Brownie is and will be a classic. The intense chocolate flavor of the brownie cake, which is wrapped in an airy and slightly chewy cake batter, is simply one of the best-baked goods. In addition, the chocolate cake is incredibly easy to make, it just requires that you keep a close eye on the oven. The baking time varies in particular from oven to oven, and since nobody wants a brownie that is neither dry nor wet, it is important to pay attention during the minutes it is in the oven.
Ingredients
250 g of unsalted butter
200 g chocolate, 50% Valrhona
275 g of sugar
4 eggs
4 tbsp. cocoa
1/4 tsp. salt
200 g wheat flour
Possibly. flaked salt for serving
Here’s how you do it
- Melt the butter and chocolate over low heat in a saucepan, stirring frequently
- Allow the chocolate mixture to cool while you prepare the egg mixture
- Beat eggs and sugar white and foamy. This step can take up to 8-10 minutes
- Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and sift them into the egg mixture
- Carefully fold in the egg mixture so that the air is not knocked out of the cake batter
- Carefully fold the chocolate mixture into the cake batter
- Fold in the cake batter until it is smooth and uniform
- Bake the brownie in the oven at 175 degrees hot air for approx. 25 min. At 20-25 minutes, it becomes very soft in the middle, just as you can see in the pictures. However, always stick a fork in the cake along the way. All ovens bake differently, so perhaps it should take longer than 25 minutes
- Allow the brownie to cool completely and preferably in the fridge before cutting it into suitable pieces. It is only during cooling that the brownie sets. If possible, the brownie will only get better if left overnight in the fridge to set properly. This is especially so if you want a very soft middle
Homemade brownie
It is absolutely not difficult to bake brownies yourself, but it does require that you keep a close eye on your brownie and check on it regularly during baking time. I personally like my brownie to be a little bit more on the chewy side (than dry) and 25min baking time suits my taste and my oven perfectly. However, the brownie will always be a little wet if it is still warm and freshly baked, which is why it must be left to cool completely before serving. I always chill my brownie cake in the fridge. That way, the chocolate cake sets really well. This means that the cake is soft in the middle without flowing out. I also don’t like that the chocolate cake is not a firm consistency.
When the chocolate cake is finished baking, I always sprinkle it with a little flaky salt. First of all, it looks really inviting and then it does something absolutely fantastic for the chocolate taste. The taste becomes much more prominent. The salt plays incredibly well with the sweetness from the sugar and fat from the butter.
Good tips and advice for baking brownies
Very often I chop walnuts or hazelnuts and add them to the batter for my brownie cake. It can also really be recommended and gives a little extra bite and structure to the brownie. Since my son should be allowed to taste the cake too, this time I chose not to put chopped nuts in the brownie batter. He still has too few teeth to be able to chew the delicious nut kernels that the dough usually contains. However, the brownie does not become any less good, and my little boy really approved of the chocolate dream at the first taste test. In general, it is also a mistake to think that children do not like cakes, pastries and other desserts with good dark chocolate. I always use 50% chocolate and kids are always delighted with the taste.
When I was younger and still living at home with my parents, I often made chocolate brownies from Valrhona chocolate, from the local coffee shop in town. After I moved to Odense, however, I have made this brownie recipe countless times before, with just regular dark chocolate from the supermarket. You can try it yourself if you think you can taste a difference in the chocolate quality on the cake.
