June 5, 2017
Black Forest Brownies!
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Dark chocolate chip brownies, cherries in Kirsch, fresh cherries, and even more chocolate on top. The BEST black forest brownies!
Black Forest bakes
One of the main requests I had recently is for something black forest themed. Ever since I posted my no-bake black forest cheesecake you guys have wanted more! I will admit that to me personally anything black forest themed is a bit more Christmas than anything else.. but it’s really not. It’s just SO DELICIOUS.
As I said in my other bakes before, I was never really a fan of black forest themed treats in comparison to others, but now having made my fourth batch of these, the cheesecake itself several times, I am OBSESSED. My Black Forest loaf cake, or my Black Forest drip cake are two other utterly deliciously themed bakes and I just can’t get enough.
Brownies
I made these ever so slightly differently this time by using caster sugar and oh my days it was delicious. I much preferred the flavour, and I feel like it made it more fudgy.
Also, as I think a black forest gateau should use dark chocolate more than anything, I used dark chocolate chips in the brownie batter as well as the extra dark chocolate, but you can swap the chocolate chips that you fold through (not the ones you melt for the batter) to milk chocolate, and the drizzle on top can also be milk chocolate, for these though I prefer dark!
The actual brownie batter won’t taste like dark chocolate itself if you’re worried though… it just makes it perfect. The best way to counter the chocolatiness and make it delicious? Drizzle on some cream or dollop some mascarpone on the side! Just like my triple chocolate brownies, they are HEAVENLY either way!
Gooey brownie texture
To get the gooey, brownie texture, pop your eggs and golden caster sugar into a bowl and whisk them up using an electric hand whisk or stand mixer for a few minutes until the mixture turns pale, thick, and lovely and fluffy, it should have doubled in size and look all mousse-like! You’ll know it’s ready when you lift the whisk out and the mix leaves a soft trail on top for a second or two before sinking back in.
Once that’s ready, gently pour in your cooled melted chocolate mixture and fold it through carefully with a spatula. Take your time with this bit, you don’t want to rush and lose all that lovely air you just whisked in. A little patience here really makes the mixture beautifully light and soft!
Brownie batter
My brownie batter is always quite similar, and that’s because it works really well. It’s super fudgey, and ideal for a theme like black forest. There are certain ‘rules’ to follow to get the best results. This includes making sure to use the correct size tin because the volume of a tin makes SUCH a big difference.
- Chocolate – I’ll always stand by this: using dark chocolate is key to the perfect brownie. I recommend choosing chocolate with at least 70% cocoa solids for the richest flavour.
- Butter – You can go with unsalted block butter or even a good-quality baking spread. Both work well in brownies, so use whatever you have on hand.
- Eggs – I typically use medium eggs, but large eggs are fine too. As a general rule, use 4 medium or 3 large eggs for the best consistency in your brownie batter.
- Sugar – I switch between light brown soft sugar and caster sugar, depending on the flavour, or whatever I have in the cupboard
- Flour – It’s plain flour all the way for brownies. No raising agents needed
- Cocoa Powder – I prefer a strong, high-quality cocoa powder for that deep, intense chocolate flavour. The richer, the better.
Cherries
Adding cherries was a given, and then soaking them in kirsch was even better. The fresh cherries gave it some moisture that made them even more fudgy! Honestly, they are SO DAMN GOOD. You can use the Opies (or other brands of) jar of cherries in kirsch, if you can find them.
If you can’t use kirsch, or alcohol, you can substitute for just cherries on their own, or soak them in cherry juice. You can also substitute the cherries for a tin of cherry pudding mix.
I decided to also go a little bit further with these and give them a bit of a chocolate drizzle, and sprinkle on some chocolate curls as who doesn’t like more chocolate?! You can use milk or white chocolate chips in the middle instead if you wish, but for me, like my Black Forest Fudge Cake, it is dark chocolate all the way!
Decoration
Honestly, it was so worth it. Once the chocolate on top has set, you get that gorgeous contrast, a lovely snap of chocolate followed by the gooey, fudgy perfection underneath. It’s everything you want in a brownie bite! I love keeping mine in the fridge, so they stay extra fudgy and rich, then serving them with a few fresh cherries on the side, it adds a pop of colour and a little burst of freshness that cuts through the sweetness beautifully.
If you fancy switching it up, you can decorate them to suit any mood or occasion. A drizzle of melted white chocolate looks so pretty, or you can scatter over some chopped nuts, crushed biscuits, or even a few chocolate curls for extra texture. Around Christmas time, I love adding a dusting of icing sugar and a few festive sprinkles, they look so good on a dessert table. However you dress them up, they’ll always look impressive and taste even better!
Tips & Tricks
- This recipe lasts for 5-7+ day at room temperature or in the fridge
- These brownies can freeze for 3+ months
- You could add milk or white chocolate chunks to the brownie mix for extra chocolate deliciousness
- I would recommend baking the brownie batter immediately once made for best results
- If you don’t want to use alcohol, you can soak the cherries in cherry juice, but I wouldn’t bother personally. You can also substitute the cherries for a cherry pudding tin.
- I use a 9″ square tin in this recipe
Black Forest Brownies!
Ingredients
Cherries
- 200-300 g cherries (de-stoned and halved)
- 100 ml kirsch (or other cherry liqueur)
Brownies
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 200 g dark chocolate
- 4 medium eggs (or 3 large)
- 275 g caster sugar (or light brown soft sugar)
- 100 g plain flour
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 200 g dark chocolate chips
Optional Topping
- 100 g dark chocolate
- Triple chocolate curls
Instructions
- De-stone and halve the cherries and place into a bowl
- Pour over the kirsch, and let this soak in. Preferably, leave this overnight for best results.
- Preheat your oven to 180ºc/160ºc fan and line a 9″ square baking tray with parchment paper.
- Melt together the butter, and dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water, or in the microwave for 1-2 minutes until melted. Leave to the side to cool to room temperature!
- In a new bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar for a few minutes until the colour has turned pale, is very mousse like, and is doubled in volume
- When whisked, pour the cooled chocolate mix over eggs and fold together carefully.
- Add the cocoa powder and plain flour on top of the chocolate mix and then fold together again
- Pour the cherries soaked in kirsch and liquid into the brownie mix, along with the dark chocolate chips and fold the mixture together.
- Bake in the oven for 25-30+ minutes, until there is a small wobble in the middle of the tray. Sometimes, it may take slightly longer, but do not test with a skewer as this doesn't work for brownies.
- Remove from the oven and let them cool full in the tin.
- Drizzle over the 100g of melted dark chocolate, and then sprinkle on some triple chocolate curls, and set the brownies in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours to set fully.
Notes
- This recipe lasts for 5-7+ day at room temperature or in the fridge
- These brownies can freeze for 3+ months
- You could add milk or white chocolate chunks to the brownie mix for extra chocolate deliciousness
- I would recommend baking the brownie batter immediately once made for best results
- If you don't want to use alcohol, you can soak the cherries in cherry juice, but I wouldn't bother personally. You can also substitute the cherries for a cherry pudding tin.
- I use a 9″ square tin in this recipe
Enjoy!
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If I use frozen cherries instead of fresh should I put them in the mixture still frozen or defrost first?
Still frozen is fine!!
These brownies look and sound amazing!
I’m planning on making these tomorrow but need to substitute the cherries in kirsch for a non alcoholic version.
What would you suggest?
These look delicious and I can’t wait to try the recipe. As I bake for a new mums group I’ll have to omit the alcohol but hopefully that will be ok. Could I use dried cherries instead of fresh ones?
Dried cherries would work well! x
Can you freeze these?
Yes, you can! x
Made this yesterday as a trial run for Christmas, added an almond drizzle and flaked almonds on top -WoW just WoW.
This is definitely our Christmas pudding as everyone in my house loves a brownie not so much any fruited cakes/puddings.
So a big thumbs up from me and my family xx
Hi Jane,
Can you use two jars of 350 g Opies black cherries in kirsch and add then 4tbsps of the Kirsch liquid from the jar at the end as you did instead of the fresh cherries?
Thanks
It may be a little bit too much soft cherry and cause a problem with the bake but it’s worth a go! x
How do you stop all your bulky ingredients sinking to the bottom of the brownies? X
Hiya! my mixture is usually really thick so they don’t sink – if yours is thin, double check to cocoa content of you chocolate and make sure you’re whacking the eggs and sugar for long enough! Hope this helps! x
Could you use glacier cherries instead along with fresh cherries? Or would sticky to fresh cherries throughout be best?
These sound amazing but I can’t have alcohol!
If you use frozen cherries do you use same weight ?
Thank you for any help ,sorry if this has been asked
Help im having a disaster 😩 I’ve made the mix all fine and now my oven has decided to die and doesn’t want to heat up is there a way to keep the mix so I can cook it tomorrow
Hello! Normally I would say no because mixtures should be baked straight away, but its always worth a try if you don’t want to waste it!x
Hi Jane making the cherry kirsch. I showed high and low and went to off licence and got the kirsch but I just went by your recipe ans soaked the Fran cheeries in kirsch but then I read that your suppose to boil up sugar and water and then add the kirch I didn’t do this and now have to make them today and panicking will they be anything like what they need to be? I have the 200 g fresh to add to
I find soaking cherries in kirsch is enough personally x
Made on boxing day for my family. Great recipe and goes amazing with some clotted cream. Will no doubt make these again. I’ve tried a few of your brownie recipes now and all have worked lovely. Thankyou
Hi
I can’t get hold of cherries in kirsch so could I soak frozen cherries in cherry liqueur and use those? And if so would I still add the 4tbsp of liqueur as you have with kirsch?
Thanks
Yes you can do that! xx
Hi. Could I use a tin of cherry pie filling instead of the cherries in kirsch?
Yes!
These have now been in the oven on 180 for 1 hour and 20 mins and they’re still not cooked in the middle, the knife keeps coming out still gooey. The edge is hard and it’s not wobbly but these are supposed to be for work and I’m worried its not going to work out. Not sure what I did wrong
Have you swapped any ingredients? The common culprit is swapping the dark chocolate in the base mixture to milk – that can cause a problem! Then, the next common problem is the mixing process – if you don’t whip the eggs/sugar enough, or you aren’t careful enough when folding the other ingredients in, it can cause massive problems when baking!
These look and sound amazing. unfortunately I am allergic to alcohol so I am wondering if I omitted the kirsch would the recipe still work?
Yes it should!
I’ve made these twice now and they are delish! I had to improvise as I could only get frozen cherries and I used amaretto as it was the only suitable alcohol I had. The amaretto added to the richness and the brownies go beautifully with vanilla ice cream. They are definitely worth the effort!
I made these yesterday, and replaced the fresh cherries with 100g white choc Toblerone. OMG!!! They were made as a birthday gift….definitely kept a piece (or 2) for me!! Thank you x
Sounds great! Do you think substituting the fresh cherries for frozen ones would work?
I haven’t personally tried it but I don’t see why not! Might just take a smidge longer to bake due to the extra moisture!
Hello! Issit ok to use salted butter instead for your brownies recipes? 🙂
Yes you can do, be prepared it might taste saltier!
Just baked these, waiting for them to cool now. They look and smell so good. It’s going to be a real challenge to share them with the family.
Forgot to say, I had one problem – I got the hard crust on top of my brownies. Which is heavenly, don’t get me wrong, but not what I was trying to get.
Any idea what I did wrong? I suspect that I over-whisked the egg/ golden caster sugar. It was more meringue than mousse.
Usually thats down to the oven I find, as mine always have a softer top. What sort of oven do you use? And the thicker the better with the mousse mixture I find!
It’s a gas oven.
That could be it! Try lowering the temp slightly and bake for a little longer next time.
Ok now I have tasted a helluva brownie on earth! and Hell is Beautiful. One of the best ever recipes I have baked, I couldn’t wait tilll fully cooled so I got myself a slightly bigger square that could accomodate on top 2 lovely scoops of vanilla parfait ice cream. You were spot on in your tips, warm and gooey as the ice cream melted on top was just this side of the gluttony sin. I couldn’t find the cherries in kirsch so I had to substitute with italian amarena in sirup plus cherry liqueur, but still it came out great. Thanks and keep the good work going., greetings from the Greek islands.
Oh my! Oh my! Oh my!!!! I have stumbled upon Heaven! I will be making these pronto! They look and sound absolutely delicious!
Awwh thank you Catherine!