This was an experiment for something I wanna do next week for valentines day. I wanted to try baking cheesecake mixture in cake batter. The results were extremely promising.

Here’s what I did..

You need this stuff for the cheesecake filling-

• 250g block of cream cheese (room temp)
• 1/3 cup of white sugar
• a large egg/substitute
• 1/2 t vanilla

And for the chocolate cake part-

• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1 t baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup h20
• 1/3 cup (unflavoured) vege oil of sorts
• 1 T white vinegar
• 1 t vanilla

Mix the cream cheese smooth, then add the sugar, egg & vanilla.

Mix until combined well but try not to aerate the mixture as it’ll all collapse during baking & look bad. (If that happens just decorate with frosting/fruit. )

Put the mixture aside as we make the cake bit.

Now’s a good time to preheat the oven. 175C

Sift all the dry ingredients together in a big bowl.

In a small bowl mix all the wet ingredients.

Then pour the wet bowl into the dry bowl & combine well until smooth.

Pour mixture into 12 cupcake cups.

Spoon a small amount of cheesecake mixture into the centre of each cake & push down into the batter a little so it’s only just visible at the top.

(I didn’t know to push the cheesecake lump down, obviously by this picture. The recipe I half-followed said the cake would rise around it. I must have overestimated that a little)

Bake in the oven for around 25mins/ until the cheesecake is browning & the cake is springy. You can even turn the oven off around the 20min mark & just use the residual heat to be extra efficient for the remaining time.

Tip them from the pan & sprinkle with icing sugar/frost/decorate.

(see how my cheesecake bit isn’t down in the centre of the cupcake? It’s still sitting on top looking ugly, but I couldn’t be bothered frosting it since it was just a test)

Here are the results. They’re good at any temperature so eat as soon as you like. Just make sure to refrigerate after a few hours or you can even freeze them.

The chocolate cake is springy & very rich for a batter with no butter. The cheesecake is nice & dry, almost crumbly & not too sweet to steal the cheesiness. You might want to use a recipe with cream if you prefer a more moist cheesecake. Personally I prefer the baked texture. Watch out that your frosting isn’t too sweet to overtake the flavour too.

Enjoy!