cheesecake-stuffed chocolate cake

For my parent's 30th wedding anniversary, my siblings and i pooled our money and bought them matching wrist watches. And since I already am the self-declared (and only) baker in the family, I wanted to make something a little extra special. I've been making cakes for every birthdays and anniversary in the family and i figured since this is a milestone and a wedding anniversary, I might as well "marry" two decadent desserts into one. The result is a decadent cheesecake-"stuffed"/swirled chocolate cake. I would have frosted it with chocolate buttercream but i decided against it but if you're that much of a sweet tooth, then go right ahead and frost that baby like crazy. :)

Cheesecake-Swirled Chocolate Cake
Chocolate cake:
half recipe of my devil's food cake

Cheesecake layer/swirl:
one 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 C sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp cornstarch
dash of salt
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper and brush the sides of the pan with butter or oil. You can also use oil spray.

For the Chocolate cake layer:
Make the devil's food cake recipe as directed and pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Pour the cheesecake batter (recipe below) next.  Pour the rest of the devil's food cake batter on top of the cheesecake layer.  Get a barbecue stick or chopstick and ran it through and around the batter to create swirls. Alternately, you can leave it as it is so that when it bakes, it looks like a chocolate cake but when you slice it, "Surprise!".

Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

For the cheesecake layer:
Beat cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in lemon juice, vanilla and salt. Add egg mixing until just combined after each addition.

Note: If you want this to be more decadent that it already is, you can frost this with your favorite chocolate buttercream or cheesecake frosting.

Cheesecake recipe adapted from Rita's Recipes