Brownie Cake

This brownie cake is rich and fudgy! Made with cocoa powder and bittersweet chocolate it’s full of pure chocolate goodness. Drizzle it with an easy 2-ingredient chocolate ganache to impress your family and friends. I’ve included step by step photos for you to make this cake!

 

If you ask me what’s one dessert I can’t pass up and that has to be a plate of fudgy brownies. But then again there’s a rich chocolate cake. So you know I’m not going to pass up a dessert that combines both into one – this easy chocolate brownie cake. 

Is it a brownie? Is it a cake? These are the two questions you will be asking yourself when you take a bite of this chocolate brownie cake.

And maybe – where’s the ice-cream? Because you’re going to a scoop to pair with this cake. I’ve been dreaming up this cake for awhile now and it took a few attempts to make it perfect. I wanted a texture somewhere between (you guessed it) – brownie and cake!

This has a crunchy top (or bottom since it’s a bundt!), dense fudgy texture like a brownie, but since it’s baked into a cake pan, and I used a little baking powder to give it a bit of a rise, it’s a cake! Hence, brownie cake. Best of both worlds.

And no box mixes needed! This is the ultimate brownie cake made completely from scratch.

See Also:

• These chocolate S’mores cupcakes have a graham cracker bottom, easy chocolate cupcake recipe, topped with a toasted marshmallow frosting!
• If you’re looking for an easy chocolate dessert to serve, then try making homemade chocolate covered Oreos!
• Calling all coconut lovers with these easy coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate! They are must make cookie!

Why You Will Love This Cake

• Chocolate Lover’s Dream! It’s full of chocolate flavor first of all. I used two kinds of chocolate – bittersweet chocolate and Dutch cocoa powder. So you get that dense, fudgy quality you expect from a brownie. But I used just a little baking powder to give it a little lift so it’s not too heavy.
• Made In A Bundt Pan – I love bundt cakes because there is not fussy layers and frosting to deal with. Once the cake is baked just turn it out and you have one beautiful cake to present. I drizzled with a chocolate ganache for some no frills presentation.
• Can Be Made Ahead – This cake can be made ahead 1-2 days ahead of time so it’s easy to present for a special occasion. Just let the cake cool completely and wrap it up. Then right before serving, drizzle with your ganache.
• No electric mixer needed – This chocolate brownie cake recipe is easy to mix up and you don’t even need to bust out your stand mixer.

Recipe Ingredients

• Cocoa Powder – You want to use Dutch process cocoa powder, which is different than natural cocoa powder. It won’t react the same as the Dutch process. I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa. This cocoa also gives it a richer, darker color. 
• Bittersweet Chocolate – You want to use good quality chocolate for this cake. I used 60% chocolate, but I think you could also use 70% chocolate it will just a bit darker/bitter. You can also use chocolate chips.
• Greek Yogurt – I used full fat plain Greek yogurt, but sour cream also works. 
• Unsalted Butter – I always recommend using unsalted butter vs. salted butter. Unsalted butter is fresher, and different brands will vary the amount of salt added so it’s better to be able to control the amount of salt added yourself. If you only have salted butter I would reduce the butter to 1 teaspoon. 
• Boiling Water – You can also swap and use hot coffee instead and skip adding the espresso powder.
• Espresso powder – Or instant coffee granules.
• White Sugar
• Brown sugar – If you don’t have any make your own brown sugar
• Oil – Use a neutral-tasting oil such as canola oil or vegetable oil.
• Eggs – Use room temperature eggs.
• Vanilla
• Flour
• Baking Powder
• Salt
• Heavy Cream

Prep Your Ingredients

A good baker will always read the recipe and prep their ingredients before they start! This step is called “mise en place”. In French, mise en place, literally means “putting everything in it’s place”. Here are a few specific things to prep before you start for this brownie cake:

• Chop your chocolate. You want to chop 6 ounces of bittersweet chocolate and set aside 2 ounces to fold in at the very end.
• Cube your butter. You want your butter cubed so it melts in easily to the chocolate during the double boiler step.
• Bring your eggs to room temperature. I like to set mine a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes while I get everything ready.
• Sift Your Cocoa Powder. You want to use sifted cocoa powder so measure your cocoa powder then sift it to remove any lumps.
• Preheat Your Oven. As always, preheat your oven! This recipe you will set the oven temperature to 325F and position a rack in the center of your oven.

Making The Brownie Cake

Make The Chocolate Mixture

1. Combine your cubed butter and chopped chocolate in a double boiler. You want to just set a heat proof large bowl over a saucepan that has a couple inches of simmering water in it on the stovetop. And stir the butter and chocolate together until smooth and melted.
2. Add cocoa, espresso, and water. Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the sifted cocoa, espresso powder, and boiling water. Your mixture may become grainy and slightly separate during this step. It’s OK!

HEATHER’S BAKING TIP: Boil The Water Then Measure. I tried boiling my water in my microwave but I found that I lost water this way. So I recommend boiling the water on a stovetop or in a teakettle then pour it into your measuring cup for the most accurate measurement.

Mixing The Batter

1. Stir in the sugars then oil. You want to stir in the granulated sugar and light brown sugar. The mixture will be grainy. Then stir in the oil.It may seem like the oil and chocolate don’t want to play well together. But keep stirring it will smooth out and come together.
2. Add the eggs, greek yogurt, and vanilla. You want to use 5 room temperature eggs and stir these into the chocolate mixture. Now stir in the greek yogurt and vanilla extract until it’s smooth and combined.
3. Combine your dry ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Stir in the dry ingredients. Now with a spatula, stir in the flour mixture from step 1, and you want to stir just until the flour has been mixed in.

BAKING 101: Overmixing your cake batter will result in a chewy, tough cake instead of a tender cake. The more you mix, the more the flour becomes hydrated forming gluten- the protein in flour that creates structure. Too much mixing = too much gluten formed. To achieve a perfect texture, leave a few bits of flour remaining.

Finish Up And Bake!

1. Fold in the remaining chocolate. Last but not least, let’s add more chocolate! Stir in the remaining chopped 2 ounces chocolate.
2. Bake! You want to right before adding the brownie batter to your bundt pan, grease it. Then pour in your batter into your cake pan and bake for about 1 hour (to 1 hour and 10 minutes long). Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. You may need to loosen the edges with a knife to get it to release. Cool the baked brownie cake on a wire rack before topping with ganache.
3. Finish With Ganache. I heated some heavy cream (1/2 cup) in a heatproof glass measuring cup in the microwave for 1 minute. Then I added 6 ounces (1/2 bag) of semi-sweet chocolate chips into the cup and then let it sit for 5 minutes. And then stirred until smooth! Once the cake was cooled I drizzled it over the cake and served!

How To Tell When This Brownie Cake Is Done

  Here are two easy ways to tell when this decadent dessert is done so you don’t end up with a dry cake:

1. Wooden Skewer: I like to use a long wooden skewer and insert about halfway down to see moist crumbs not wet batter. You don’t need the skewer to be completely clean -this could actually indicate the cake is overbaked. You may hit a pocket of melted chocolate, so it’s best to check a few spots to be sure. 
2. Bounce Test – Press the top of the cake with your finger, the top should spring back not stay sunken in.

Recipe Variations

• Top with powdered sugar – Skip the chocolate ganache and simply dust with powdered sugar instead. 
• Bake in round cake pans instead – I baked this in a bundt pan but you could bake in two 9-inch cake pans instead. Reduce the baking time.
• Make into a sheet cake – You could also bake this in a 9×13 pan and bake for less time.
• Top with frosting – Instead of the ganache you could also frost this cake. Try my chocolate buttercream frosting instead! Or make a chocolate cream cheese frosting by making my cream cheese frosting and adding 1/2 cup cocoa powder.

Recipe FAQ’s

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