Today, we bring a really special recipe, Brownie Bottom Nutella Cheesecake. Instead of a traditional cookie crust, we are making a delicious crust with our homemade brownie recipe. topped with a creamy Nutella filling.

This recipe is half-no-bake. To start, we have a brownie crust that we are going to bake and then it’s topped with a no-bake cheesecake filling.

We have shared in the past different Nutella dessert recipes, we have from brioches to cheesecakes and even tiramisu.

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For this recipe we are using very common ingredients that you can easily find in the store, you can swap the Nutella for any other brand for chocolate spread.

Cocoa powder: Use a 100% cocoa powder with no sugar added. We want to have control over the amount of sugar we add to our brownies.
Eggs: room temperature.
Sugars: for this recipe, we are using three different sugars. Granulated sugar, brown sugar, and powdered (or icing) sugar. They’re very common everywhere. If you want to make the powdered sugar yourself, you can easily do it by blending the granulated sugar until fine powder. It’s a much cheaper alternative to store bough icing sugar, which tends to be WAY OVERPRICED.
Chocolate: Use milk or dark chocolate, depending on what you want. We chose milk chocolate for this recipe since we wanted a lighter flavor.
Butter: melted and hot. We will use it to melt the chocolate.
All–purpose flour: will give structure to the brownie.
Cream cheese: make sure you are using full-fat, room temperature cream cheese.
Nutella: the main ingredient for this Nutella dessert, but can be easily substituted with any other chocolate spread brand.
Heavy whipping cream: Use a cream with at least a 35% of fat in it. This is essential so it can whip properly and the cheesecake is stable.

Eggs in brownies

Eggs should always be beaten until pale and fluffy when making brownies. Unless it’s a very quick emergency brownie batch you need to do and don’t have time. How do we beat the eggs until light and fluffy?

You need a stand mixer with the whisk attachment or an electric hand whisk. If you don’t have any of those, you can use a normal manual whisk.
The bowl you use needs to be very clean and dry. Moisture or dirt will make it so difficult for the eggs to do anything.
Beat the eggs at high speed until they turn almost white. A very pale cream color. The process can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 15, depending on the quantity; it might need more time, and also on how much you want to beat them. For this recipe, I did about 10 minutes since we only use 2 eggs.

Beating the sugar helps create a thin top layer and also helps with dissolving the sugar, and makes sure you have a lighter texture instead of cakey.

Key points in this recipe

Beating the eggs.
Whipping the cream until soft peaks for the cheesecake layer.
Chilling for enough time.

Recipe elaborations and order

Beat eggs
Prepare the chocolate
Prepare the brownie layer
Cook the brownie
CLEAN
Whip the cream
Prepare the cheesecake filling
Chill and decorate

This is the order we follow, so we can use the time smartly. We start by beating the eggs as it will take about 10 minutes, you can leave it in the stand mixer, then prepare the butter with the chocolate mixture, which will take 7 minutes approx. And while that is happening in the back, you can prepare the rest of the brownie. It will all be ready at the right time, and you won’t need to wait for any of the ingredients to be ready when needed.

You can bake the brownie, and then as it’s baking, you can do a little bit of a cleanup as the brownie needs to cook and then cool down slightly. Clean any bowls or mess you have made, and then continue by making the cheesecake layer. First, the whipped cream will take approximately 1 minute and 20 seconds.

How to fix overmixed heavy cream

Over-whipped cream can be fixed only at the medium peaks or stiff peaks point; after that, there’s no point of return. It has happened to everyone: you get distracted for a second, and the cream goes from medium peaks to stiff when you don’t even need them to be stiff peaks.

Option 1. Remove about ¼ part of the cream and warm it up until it turns liquid. Slowly fold it into the whipped cream.
Option 2. Add heavy whipping cream that has not been whipped. I’d recommend starting from ¼ of the total weight of the cream you have whipped and going from there.
Option 3. Combine both options.

You mustn’t whisk the cream anymore, and you only use a spatula to slowly and carefully fold the cream.

Tips to prepare the best brownie-bottom Nutella cheesecake

Make sure you don’t overmix the brownie batter; it might deflate the eggs and lose the whole purpose of beating them
Cream cheese=wooden or silicone spatula.
Heavy whipping cream and eggs=whisk, electric hand whisk, or stand mixer.
Don’t skip the cooling time. This cheesecake recipe needs at least 8 hours in the fridge.
Beat the eggs until they are white; this is very important for texture and appearance.

Baking tools you need to make this recipe

This recipe calls for a stand mixer, which can be substituted by using an electric hand whisk or a manual one, which I do not recommend as much.

Mixing bowls: You will need different mixing bowls for different steps in this recipe. Try to do a little cleanup in the middle of the recipe so you don’t use as many bowls.
Stand mixer: You will need it to whip the cream and beat the eggs.
Pan: needed to melt the butter and the chocolate. I like using an enamel cast-iron pan as it holds the temperature much better, which is great for melting chocolate.
A spatula: you will need a harder one, like a wooden one, and a silicone one to fold and scrape.
Square pan: We are using one with a removable bottom, so it makes the whole thing easier. It’s an 8-inch or 20 cm square pan. If you don’t have one with a removable bottom, you can use a square pan and line it with parchment paper; all you’ll have to do is lift the cheesecake up when it’s ready.

*If you use parchment paper, make sure it’s not one that easily melts with wet ingredients.

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Removable bottom square pan

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How to decorate a brownie-bottom Nutella cheesecake

I normally always leave the decorations very simple because I find it overwhelming to decorate any cake (it’s something I need to work on) but for this recipe we just added a top layer of melted Nutella.

You can add any crunch you want like Oreos, shaved chocolate or even any nuts you like for an extra crunch.

Serve this brownie Nutella cheesecake cold.

How to store a cheesecake

This brownie-bottom Nutella cheesecake must always be refrigerated. If you leave it at room temperature, it will collapse and melt since it has no baked cheesecake layer. It’s perfect for freezing whole or in slices.

Make sure you are always storing the food in food-safe containers, as they don’t contaminate the products and keep them safe. For any food you make, I will always recommend that you add a name tag and a date tag. They’re very important to identify and eat them when they are safe to eat.

Refrigerate: This cheesecake can stay in the fridge for up to 4 days. Make sure you leave it in a proper container, so it doesn’t catch any smells or dry out. You can store it in slices or whole.
Freeze: This cheesecake recipe freezes really well.

Freeze this cheesecake brownie

Freeze in slices: If you want to store it in slices, first portion the chilled cheesecake. I recommend you portion it into 9 slices. Place them in a prepared tray with parchment paper and place them on top. Make sure to separate them from each other so they don’t touch when freezing. Freeze only for about 3-4 hours so it hardens. Then, place them in a freezer-safe bag. Put the bag inside a safe container if possible, for extra protection. Make sure to add the name and the date of the day you made it.

Freeze the whole cake: Freeze the cake in a plate wrapped with aluminum foil. And place the plate inside a freezer-safe container.

I always like to do double layers of protection when freezing something because I highly dislike the freezer-burnt taste or trying to eat something that tastes like something completely different.

Keep your brownie cheesecake safe in the freezer for up to 3-4 months.

To defrost: leave it in the fridge overnight to slowly thaw; it will be ready to enjoy the next day.

And that’s it! I hope you love LOVE this recipe as much as we did in our house. If you try It don’t forget to leave us a review, we highly appreciate it! Don’t forget to follow our BRAND NEW Facebook page! And we will see you again tomorrow with a new recipe you’ll love.