How do I make fudgy brownies?
The fat-to-flour ratio and the underbaking that separate fudgy brownies from cakey ones.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 45 min
- Read
- 2 min
Short answer
More fat and chocolate, less flour, and take them out while a skewer still comes out with moist crumbs. Brownies that test clean are cake — the underbaking is deliberate and it is what makes them fudgy.
Fudgy and cakey brownies are the same idea with different ratios. More flour and more aeration gives cake; more fat, more chocolate and less mixing gives fudge. Both are legitimate; most people who are disappointed wanted fudge and got cake.
What you'll need
- Dark chocolate
- Butter
- Square tin
- Baking parchment (optional)
- Skewer (optional)
Step by step
- Decide which you actually want.Fudgy: high fat, low flour, minimal aeration. Cakey: more flour, more egg, more beating, sometimes raising agent.
- Melt real chocolate with the butter for fudginess.Cocoa powder alone gives a cakier result. Melted chocolate brings fat, which is what produces the dense fudgy texture.
- Beat the eggs and sugar until pale and thick.This is what gives the thin shiny crust on top. It is the one aeration step worth doing even in a fudgy brownie.
- Fold the flour in gently and stop early.Over-mixing develops gluten and moves the texture towards cake. A few streaks are better than a smooth batter.
- Use a tin the size the recipe specifies.A larger tin gives thinner, drier brownies; a smaller one gives an underbaked middle. Tin size matters more here than in most bakes.
- Line the tin with parchment with overhanging edges.It lets you lift the whole slab out. Brownies stick and cutting them in the tin damages both the tin and the brownies.
- Take them out when a skewer has moist crumbs on it.Not clean. A clean skewer means cake. The centre should still look slightly underdone and it firms as it cools.
- Cool completely before cutting.Warm brownies fall apart. Chilling them for an hour gives clean cuts, and many people prefer them cold anyway.
Tips
- Salt is transformative in brownies. A generous pinch in the batter and flaky salt on top makes a noticeable difference.
- Wipe the knife between cuts with a hot cloth for clean edges.
- Brownies keep for several days airtight and freeze very well cut into individual squares.
Common mistakes
- Baking until the skewer comes out clean — That is the test for cake. Brownies should come out with moist crumbs and firm up as they cool.
- Over-mixing after adding the flour — It develops gluten and produces a cakier, tougher texture rather than a dense fudgy one.
- Cutting them warm — They crumble and stick. Cooling completely, or chilling, gives clean squares.
Questions people ask
How do I make brownies fudgy rather than cakey?
Use melted chocolate and plenty of butter, keep the flour low, fold rather than beat once the flour is in, and take them out while the centre is still slightly underbaked.
How do I get a shiny crust on brownies?
Beat the eggs and sugar until pale and thick before adding anything else. That dissolved sugar rising to the surface is what forms the thin crackly top.