The weather in Sydney has been playing hard to get these past few weeks. One minute the sun is poking its beaming head out from behind the clouds, the next a sudden downpour appears out of nowhere. This leaves you cursing to yourself on the street for not bringing the umbrella you glanced at but decided you wouldn’t need because you were running late. Inevitably you arrive to work looking like a drowned rat. I know, because sadly this was the predicament I found myself in a few days ago. Traipsing into the office a sodden mess, I rushed myself off to the bathroom to find the emergency hairdryer a.k.a the hand dryer and stood with my head bent down awkwardly trying to dry my disheveled mane. Thankfully, I was not spotted. But such a traumatic start to the day did leave me feeling a little defeated and by the time I came home I was in need of something comforting. And that is where these delicious brownies came to my rescue.

These brownies are little pieces of heaven and the addition of goat’s cheese and raspberries makes for a slightly more grown up version of this perennial crowd pleaser. Many people are under the impression that brownies are essentially small chocolate cakes but they are most certainly not. Brownies are supposed to be gooey and fudgy, not light and airy. This is achieved by using a small amount of flour and a rather large amount of dark chocolate and butter – although this shouldn’t warrant too many complaints from the lucky few who get to be taste-testers.

If the idea of goat’s cheese makes you a little apprehensive, please hold your judgment until after you’ve had your first bite. The sharp edge of the goat’s cheese is softened by a healthy addition of cream cheese and icing sugar, and this in turn helps to cut through the rich, decadent brownie.

The scent of these wafting over as you loll on the couch has a very soothing effect. I can attest to this because that is precisely what I was doing. Once the brownies are cooked and out of the oven, try and leave them until the following day as the flavours develop and marry well into one another. I say ‘try’ because sometimes such self-control is beyond us, in which case eating them straight out of the pan is always a good option too.

Raspberry and Goat’s Cheese Ripple Brownies:

Ingredients:

For the brownies:

• 200g 70% dark chocolate
• 200g unsalted butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 ½ cups raw caster sugar
• ¾ cup wholemeal plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

For the goats cheese ripple:

• 130g cream cheese
• 40g goats cheese
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• ½ cup raspberries (frozen is fine)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and grease and flour a square cake tin.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring occasionally. Set aside and leave to cool down.
3. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and sugar until pale and creamy using an electric mixer.
4. Sift over the flour and baking powder and stir until just combined.
5. Add the chocolate mixture and gently fold through.
6. Pour into cake tin.
7. To make the goats cheese swirl topping mix all the ingredients together (except the raspberries) in a bowl. If the mixture looks a little thick, add some milk to make it easier to work with.
8. Using a teaspoon place little dollops all over the top of the brownie batter.
9. With a knife or skewer run the knife through the batter in a straight line (echo the lines you would make when cutting cooked brownies).
10. Keep making lines through the batter until the goat’s cheese is swirled all over the top.
11. Finally, scatter over the raspberries.
12. Place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes (you want them to be set but still soft in the centre, otherwise they will be dry).
13. Leave in the pan for 15 minutes then invert onto a wooden board or drying rack to cool completely.