh or frozen; frozen cherries should be defrosted first)
### Method
1. **Prepare the mixture**
Break the chocolate into smaller chunks and place in a bowl. Melt in the microwave or over a pan of boiling water. Set aside.
Place the unsalted butter into a bowl. Add the sugar and whisk for 2–3 minutes with an electric mixer. Add the three eggs and briefly mix with the mixer at medium speed. (Don’t worry if the mixture curdles.) Add the melted chocolate and mix with the mixer at medium speed until all ingredients are combined. Add the flour and mix.
Add about 3/4 of the mixture into a 20x20cm or 21x21cm cake pan lined with baking paper. Smooth the mixture out evenly.
2. **Prepare the cheese filling:**
Put both cheeses in a bowl. Add the sugar, the vanilla extract and the eggs, then mix with the mixer until it reaches a smooth consistency.
Place this mixture on top of the mixture already in the cake tin, then smooth out. Place the remaining chocolate mixture on top in blobs for an uneven effect. Sprinkle cherries on top.
3. **Bake**
Place the tin in a preheated oven. Bake on the lowest rack at 170°C (gas mark 3) for about 60 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Don’t worry about the mixture sinking – this is supposed to happen.
Enjoy!
