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. This is my all-time favorite recipe. I'd make them more often if I wasn't so lazy about making frosting, but in the end it's always worth it.
The contrasting textures of a chewy base topped with a sweet, feathery-light chocolate icing satisfies on all counts.
Comparing to Other Frosted Fudge Brownies
Here's a link to one of my old favorite frosted brownie recipes. I still love that recipe, but this recipe is slightly better. Here's a photo showing these brownies (on the left) and the old favorites (on the right).
These new are less sweet, a little taller, chewier, and have a soft buttercream 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.
Also, this recipe is originally from Hershey's. I had a link, but they keep rearranging the site so I'm just linking to their main page in case you want to go browse other good brownie recipes.
Recipe
Frosted Fudge Brownies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup natural style unsweetened cocoa powder (60 grams)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅔ cup unsalted butter, melted and still hot (150 grams)
- ½ cup boiling water
- 2 cups granulated sugar (400 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour (170 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt use ¼ tsp if using salted butter
- 1 cup Hershey’s special dark chocolate chips (170 grams)
Frosting
- 6 tablespoons unsalted or salted butter, softened (84 grams)
- 2 ⅔ cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder (40 grams)
- ⅓ cup whole milk (75 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- 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 ⅓ cup of the melted butter, then add boiling water and stir until mixture thickens. Stir in sugar, eggs and remaining ⅓ 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.
Notes
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
Sue, thanks for posting the review! Glad you liked them and that you enjoyed the method.
Sue says
Whoops. 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
I made these today.
Sue says
I 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
They both look great. How could you possibly choose just one?! 🙂
Anna says
Hate to say it, but I think this one is better.
T. Martin says
Is your old favorite still #1 or has this recipe taken over the top spot?