Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

 

Loved them with my coffee this morning

These use the same base as my Cappuccino Brownies but rather than have a coffee flavor they have raspberry! (Duh.) I was trying to come up with something sweet and fun to make for the Fourth and when I saw raspberries on sale I thought I'd test out this idea I'd been kicking around.

Before I come up with a recipe, I always poke around the internet for other ones to get ideas. I saw lots where people put the whole raspberry in the batter and lots where people used jam, but I really wanted to try it out with raspberry sauce. I was a little worried it might not set up - but it did and I love these! They are ooey and gooey and fudgy.

Note: If you don't want to make a raspberry sauce from fresh fruit, you could sub out Raspberry preserves. It won't have the same fresh flavor but I am 98.2% sure it would still be very delicious.

Making Martha: EPIC Chocolate Caramel Cake

Epic sized picture for EPIC cake

So - let me say this, this is not a cake for the weak of heart (seriously - the amount of sugar and cholesterol alone - WOAH). Let's start by its stats:

Weighing in at:

1 POUND of chocolate
7 (count em SEVEN) cups of sugar
4 sticks of butter
a good 6 hours of work
and costing about $30 to make

...this is not a cake to make lightly. Really for about the same price you could get a pretty darn good chocolate cake from a bakery. Why, praytell, would you make such a thing then?

1. Bragging rights. There are serious bragging rights involved here
2. To tell someone you really REALLY REALLY love them
3. Your archnemesis is a diabetic with a titchy heart

or

4. Because its friggin delicious.

Cappucino Cheesecake Brownies

So I am not a big chocolate fan (blasphemy I know) but I like brownies and I especially like cream cheese brownies. But then I thought as much as I like brownies I LOVE coffee so I thought - Cappuccino Brownies - obviously! I looked up some recipes and they did not seem any too promising. So I decided to doctor up my Cream Cheese Brownie recipe.

I should note - for me when it comes to flavor I'm of the 'Go Big or Go Home' camp. I don't believe in half measures. For me there is no such thing as 'too much garlic'. Ergo this has a strong coffee taste. Feel free to dial it down if you are looking for a mild flavor.