Perfect your brownie baking skills with these easy tips on how to make homemade chewy fudgy brownies from scratch.
Picture this. You slice into a freshly baked batch of homemade chocolate brownies only to find that they’re dry, cakey and over-baked. Is there anything more disappointing? Well if you’re wondering how to master perfectly chewy fudgy brownies then you are in the right place. Below I’ve shared all my secrets on how to make fudgy brownies without fail!
How to make fudgy brownies
Follow these 5 baking tips to bake the best chewy fudgy brownies from scratch every time.
1. Use good quality dark chocolate
For chewy fudgy brownies, I always use a high quality 70% dark chocolate such as Menier or Lindt. Although slightly more pricy, I promise those extra pennies will be well worth it and make a huge difference to the resulting texture of your brownies. Both Menier Swiss Dark Chocolate and Lindt Excellence 70% Dark melt really well and perfectly balance bitterness and sweetness.
Okay, so you may be thinking…I really don’t like dark chocolate, do I have to use it? Once mixed with butter and sugar, dark chocolate in brownies tastes completely different from just eating a plain bar of dark chocolate. You’ll just have to trust me on this!
2. Whisk the sugar and eggs until pale and frothy
It may seem strange to whisk or add air into any of the brownie ingredients, but this step is proven to transform a brownie’s texture from cakey to fudgy.
Whisk the sugar and eggs for 60-90 seconds until pale in colour and frothy, otherwise known as the “ribbon-stage”. This ensures the sugar is fully dissolved as it enters the oven, resulting in a fudgy brownie texture with a paper-thin crinkly top.
3. Gently fold in the flour
Ever heard of the figure of eight technique? It’s time to put it into practice. Once you’ve added the flour, use a wooden spoon or spatula to drag the flour through the mixture in a figure of eight motion until everything is fully combined. This will prevent overworking the mixture or adding any more air into it, which would make the brownies cakey.
I should also say not to add too much flour either. Less flour = fudgier brownies. For all my brownie recipes, like these Kinder Bueno Brownies, I stick to 150g self-raising flour. This is enough flour to give the brownies structure without drying them out, and the raising agent in the flour helps give the brownies some height.
4. Under-baked is always best
Did you know that once baked, brownies continue to cook as they cool down? That’s why under-baking your brownies is essential to achieving a fudgy texture. Here’s what to look for to know if the brownies are baked and ready to take out of the oven:
- The top is no longer shiny or wet
- Cracks have started to show around the outside edge of the brownies
- If you give the baking tin a gentle shake, the brownies should wobble underneath
5. Leave to cool completely before slicing
This is the most important tip and will seriously test your will power! Slice your brownies whilst warm and they’ll fall apart, resulting in a hot (but still tasty) mess. Whereas leaving them to cool completely gives the brownies time to set properly and turn fudgy. I always suggest leaving them to cool in the baking tin for at least 4 hours. Or, you can bake them the day before and leave them overnight for an even fudgier texture!
That’s it! Now you know how to make homemade fudgy brownies from scratch every time 😍 Time to put it to the test and try my favourite fudgy brownie recipe: Lotus Biscoff Brownies!