Cheese brownie cupcakes

I have been wondering about the combination of cheese and chocolate. This thought was inspired by Joyofbaking with her black bottom cakes. Hence, I did a bit of research and managed to find one which I did some tweaking to :)

Recipe adapted from Justataste

Ingredients for brownie batter:

• 4 large eggs (I just used the normal eggs I could find)
• 140g cocoa
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 vanilla pod or 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tbsp instant espresso powder, mixed with 2 tsp water
• 200g sugar (original recipe says 450g but I cannot bring myself to put so much sugar)
• 226.8g unsalted butter (melted)
• 195g cake flour (sifted)

Ingredients for cheesecake filling:

• 226.8g cream cheese (I use Philadelphia)
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 egg yolk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius.
2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, baking cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder mixed with water and vanilla pod until well combined.
3. Stir in sugar and melted butter until well incorporated, then stir in the flour. (Best to use a rubber spatula to mix). Set brownie batter aside.
4. In another bowl, stir cream cheese, sugar and egg yolk until well combined. Transfer mixture to a pastry bag for piping.
5. Using a non-stick mini muffin pan, spoon a tablespoon of brownie batter into the muffin cups. Pipe some cheesecake filling over the brownie batter and top off each cup with an additional teaspoon of brownie batter.
6. Bake for about 12 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
7. Let the brownie bites cool for about 10 minutes and then enjoy warm.