Great questions - I considered cooking the brownies and the cheesecake at the same time: I think it probably would work! That said, I really have no clue. Let me know if you try it like that!!

I sometimes to a pan of water, instead of the bath, and it works just fine. The water bath isn't too scary as long as you really are careful about double wrapping with foil! I've never had a problem with leakage.

Thanks for reading - let me know how it goes!

I was wondering, I make brownies with cheesecake on top and cook them at the same time , would that work here? When I make cheesecake I put a pan of water on the rack below my cheesecake rather then putting my springform pan into a water bath. I have nightmares from stories about the water leaking into the pan and ruining the cheesecake so I have never tried that. Is there a way to guarantee that never happens? I have never had a cheesecake crack but better to be safe then sorry. Thank you so much for this blog. I love finding new recipes and trying them out.

EXACTLY! It definitely was not a *light* dessert... but absolutely worth it!