This luscious Brownie Cheesecake features cubes of brownies baked right inside the cheesecake filling, an Oreo crumb crust, and a chocolate ganache topping. This is a true showstopper of a dessert that is every bit as rich as it appears!

side view of this brownie cheesecake recipe with another slice in the background

A standby Chocolatey Cheesecake You’ll Ever Have

Oh boy, this brownie cheesecake! It first graced our kitchen nearly 14 years ago, and we immediately fell in love. We've forever been a die-hard cheesecake fan, and this one totally knocked our socks off. We saw it on Smitten Kitchen and couldn’t wait to make it. And we were just as impressed with it as we thought we'd be.

A lot of time has passed since we originally made this, and we've tweaked and altered it a bit to better suit our tastes as they’ve evolved over the years. And we have to say that those adjustments are only for the better, even though the original is still utterly fantastic!

unsliced brownie cheesecake with oreo crust and chocolate ganache

The cheesecake itself has the reliable texture - wonderfully creamy and melts in your mouth. Pair that with the crowd-favorite Oreo crust, a bite of fudgey brownie in every other forkful, and a layer of decadent chocolate ganache … and cheesecake (or life, for that matter) does not get much better than this!

This cheesecake recipe is reliable for special occasions like birthdays or holidays when you’re feeding a crowd because a little sliver goes a long way. It also freezes beautifully so you can have rich brownie cheesecake at any given time. We hope this rich brownie cheesecake can provide you with some special memories of your own!

How we Made This Brownie Cheesecake Our Own

As we mentioned above, we've made a number of changes to the cheesecake recipe since we first posted it all those years ago, but if you prefer the original, you can still find it on Smitten Kitchen. Here’s what we changed:

The Crust: When we've made this in the past, we had an issue with the melted butter pooling out of the pan, so we decreased the butter by half. Problem solved!
The Brownies: In the original recipe, there was a simple one-bowl brownie recipe. You could totally still use this (or even a box mix!), but since you don’t need the entire recipe of brownies for the cheesecake, we decided to use our favorite all-purpose brownie recipe – the better-than-box-mix brownies. If we have leftovers, we want to love, love, love eating them!
The Cheesecake: Since we found our favorite basic cheesecake recipe, we love to use it for every variation we make. We first introduced it here on the site with our Oreo cheesecake, and also used it in the chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake. It’s creamy and slightly dense and we adore it, so we used it here!
The Ganache: The original ganache had chocolate, butter, heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. We went the simple route and used the same ganache (although halved) that we poured over the chocolate peanut butter cup overload cake. It sets firm yet soft and goes evenly with the creamy cheesecake.

How To Make Brownie Cheesecake

After you have gathered your ingredients, preheated your oven, and prepped your bakeware, follow these steps to make this standout brownie mosaic cheesecake!

Make the Oreo Crust: Whisk together the Oreo cookie crumbs, sugar, and salt together in a medium-sized bowl. Add the melted butter and, stir with a fork until evenly moistened (resembling soft sand). Press into the bottom and up sides of the prepared springform pan. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling so it hardens.

Make the Cheesecake: Beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt together in an electric mixer on medium-low speed for 3-4 minutes, or until the mixture is creamy and lump-free. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the heavy cream and vanilla, and beat to combine. Beat in the eggs and the yolk one at a time. Gently fold in the cubed brownies by hand.

Bake the Cheesecake: Pour the filling into the chilled Oreo crust and spread into an even layer. Place the springform pan on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the outer couple inches of cheesecake looks puffed and set, but the center still jiggles when you move the pan, about 40 to 55 minutes. Turn off the oven, crack open the door and leave the cheesecake inside for 1 hour. After an hour, remove the cheesecake from the oven, place on a wire cooling rack and run a thin knife around the edge of the cake. Allow to cool completely to room temperature, and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to overnight.

Make the Chocolate Ganache: Place the chocolate in a 4-cup measuring cup, and set aside. Place the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat and warm until scalded. Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate,and let the mixture sit for 2 minutes to thoroughly melt the chocolate. Then, whisk to combine. You should have a thick, smooth ganache.

Add Ganache to Chilled Cheesecake: Pour the ganache evenly over the top of the cheesecake. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the ganache to set.

Serve: When ready to serve, un-mold the cheesecake and place it on a serving platter. Wipe your knife clean between slices to get a clean, even wedge of cheesecake every time. And, most of all, enjoy!

What To Serve with This Cheesecake

This brownie cheesecake is so incredibly rich on its own, you only need a tall glass of ice cold milk to serve along with it. But a from-scratch iced coffee or a warm mug of hot chocolate would also be divine!

Keeping leftovers

Store leftover cheesecake in the refrigerator (covered) for up to 1 week.
Freeze whole or in slices for up to 2 months. If you are freezing by the slice, wrap each slice individually to make grabbing one whenever the craving strikes straightforward.
Reheat by simply letting it come to temperature in the fridge, or enjoy frozen!

Yield: 12 to 16 servings
Prep: 35 minutes
Cook: 55 minutes
Total: 8 hours

Ingredients

For the Oreo Crumb Crust

3 cups ( 480 g ) or 24 cookies finely ground Oreo cookie crumbs
⅔ cup ( 133.33 g ) granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon ( 0.25 teaspoon ) salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the Cheesecake

32 ounces ( 907.19 g ) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup ( 200 g ) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
½ cup ( 119 ml ) heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 cups ( 228 g ) ¾-inch cubes of your favorite brownies

For the Chocolate Ganache

4 ounces ( 113.4 g ) dark chocolate, finely chopped
⅓ cup ( 79.33 ml ) heavy cream

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan ; set aside.
Make the Crumb Crust: In a medium bowl, whisk together the Oreo crumbs, sugar, and salt. Add the melted butter and stir with a fork until evenly moistened. Press into the bottom and up sides of the prepared springform pan. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
Make the Cheesecake: Using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour and salt until the mixture is creamy and no lumps of cream cheese remain, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the heavy cream and vanilla and beat to combine. Beat in the eggs and yolk one at a time, beating for about 15 seconds before adding the next. Using a rubber spatula, mix a few times by hand to ensure that all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Gently fold in the cubed brownies.
Pour the filling into the chilled crust and spread into an even layer. Place the springform pan on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the outer couple inches of cheesecake looks puffed and set, but the center still jiggles when you move the pan, about 40 to 55 minutes. Turn off the oven, crack open the door and leave the cheesecake inside for 1 hour.
After an hour, remove the cheesecake from the oven, place on a wire cooling rack and run a thin knife around the edge of the cake. Allow to cool completely to room temperature. Once the cheesecake has cooled to room temperature, refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Make the Chocolate Ganache: Place the chocolate in a 4-cup measuring cup; set aside. Place the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat and warm until it just comes to a boil. Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes. Begin whisking the mixture in the center, gradually working your way outward until the ganache is completely smooth. The ganache should be slightly thickened, yet still a pourable consistency. If it is still too thin, let sit at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until it reaches the correct consistency.
Pour the ganache evenly over the top of the cheesecake. If it’s a little thinner, it will likely spread out on its own; if it is thicker, you may need to use an offset spatula to spread it into an even layer. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the ganache to set.
When ready to serve, unmold the cheesecake and place it on a serving platter. Leftover cheesecake can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. It can also be frozen (whole or in slices) for up to 2 months.

Notes

Equipment: 9-inch springform pan

Brownies: You can use your favorite brownie recipe for this (from-scratch or store-bought); we chose to use our better-than-box-mix brownies.

Ganache: we like using dark chocolate, but feel free to substitute semisweet if you’d like! We think milk might be too sweet for our taste, but you could certainly try it.

Storage: Store leftover cheesecake in the refrigerator (covered) for up to 1 week.

Freezing Instructions: Freeze the whole cheesecake or slices for up to 2 months. If you are freezing by the slice, wrap each slice individually to make grabbing one whenever the craving strikes straightforward.

Thawing: If you froze the entire cheesecake, allow it to thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Individual slices can be thawed in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

This recipe was originally published on October 11, 2008.

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

Nutritional values are based on one serving.

Photography by Dee Frances.