Sometimes, the topping makes a brownie irresistible and that’s the case for these frosted brownies. The brownie base is delicious but the rich frosting makes every bite a treat. You can make these with Dutch-process or regular cocoa, so you may already have everything you need to bake them in your kitchen.
Brownies may look like snack cakes, but they’re in a baked-good league of their own. With more cocoa and less leavening than cake, brownies don’t rise very high in the pan when baking. But the result is a chewy delight that’s either fudgy or a little cakier, depending on the ratio of flour, sugar and butter. Bake a pan of these over the weekend for a few days’ worth of dessert.
Frosted Brownies Ingredients
- Butter: You’ll melt the butter instead of creaming it with sugar, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be softened first.
- Baking cocoa: Cocoa powder is a better choice here than baking chocolate, as you can control the moisture in the brownies.
- Eggs: Room-temperature eggs blend better with other ingredients. Take the eggs out of the fridge before gathering all your other ingredients.
- Sugar: You can use sugar here to control the sweetness of the brownies by using unsweetened versions of other ingredients, like cocoa.
- All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour has a good amount of protein and gluten to make the brownies just the right amount of chewy
- Baking powder: Baking powder is the main raising agent.
- Vanilla extract: Vanilla extract adds a subtle, light but necessary flavor that helps the brownies taste richer.
Frosting:
- Butter: Softened butter mixes very well with confectioner’s sugar to form a spreadable, luscious frosting.
- Confectioner’s sugar: Confectioner’s sugar dissolves very easily and will quickly combine with the butter to form the frosting base.
- Baking cocoa: You don’t need sweetened cocoa powder for the frosting because you already have the confectioner’s sugar mixed in. Use unsweetened cocoa.
- Vanilla extract: As with the brownies, the vanilla gives the frosting that nice, full flavor support.
- Milk: 2% milk helps everything mix smoothly.
Directions
Step 1: Mix the batter
Melt the butter in a saucepan and remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir in the cocoa and then let everything cool. Meanwhile, blend the eggs and sugar until both are blended. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in another bowl and gradually add it to the egg-sugar mixture. Add the vanilla and cooled cocoa mixture until everything is well-blended.
Step 2: Bake the brownies
Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 13×9-inch baking pan. Bake the brownies for 25 to 28 minutes then insert a toothpick in the center of the brownies to test for doneness (be careful not to overbake these). The toothpick should come out clean. Let the brownies cool on a wire rack.
Step 3: Make the frosting
In a large, clean bowl, cream the butter and confectioners sugar until they’re light and fluffy, for five to seven minutes. Beat in the cocoa and vanilla extract and then start adding milk. Keep stirring and adding more milk until the frosting is easy to spread. Once the frosting is ready, spread it over the cooled brownies and cut them into bars.
Frosted Brownies Variations
- Top with chopped nuts or candy: The frosting lip-smacking, but if you want a little more of a crunchy texture add some chopped nuts or candy pieces to the top of the brownies after frosting.
- Add a second flavor: These are chocolate brownies with chocolate frosting and if you’d like a little variety in the flavor add a second layer of frosting. This double frosted brownies recipe, for example, uses vanilla pudding as the flavor for a layer of frosting that sits underneath fudge frosting. You can look at other brownie recipes to find more options.
How to Store Frosted Brownies
Store these brownies in the refrigerator because the frosting contains both butter and milk. While many butter-only buttercreams can be stored at room temperature for a short time, these brownies should not be stored on the counter, even in an airtight container. These brownies can be stored in the refrigerator for as long as two weeks when wrapped well in plastic and then placed in an airtight container.
Can you freeze Frosted Brownies?
You can freeze these brownies after they’ve been frosted but you need to do this in three steps because of that frosting. First, slice the brownies into bars if you haven’t already. While you could freeze a large block of uncut brownies, cutting them now means you can grab a frozen brownie or two without having to remove and defrost the entire pan. Second, place the brownies on a separate flat pan with some space in between each, and place this in the freezer. You’ll freeze the brownies for a short time, enough to harden the frosting. Then, wrap each brownie in plastic wrap and then a layer of foil. Place the packets in an airtight bag or container and store in the freezer for up to two months.
Frosted Brownies Tips
Can you use plain powdered sugar in the frosting?
Yes, you can! Confectioner’s and powdered sugar aren’t quite the same because confectioner’s sugar is powdered sugar plus cornstarch. That’s an advantage when you want to dust a cake or baked good with a layer of sugar because the cornstarch stops the sugar from melting away. But in a frosting, the cornstarch doesn’t matter much, if at all. In grocery stores, you’ll often find powdered sugar has cornstarch listed as an ingredient, meaning it’s really confectioner’s sugar. But if all you have is plain powdered sugar, go ahead and use that. And if you don’t have that and can’t get to the store you can make your own powdered sugar.
What type of cocoa powder should you use?
You can make this recipe with either Dutch-process cocoa or regular cocoa. They’re the same cocoa, except Dutch-process cocoa is treated with an alkaline solution. Dutch-process cocoa gives baked goods a darker brown color and makes the flavor much smoother. If all you have is regular cocoa, you can use that, but the color of the brownies and frosting won’t be as dark brown.
Can you use salted butter in this recipe?
If the butter is lightly salted, you might be able to use it here with caution. Unsalted butter is often preferred for baked goods because it doesn’t add extra sodium, and there’s no risk of any extra saltiness peaking through the rest of the ingredients. And this frosted brownie recipe already contains salt so you don’t need more. Some brands of salted butter are noticeably more salty than others, so be aware of what you’ve got if you want to use salted butter. If it’s really salty, you might not want to use it.
