Red Velvet & Cream Cheese Brownies

Red velvet & cream cheese brownies!


I got the idea to make red velvet and cream cheese brownies after stumbling upon this post from Bakerella. What could be wrong with my favorite cake in brownie form, right? So off to the kitchen I went. They are essentially a red velvet brownie (made from cake mix as a base), with an additional cream cheese batter poured on top. They are decadently sweet, so make sure you have some milk ready before consumption! Here's the recipe I used if any of you are interested in making them yourself. (:

Red Velvet & Cream Cheese Brownies

Brownies (modified from this recipe):
1 pkg Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe Red Velvet Cake Mix (any cake mix should work)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
8 tbsp water

Cream Cheese Topping (from Bakerella):
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese (softened)
2 eggs
1 lb confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom of 13 X 9 pan.
2. Melt butter by microwaving it in a microwaveable bowl for 30-45 seconds.
3. Combine cake mix, melted butter, brown sugar, egg and water in a mixing bowl. Mix until thick and creamy. The mixture should resemble a brownie batter. Set aside.
4. Beat cream cheese in a separate bowl at medium with an electric mixer. Beat in eggs, sugar, vanilla until smooth.
5. Spread brownie batter into your greased pan and smooth out. Pour cream cheese batter on top.
5. Bake at 350 for 35-50 minutes, checking every 5 or so minutes after the 35 minute mark. Rotate your pan halfway through if your oven bakes unevenly.
6. After baking, cool completely and the refrigerate until well chilled. Do not cut until chilled.

All the ingredients!
Mixing up the brownie batter. Looks a little gross, huh? :P
All mixed up!

Spread into the pan...

The cream cheese batter. My good friend Elle says it's never bad to add a little more vanilla extract!

Mixing...
And pour!

In the process of baking.
The brownie batter may rise above the cream cheese batter during baking. Don't worry though! It happens only on the outer edges, and when finally cut, the cream cheese topping is just wedged between two layers of brownie batter. Still safe to eat. ^^

The finished and cut red velvet & cream cheese brownies!

Stacked!
Take a bite. Yum!

Since these are extremely sweet (but oh so good!), I find it better to cut into smaller portions, maybe 1.5 inch squares. You also get a lot of these suckers out of one batch that way. Make sure you wait until the brownies are chilled before you cut. Now enjoy! I found myself reaching for one after the other even though they are dangerously sugary. I just couldn't help it! They turned out better than I thought. Just be sure to have some milk on hand, and share with all your friends!

Happy baking!