Chocolate Cream Cheese Cake Bars
Happy April Fool’s Day. These chocolate cake bars with cream cheese filling are not a joke. They are 100% real. Really sinful and easy. Just the way I like my desserts. What we’re working with here is a base layer of Devil’s Food Cake chocolate cake. Topped with white chocolate chips and dark chocolate chips. A can of sweetened condensed milk is mixed with cream cheese and poured over the top. While baking, the sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese turns into an ooey, gooey hot mess. The top layer resembles cream cheese frosting in that it doesn’t fully set up, which helps to keep these so chewy and velvety. As an added bonus, that layer creates built-in frosting, so you don’t have to bother with that step because to serve unfrosted bars would be a cruel April Fool’s joke.
The cake rises a bit while baking, pushing up from the bottom of the pan. The layers stay separated yet combine just enough to make each bite full of chocolate cake and chocolate chips and sweetened cream cheese. The cake is chewy, some chocolate chips remain crunchy while others melt, and the cream cheese is smooth. I love lots of different textures in each bite. These taste like chocolate cake, not brownies, and are an extremely moist and rich cake at that. I despise dry baked goods and two kinds of melted chocolate, a stick of butter, a can of sweetened condensed milk, and a slab of cream cheese tend to keep things moist and full of flavor. These bars are not over-the-top sweet. Over the top rich and decadent? Yes.
What’s in Chocolate Cream Cheese Cake Bars?
To make these chocolate cake bars with cream cheese filling, you’ll need:
Devil’s Food cake mix Unsalted butter Egg Vanilla extract Brewed coffee Semi-sweet chocolate chips White chocolate chips Sweetened condensed milk Cream cheese
How to Make Chocolate Cream Cheese Cake Bars
Make the chocolate cake layer part by mixing cake mix, an egg, and a stick of butter. Press it firmly into the pan. It will be sticky and a little tricky to work with, but just keep pressing and finessing it. Make sure to wash your hands afterward so no one thinks you were playing in the dirt. No, silly, you were playing in the chocolate cake. Again. Top the cake layer with the white and dark chocolate chips.
And then flood it with sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese. It looks soupy and like there is perhaps too much liquid and how could that all bake off and get soaked up, but it does, and it all works out. Very well.
The top layer of cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk remains just a little soft and gooey, a bit loose and unset. The inside of the bars definitely remain soft and gooey.
Can I Use Another Kind of Cake Mix?
Yes, you can use any chocolate cake mix you like.
Can I Omit the Brewed Coffee?
Yes, you may substitute it with water. However, the coffee doesn’t make these bars taste at all like coffee. It simply enhances the chocolate flavor.
Can I Make the Cake Layer From Scratch?
Most likely, yes. You could make the chocolate cake batter and then incorporate the white chocolate chips, etc. after you’ve made the cake batter. This is my favorite scratch chocolate cake. Being that I haven’t tried this recipe with a from-scratch cake base, I can’t give particulars on baking time and so on, but it’s a jumping off place.
How to Store Chocolate Cake Bars
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week or freeze for up to three months.
Tips for Making Chocolate Cream Cheese Cake Bars
Note that this recipe calls for sweetened condensed milk, NOT evaporated milk. They’re two totally different products. A few readers have added peppermint extract to the cream cheese mixture, which sounds divine. Add a small splash if you’re feeling adventurous! If you plan on serving these at a party later, then I don’t recommend freezing them beforehand. But if you’ll just be enjoying them yourself, then freezing leftovers is fine.
More Recipes Using Cake Mix:
ALL OF MY CAKE MIX RECIPES! Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes! Chocolate Turtle Cake— This decadent poke cake is topped with whipped topping, salted caramel sauce, mini chocolate chips, and chopped pecans. It’s so easy to make, and a huge hit at parties!
Coffee Crumb Cake— This coffee crumb cake recipe couldn’t be easier to make! It’s made with boxed yellow cake mix, which is used in both the batter and the crumble topping.
Gooey Strawberry Cake Mix Brownies — An EASY five-ingredient recipe for soft and chewy strawberry bars studded with white chocolate chips and spiked with sweetened condensed milk for the GOOEY win!!
Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies — Foolproof cookies made with just 5 ingredients!! If you’re craving chocolate and want to make super EASY cookies that are soft, FUDGY, and delicious, this is the recipe to make!!
S’mores Cake — Chocolate cake gets poked all over and soaked in a marshmallow creme mixture before being topped with crushed graham crackers, toasted marshmallows, and hot fudge sauce.
Rum Cake – A double dose of rum in this EASY cake that’s supremely moist, buttery, and literally juicy from all the rum!! The perfect make-ahead holiday entertaining cake that everyone will LOVE!!
Triple Chocolate Cherry Cake — Loaded with juicy cherries and topped with an easy homemade chocolate frosting. I used a few shortcuts in this recipe to save time, but this cake tastes completely homemade!
