What, in your opinion, makes the perfect brownie?

I just made brownies for the first time, and i dont know if i did well or not because i never really ate many brownies growing up. Im much more accustomed to cupcakes.


So what do you prefer? Cakey brownies? Chewy brownies?

I made a red velvet cheesecake brownie the other day when i posted it. definitely has the rv taste. not bitter from the color and not tooo chocolaty. but i wonder if perhaps the cheesecake part on top interfered with the brownie portion, because even though baked it until a few parts of the cream cheese cracked, when i took it out of the oven after it all cooled the brownie was much more than moist. parts of it were nicely baked. not crunchy, but slightly fluffy. however other parts of it were so wt that if i poked it with my finger i would have parts of it stick to my finger. :/ it seemed like with that recipe i cant have both parts of the dessert come out well.

heres the recipe, if anyone cares to try it or is interested.

1/2 cup butter
2-oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp red food coloring
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
8-oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil and lightly grease.
In a small, heatproof bowl, melt butter and chocolate together. Stir with a fork until very smooth. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and red food coloring. Add in the chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Batter should be red. If a brighter red is desired, add an additional 1/2 tsp food coloring. Add flour and salt into the bowl and stir until everything is just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
Prepare cheesecake mixture. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Drop in dollops onto prepared brownie batter. Gently swirl two batters with a butter knife.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until brownies and cheesecake are set. A knife inserted into the cheesecake mixture should come out clean and the edges will be lightly browned.
Cool in the pan completely before slicing and serving, either at room temperature or chilled.
Brownies can be refrigerated, covered, for several days.
Makes 16 large brownies or 24 smaller brownies