Red Velvet Brownies!
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Delicious red velvet brownies with a vanilla cheesecake swirl!
This post may contain affiliate links.
So the time has come, to give you… RED. VELVET. BROWNIES. Yeah, that’s right – red velvet brownies. This is a recipe that has been requested for longer than I can remember, so I am finally giving you the ultimate dream!
Some people may be a little confused from the beginning here about how you can have red velvet in brownie form, but roll with me. It’s possible. And it’s DELICIOUS.
SO! To explain the bake… red velvet cake is basically a chocolate and vanilla cake, that is also red. Originally, they were not made using red food colouring, but these days, it’s just the easiest and most straight forward route.
The main issues with baking red velvet cakes has always been using the incorrect food colouring. I will say it over and over again.. you MUST use good quality colouring. Cocoa powder is a vital ingredient, but also the ingredient that can cause food colouring not work with it being brown and all.
Anyway! To make the classic red velvet cake into a brownie.. you sorta have to combine several recipes. I essentially combined the ideas of my red velvet cake, Brownies, and Blondies all in one. The quantities vary slightly in comparison to them all, and basic ingredients differ, but otherwise… they’re so similar!
I use Red Extra food colouring, because it is just the ultimate for this situation. I use it for all red velvet bakes, and pretty much anything I do that needs to be red. Honestly, it is just such good quality! If you use a supermarket own brand, it just will NOT work. Also, the amount you need to use is rather disgusting.. this way, you don’t need much at all!
For red velvet to be red velvet these days… you need cocoa powder, vanilla, white vinegar and buttermilk. For these brownies however, you need the cocoa powder, vanilla and white vinegar along with the other ingredients.
I tried to incorporate buttermilk into them, but it just didn’t float at all. Neither did the bicarbonate of soda which is also found in the cakes often! Either way, I feel like this does have enough ingredients in to be called red velvet brownies.
For the cheesecake swirl, it’s a very similar recipe to the cheesecake in my cheesecake brownies just because I love it so much! You just have to stir it all together as little as possible to make it smooth, and then swirl it in!
The best way I found to achieve the swirl is to add in 90% of the mix into the tin, dollop/pour the cheesecake over, and then add on the rest of the brownie mix. Swirl it through, and bake! The cheesecake will sink into the brownie, but this way you get folds of cheesecake throughout, and it’s the best!
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! x
Red Velvet Brownies!
Ingredients
Red Velvet Brownies
- 150 g Unsalted Butter
- 275 g Caster Sugar
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Red Food Colouring
- 4 Medium Eggs
- 30 g Cocoa Powder
- 125 g Plain Flour
- 1 tsp White Wine Vinegar
Cheesecake Swirl
- 250 g Full-Fat Cream Cheese
- 75 g Caster Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Egg Yolk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan and line a 9x9" square tin with parchment paper!
- Beat together your Butter and Sugar until combined!
- Add in the Vanilla and Red Food Colouring - I find it easier to mix these two together to make a thinner paste, and then mix into the Butter/Sugar!
- Add in the Eggs one at a time, beating each time. Add in the Cocoa Powder, and Flour, and beat again.
- Finally, add in the White Wine Vinegar - and mix. You want to mix this mixture as little as possible!
- In a separate bowl, add your Cream Cheese, Sugar and Vanilla and beat till smooth. Add in the Egg Yolk and mix again!
- Pour 90% of your Brownie Mixture into the tin - dollop over the cream cheese mix, and then dollop over the last little bit of Brownie Mix
- Swirl the mixture together - and then bake in the oven for 28-35 minutes. Mine were in for 30!
- Leave to cool in the tin for 20-30 minutes or so, and then cool fully on a wire rack!
Notes
- I recommend using this Red Food Colouring for this recipe!
- I also recommend using this 9 square tin for this recipe!
- These will last in the fridge or at room temp on a cooler day, for 3-4 days!
ENJOY!
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J x
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These red velvet brownies with a vanilla cheesecake swirl look absolutely divine! The rich, velvety texture of the brownies paired with the creamy, tangy cheesecake swirl is a match made in dessert heaven. The striking contrast between the deep red and the white swirl makes them as beautiful as they are delicious. Can’t wait to try this recipe—thanks for sharing such a decadent treat!
Gutted.
Made them for first time & came out wet & sludgy even after baking for 33 minutes.
Left to cool & refrigerated.
Not sure what went wrong.
If you swirl in the cheesecake mixture too much this can happen, but also if the baking tin size is changed x
I made them yesterday, baked for 35 mins & still underdone, I did double the recipe & use a larger tin so not sure if that’s the cause but I make my regular brownies ( not Jane’s recipe) in the same tin & they bake perfectly in 25 mins, next time I will bake for 45 mins
Not every recipe works by doubling and changing the tin size, without changing something such as oven temp or timings. I would definitely say this recipe would likely need longer than 35 minutes if you had baked in a larger tin and doubled it
Made these brownies at the weekend and managed to make 2 batches of them, and wow they were the best brownies I’ve made!!
Took a batch into work and cut them into small brownie bites and my work colleagues were saying how amazing and delicious they were, then went in seconds!!
My tips for people who have struggled to make them –
– I used the recommended red velvet paste
– I used mascarpone cheese as it was more solid and it didn’t leak through the bottom
– I used a cocktail stick to make the swirls with the cream cheese
– The first batch I cooked, I did for 35 mins, however the second I did I cooked for 30 mins and they tasted less dry and were very gooey which was the best part
– I allowed the brownies to cool down fully, then once they were cool I put them in the fridge for 24 hours
I think they key to this recipe is to be patient, I wouldn’t recommend eating them straight after they’ve cooked as I don’t think they’re those type of brownies unfortunately!!
Hope this helps!
Fab recipe I shall be making it again, thankyou!!!
Hi there ,
Just wondering do you actually need the white wine vinegar, as I don’t have any to hand and probably wouldn’t use it again….thanks
Wanting to make these but was wondering can I use regular sugar and regular butter these were bought by someone else instead of the right ones you listed
Hiya! What do you mean by regular butter and regular sugar? x
Caster sugar = powdered sugar. If you only have granulated Sugar (“regular sugar” here in the US) you can make your own. Just put granulated sugar in a blender or food processor and process until superfine or “powdered”. If you are going to use the sugar immediately, you don’t need to add anything to it. If you want to make enough powdered sugar to store to use later, add 1 tsp cornstarch for each cup of sugar you are grinding… hope this helps!
Sorry, just wanted to say that caster sugar is not at all the same as powdered sugar! Granulated should work fine, soft brown sugar would also work. If by regular butter you mean salted, it should be fine
I have tried to make red velvet brownies in the past but all of the recipes I tested did not work so I really did not expect this one to work. I put the brownies in the oven for 35 minutes and when I took them out they were not done so I put them back in and lowered the heat and let them cook for 10 more minutes and let them cool before trying it. This is the best red velvet brownies I have ever made, I will definitely be making this again
hi, i wanted to ask if you used caster sugar or granulated sugar for the brownies, and did they come flavorful? i have a huge problem with desserts tasting bland, even though i make sure to follow it to a T! it could be my fault of course, but i am curious ♡
How do i get this recipe into tsp, tablespoon and measuring cups?
Hi,
I made these today. Baked for 33 minutes, it was still slightly wobbly in the middle. I left them in the tray for over half an hour. When I went to turn them onto the wire rack the middle weeped through the rack. The middle was not cooked at all.
Any advice please?
Hiya! I always bake them until there is a slight wobble in the middle, then leave them to ‘set’ overnight in the fridge. Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane, I’ve baked a lot of your brownie recipes and usually use gluten free flour without making any other adaptions and they’re still amazingly gooey. Reading the recipe this sounds different to other brownie recipes, do you think I can still use gf flour without any other adaptions? Thanks in advance 🙂
Hiya! I personally have not tested this – but let me know the outcome if you do! x
I’ve just made them with GF plain flour. Cooked till they had just a wobble. Cooled and then put in fridge for a couple of hours before sampling a corner! I would say they are rather heavy without the chewy texture of regular brownies. The mixture was incredibly runny and I was concerned. They taste alright but I’d describe as dense. The cream cheese mixture didn’t really make the layers as shown in the recipe. I think next time I might try with GF self raising flour.
I made these the other day, and Oh My Gosh!!!! They are delicious! I have one question though, I was wondering if they can be made a bit more fudgy. Can I substitute some of the butter with vegetable oil?
Hiya! Unfortunately I personally have not tested this, so I cannot say for certain! Hope this helps! x
How would this work for a cake recipe, have some who loves these but wants it in their wedding cake
Hiya! Take a look at my Red Velvet cake recipe! Hope this helps, enjoy! x
This is the only recipe of your I haven’t been able to get right 🙁
The cream cheese was very runny, I didn’t over mix but it just didn’t seem to at any point be a spoonable mixture.
Baked it and had the wobble in the middle but it’s raw at the bottom.
Such a shame as it smells so good!!!! Gutted is an understatement. Any ideas where I went wrong?
Hiya! The cheesecake mix will naturally be slightly thinner as it is baked – it sounds like it just needed slightly longer in the oven! Hope this helps! x
Can I substitute the white vinegar wine for lemon? Thank you in advance
Hiya! Yes it’s absolutely worth a go! Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane!
I’ve just made this recipe today. It is so straight forward to follow.
However I think I totally messed up lol! It came out more like a sponge and the cheesecake mixture didn’t have the thick layers like pictured.
Have I over swirled and over baked them?
I definitely kept them in longer as every time I checked them it seemed really wobbly in the middle? I cooked them until there was no mixture left on the knife I used to check if it was baked.
Should I have left it wobbly
Yes, you have over mixed, and over baked! The wobbly part will come from the cheesecake, and a knife check doesn’t work for brownies, unfortunately! So yes it needs to be wobbly! x
These were sooooo delicious!!! I honestly couldn’t stop eating them 🙂 Thank u for this delicious recipe!!!
Hi Jane,
I used tesco own cream cheese but after mixing all the ingredients together it was literally so runny, like gold top milk, is this correct or should it be thicker & more solid? If so what have I done wrong? Should it be philidelphia? It made the swirling very hard as it just ran all over the mixture like milk.
Thank you
Hello, it does sound a bit thin so it could have been the cream cheese or it being over mixed xx
Mine was the same and didn’t over mix 🙁
Hey, how did it bake though? it s naturally a runnier mixture xx
Exactly the same for me, I used Waitrose Full Fat. I had to pour it in it was so runny. In the oven now, goodness knows how they will turn out. So disappointed as Jane’s recipes always work
Baked cheesecake mix is always runnier – this has nothing to do with the recipe. It will still bake absolutely fine!