Spiderweb Brownie Cake

In just a couple weeks, Lick The Bowl Good will be celebrating it's 3rd Anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's been that long, but as they say, "time flies when you're having fun!" To help me celebrate, I will be hosting a giveaway from CSN, and it's gonna be good, so stay tuned for it. Ever been to CSN? They have everything from bar furniture to luscious cast iron Staub cocottes at great prices. You can even pick up a springform pan so you can make these Spiderweb Brownies!
Happy Halloween everybody!

Ingredients:
For Brownies:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups chocolate chips, optional
For Spiderweb Mixture:
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon mint or vanilla extract (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180°. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan.
For the brownies: In a medium sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it's hot, but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.
While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla till smooth.
Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.
Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth.
Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.

Spread the batter into the pan. 
Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, (If you use a 9-inch springform pan like I did, then it will take about 50-60 minutes to bake through), until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.
For the spiderweb mixture: Combine the cream cheese, sugar and flour in a small bowl, and mix until smooth. Add the egg yolk and flavoring (if using), mixing until smooth once again. Transfer the mixture to a disposable pastry bag, and cut just the very tip off the end, as shown.
Draw a small circle in the center of the brownie batter. Make concentric circles starting from the center and working your way outward, about 1 inch apart =)