Most of the fudge brownies I make are so rich and dense they don’t need frosting, but every so often I crave frosted fudge brownies.
The contrasting textures of a chewy base topped with a sweet, feathery-light chocolate icing satisfies on all counts.
Here’s a link to one of my old favorite frosted brownie recipes. I still love that recipe, but this week I tried a new recipe called Hershey’s Ultimate which is slightly better. In the photo, the Ultimate Fudge Brownies are the ones on the left and my old favorite frosted fudge brownies are on the right.
These new “ultimate” brownies are less sweet, a little taller, chewier, and have a soft butter cream icing rather than the sweeter Texas Sheet Cake type icing. While I like both, it’s nice to have a little variety. Here’s the recipe as I made it. I adjusted the amount of salt and used unsalted butter, weighed the flour for consistency (using too much will give you dry brownies), and added a few notes.
Update: Hershey’s now has a gluten-free version, too!
- 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa, I used natural style**
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter, melted and still hot
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 2 cups (14 oz/390 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1-1/3 cups (6 ounces/170 grams)) all-purpose flour**
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (use 1/4 tsp if using salted butter)
- 1 cup Hershey’s special dark chocolate chips
- 6 tablespoons unsalted or salted butter, softened
- 2-2/3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa, I used natural style
- 1/3 cup whole milk (whole makes a slightly creamier, silkier icing)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 13x9 inch metal pan with nonstick foil or parchment paper.
- Stir together cocoa and baking soda in large bowl. Stir in 1/3 cup of the melted butter, then add boiling water and stir until mixture thickens. Stir in sugar, eggs and remaining 1/3 cup butter.
- Add flour, vanilla and salt; blend completely. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.
- To make the frosting, beat butter in medium bowl. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk, scraping sides of the bowl often. Beat in vanilla. Spread across cooled brownies.
- This last step is optional, but I recommend chilling the brownies, then lifting from the pan and slicing them while they are very cold.
For the flour, make sure not to use too much. If you weigh out 6 oz you'll be fine. If you don't have a scale and are measuring by volume, be sure to aerate and stir the flour and measure it without packing it into to cup. Too much flour can make brownies dry.
Anna says
May 6, 2014 at 7:55 pmSue, thanks for posting the review! Glad you liked them and that you enjoyed the method.
Sue says
May 6, 2014 at 7:05 pmWhoops. I hit submit before I was done. These are excellent. I actually prefer them without the frosting as does my husband. I think it is an apples to oranges comparison to compare these to your other favorite brownies. I like the chewiness of these. I like the brownie/frosting combo of the others. There is a fun factor to making these for the easily amused like me. I liked seeing the cocoa and baking powder foam when adding the hot water. 🙂
Sue says
May 6, 2014 at 6:58 pmI made these today.
Sue says
April 23, 2014 at 6:37 pmI love your other brownie recipe. I will have to make these sometime. I have the Triple Layer Cheesecake in the freezer and the dough for your spicy gingersnaps in the fridge. I considered making brownies instead of cookies but went with cookies. I should have checked your blog yesterday. This post would have swayed me.
Christine from Cook the Story says
April 23, 2014 at 8:29 amThey both look great. How could you possibly choose just one?! 🙂
Anna says
April 22, 2014 at 9:16 pmHate to say it, but I think this one is better.
T. Martin says
April 22, 2014 at 8:33 pmIs your old favorite still #1 or has this recipe taken over the top spot?