Brownie Crust Cheesecake

Saturday night 10.30 pm, the sun set was 15 minutes ago, it was pouring heavily outside the window (typical English weather) and suddenly it was all dark and silent at home. Arun said he was too tired for the day and snored away immediately. I was left alone in the living room, fully charged up only then. I wanted to engage myself immediately, do something, anything....so I thought why not I bake? Perfect time to be with yourself, and do what you love doing....COOK! I already had the plans of baking a cheesecake this weekend, so I had all the ingredients ready at home. So I baked away a nice "Brownie Crust Cheesecake" at Midnight...and What fun! :)

There was a long time request by an ardent fan of my blog and a good friend Poornima, to share a good recipe of a Cheesecake. Since "Baking" is not my forte,  I delayed it too long, but after baking this one, I was feeling quite happy with myself. The Cheesecake not only tasted good, but it also looked perfect like any other Cheesecake sold in professional Bakeries. I got this recipe from some UK food magazine (which I had cut and saved it long back) and thought of trying it out someday. Never thought it will turn out this good. See the picture for yourself!! :) :)

Brownie (Crust) Ingredients:

• 115 g unsalted butter (room temperature) 
• 115 g plain chocolate
• 115 g plain flour 
• 200 g caster sugar
• 2 eggs (beaten with 2 tbsp of milk)

Method:

1. Take a 9 inch round cake tin and grease it with some butter all over the base and sides. Then sprinkle some flour on the base of the tin slightly.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate together until smooth  over a low heat, in a saucepan. Transfer the sauce in a deep large bowl.
3. Preheat the oven to 180 degree celsius.
4. Now add the sugar little by little to the sauce and beat well.
5. Now add the beaten eggs to the bowl and beat again till smooth. Now sift the flour and mix well until fully blended. 
6. Pour the brownie mixture to the cake tin and spread it evenly with a spatula.
7. Bake for 25 minutes.
8. Remove the cake tin from the oven and allow it to cool. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 160 degree celsius. 

Cheese Cake (Top layer) Ingredients:

• 500 g soft cheese (I used philadelphia soft cheese)
• 125 g caster sugar
• 3 eggs (beaten)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 125 ml natural set yoghurt

Method:

1. In a large bowl, beat the soft cheese, sugar, beaten eggs and vanilla extract together until fully blended.
2. Now stir in the yoghurt to the cheese mix and mix well till no lumps remain. 
3. Pour this cheese mixture over the baked brownie. Bake again for a minimum of 45 minutes until the cheese mixture is fully set. (Insert a knife and see whether it comes out clean). Remove the cake tin from the oven. Allow it to cool. 
4. Run a knife across the edges of the cake to loosen from the tin. After ten minutes of cooling, keep the cheese cake in the refrigerator and chill for atlest 4 hours, I keep it overnight. 
5. Remove the cheesecake from the fridge the next day, slice it into nice triangles and serve it with melted chocolate drizzled on top.