When ackee cheesecake filling is swirled into dark chocolate brownie batter, the result is beautifully dramatic, rich and delicious.
This brownie recipe is a part of the King Arthur Flour 9 week bake the bag challenge.
The idea is simple:
- Buy a 5lb bag of White Wholewheat Flour,
- Each week for nine weeks you’re sent a different recipe
- Make the recipes and by the end of the challenge you would have used up the entire bag of flour!
The further challenge I gave myself was to incorporate ackee in each of the recipes given. With the delicious results the of the mini danishes and muffins still in mind, I knew ackee cheesecake brownies would be a match made in heaven! I love the beautiful colour contrast between the brownie batter and the ackee cheesecake filling. And the random swooshes and swirls make them look so divine that you just want to dive right in.
What is Dutch-process cocoa?
The original recipe calls for dutch-processed cocoa powder, but I didn’t have any and used black cocoa powder instead.
To Dutch or Dutch-process in reference cocoa refers to a process of treating cocoa with an alkalizing agent which lowers it’s acidity, modifies the colour and intensifies the chocolate flavour. Black cocoa is cocoa powder that has been heavily “dutched”.
Check the ingredients on the label of your cocoa powder if you’re not sure. Sometimes it will note alkalized cocoa powder as the ingredient and if it is not dutch-processed it will say natural cocoa powder.
Typically you’d want to replace just a few tablespoons of cocoa in the recipe for black cocoa and not the full amount as the flavour can be intense. Since I was going to be swirling it with the cheesecake, I knew the creaminess of the filling would balance the bitterness of the chocolate.
The next question is usually: can I swap natural cocoa for the dutch-processed one? And the answer is in the case of these brownies yes.
Note however, that the same does not always hold true for other recipes as it comes down to the leavening agent used and whether there are other acidic ingredients in the recipe to balance/react with the cocoa.
How to make the best swirls
Great swirls start with the dollops! If you want really random and pretty swirls: drop the dollops of cheesecake filling randomly and of different sizes over the brownie batter.
When it’s time to swirl, you want to hold the knife or skewer almost to the bottom of the pan (but don’t scrape) when swirling the mix so that the swirls run through the whole brownie and not just the top. Also, less is more, too much swirling will just muddle the two colors and the effect will not be as dramatic.
Butter, Cheese & Canned Ackee
Ackee tip: In Jamaica, ackee is classified as either butter or cheese ackee. This refers to the characteristics of the arils. Butter ackee mashes out easily when boiled and is perfect for recipes such as this when a silky smooth puree is desired. Canned ackee will puree easily like butter ackee. If you are starting with fresh ackee however and have firm (cheese) ackees; a trick I like to use is to take the quantity of ackee needed for the recipe and place it in a small saucepan. I then add 2 to 3 tbsps of water depending on how much ackee is being used along with a pinch or 2 of baking soda and simmer the ackees covered until all the water evaporates. The baking soda softens the ackee sufficiently to make it easy to puree. For good measure, after pureeing I’ll pass it through a fine sieve to catch any chunks that the blade may have missed.
What do you think?
As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. If you make this or any of the recipes on this site, be sure to tag @amazingackee or #amazingackee so I can see your posts across social media.
Until next time, thanks for stopping by 😊
Ackee Cheesecake Brownies
Ingredients
For the ackee cheesecake filling:
- 113 g Cream cheese (half a block)
- 100 g Parboiled ackee
- 60 g Granulated white sugar
- 14 g All purpose flour
- 1 to 2 tsps Lemon juice optional
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
For the brownies (from King Arthur Flour):
- 1 cup Unsalted butter (227g)
- 2 cups Brown sugar (425g)
- 3/4 cup Black Cocoa (64g)
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Espresso powder
- 1 tbsp Vanilla bean paste
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cup White wholewheat flour (170g)
- 1 recipe Ackee cheesecake filling
Instructions
For the filling:
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor, pulse till smooth.
- Alternately, puree the ackee, then cream together the cheese, sugar and flour, when smooth add the ackee, juice (if using) and extract
To finish the brownie
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray and line a 9 by 13 inch pan or rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. (Tip: make the parchment paper longer than the length of the pan so you have some “overhang” this will allow for easy removal after baking)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside
- Put butter in a large (microwave safe) bowl. Melt the butter either on the stovetop over a pot of simmering water or in the microwave.
- Add sugar to the melted butter and mix well to combine.
- Add the eggs followed by the vanilla
- Then add in the dry ingredients mixing till smooth, do not overmix
- Spoon batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
- Spoon or pipe dollops of the ackee cheesecake filling over the top of the brownie batter randomly. Using a butter knife, drag it through the batter in a swirling motion to make the effect.
- Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. A skewer or sharp knife inserted near the centre should yield moist crumbs but not raw brownie mix.
- Remove from oven and cool completely in pan before cutting