Triple Chocolate Brownie Recipe
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If you are looking for the ultimate triple chocolate brownie recipe, then these rich, indulgent and delicious brownies are the ones to bake. Packed with triple chocolate chunks, and with the perfect balance of chocolate throughout, these brownies have the delicious fudgy texture every baker is after.
Whether you are baking for birthdays, afternoon treats, a family gathering, or simply trying to satisfy a chocolate craving, this recipe is the one you will turn to again and again.
Note’s from The Patisserie
I have made these brownies well over five hundred times now, in this base form and with extra flavours throughout, so I feel like somewhat of an expert now. They are thick, fudgy and I have tested this recipe over and over to try and produce the best brownie ever…
- Deep chocolate flavour from a dark chocolate base
- Three chocolates folded through for extra indulgence
- Easy to follow method
- Perfect for freezing and making ahead
- Soft, gooey and fudgy texture all in one
- Great for bake sales, parties, and for use as a base brownie for other flavours
This recipe is part of a ‘back to basics’ series on my blog where I am trying to provide as much information on the basics of baking, to make you a better bake. I firmly believe that once you crack the basics, you can have a lot more fun with baking.
Ingredient notes + tips
The chocolate in the base
This recipe has the best flavour balance, but it does use dark chocolate in the base. This ingredient is particularly important for a few reasons. The higher cocoa solids (I would always recommend 70% dark chocolate or higher) helps create a rich chocolate flavour, but it also has naturally less sugar and milk in the chocolate.
Dark chocolate works best in the brownie base because it creates a richer chocolate flavour and helps achieve that classic fudgy texture. With a higher cocoa content and less added sugar than milk chocolate, it provides a deeper taste and balances the sweetness of the brownie mixture, and with the addition of the rest of the ingredients, provides the best base.
Personally, I would recommend using cooking chocolate such as this one, or using a basic chocolate from the shop. You do not need to use a fancy brand of chocolate for the base mixture.
The rest of the ingredients:
- Butter – I would recommend using block unsalted butter for the base of a brownie, or a baking spread. Generally, block butter may likely create a better set compared to a spread due to it’s less process nature.
- Sugar – You can use caster sugar, golden caster sugar, light brown soft sugar or even dark brown soft sugar. For a basic triple chocolate, I usually use white caster sugar.
- Eggs – to make it slightly easier, this recipe is formulated to use four medium eggs, or three large eggs.
- Flour – it’s important to use plain flour with no raising agent in it – if you use self raising flour, it will cause a cake texture. If you don’t have plain flour, it may also be known as all-purpose flour
- Cocoa – I would ALWAYS recommend using a good quality cocoa, with a high cocoa percentage. I would suggest not using a hot chocolate powder as they are mainly sugar and not cocoa.
Tops tips to making the best brownies
The method behind making these brownies, other than the importance of the chocolate base, is what makes these brownies brilliant and the wonderful texture that they have. Make sure to check out the full recipe and method in the recipe card
Whisking the eggs and the sugar
One of the most important steps in making perfect homemade brownies is whisking the eggs and sugar correctly. This stage creates a thick, mousse-like mixture that forms the foundation of the brownie texture.
You need to whisk the eggs and sugar for several minutes until the mixture becomes:
- Noticeably paler in colour
- Thick and mousse-like
- More than doubled in volume
Do not rush this step. A quick mix simply won’t create the same result, and skipping proper whisking can affect the final texture of your brownies. It’s easier to use a stand mixer or hand mixer because they are quickly, but you do not need to. You just need to whisk for quite a bit longer by hand to get the same texture
Folding the ingredients together
Once your egg mixture has reached the correct mousse-like consistency, gently fold in the melted chocolate and butter mixture, followed by the flour and cocoa powder. This stage should always be done by hand.
Mixing too aggressively can deflate the air you’ve created during whisking, leaving you with a thinner batter and affecting the final brownie texture. So, make sure to fold slowly and carefully in a figure of eight pattern, keep as much air in the mixture as possible, and avoid over mixing.
Using the correct tin and oven setting
As well as making sure to use the correct ingredients, following the top tips above, it is so important to use the correct size tin. I use a 9” square metal tin for my brownies, and for the best results, it’s important to use this too.
Using a smaller tin can cause problems with the bake as the volume difference is much larger than people may realise. An 8” square tin is roughly 25% smaller in volume, and a 7” square tin is 50% less. Also, using silicone or glass or ceramic instead of metal can cause a problem due to how they conduct heat in the oven.
I always bake brownies on the fan setting in my fan oven, so I bake at 160ºc. I bake them for 25 minutes on the dot as I know my oven well, and when the 25 minutes is up, there is a small wobble in the middle.
As ovens vary SO much, even if you think they are all set to ‘the same’ setting, there is a very high chance they are not. Timings can therefore vary, so keep an eye on them and adjust accordingly.
FAQs
Yes, you definitely can. The brownies will still be delicious without (might take a couple of minutes less time to bake)
This is likely due to the brownies being over baked, but they can also be over mixed.
Definitely! You can add in flavour extracts really easily when folding in the chocolate/butter mixture to the eggs and sugar. I would use 1-2 tsps of a strong extract such as vanilla, orange or mint.
Yes, but they won’t have set yet so if they are cut warm, they may still be very gooey. They are still fine to eat, but generally we recommend setting the brownies fully, and the warming a piece through in the microwave if you have one
Brownies do naturally sink slightly when cooling, but if they have sunk a lot it could be due to adding too much air into the eggs and sugar at the start, under baking the brownies, or opening the oven door too early to check on them.
Yes! You can use all white chocolate, all milk chocolate, all dark chocolate or whatever mix you want folded into the brownie mix.
Triple Chocolate Brownie Recipe
Ingredients
- 200 g dark chocolate (70%+ cocoa content)
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 3 large eggs (or 4 medium)
- 275 g caster sugar
- 100 g plain flour
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 100 g white chocolate (chips/chunks)
- 100 g milk chocolate (chips/chunks)
- 100 g dark chocolate (chips/chunks)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180ºc/160ºc fan and line a 9″ square baking tray with parchment paper.
- Melt together the unsalted butter and dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water, on the microwave for 1-2 minutes until melted.
- Leave to the side to cool to room temperature for 5-10 minutes
- In a new bowl, whisk together the eggs & caster sugar for a few minutes until the colour has turned pale, is very mousse like, and is double the original volume
- You will know its done because when you lift the whisk up out of the mix it should leave a trail for a couple of seconds before disappearing
- When whisked, pour the cooled chocolate mix over eggs and fold together carefully.
- Once completely combined, add the cocoa powder and plain flour on top of the chocolate mix and then fold together again
- Once combined well, fold through the chocolate chips and pour into the prepared tin
- Bake in the oven for 25-30+ minutes until there is a small wobble in the middle.
- Once baked, leave to cool in the tin completely. The, set the the brownies in the fridge for 3+ hours for best results.
Notes
- These brownies will last for up to one week in the fridge or at room temperature on a cool day
- These brownies can freeze for 3+ months
- I use this 9″ square tin in this recipe
Storage and Freezing
These brownies are great as they do last really well. As well as being delicious on the day of baking, they also last for up to a week either at room temperature on a cooler day, but also in the fridge. I prefer mine in the fridge, as it keeps the fudge texture.
These brownies will also last for 3+ months, in the freezer. I would recommend letting the brownies bake and cool fully, and then portioning before freezing.
If I use a 9 x 13 inch tin for these brownies and I need to adhust the recipe x1.5- how many eggs would be needed?
Use medium eggs (a normal batch would be four) and then you can use 6 total x
All of your recipes are incredible, but I always find myself coming back to this one!! Hands down the best brownies I have ever tasted (and I have sampled many!) Thank you Jane for sharing the joy of baking over lockdown and beyond X
I love all your recipes but struggled with this one – I thought I followed the recipe exactly but I must have done something wrong. They have been baking for 50 mins and the middle is still moving when I give them a shake!
A couple of questions before I give them another go- I used my KitchenAid for the first whisk. When I did the folding, I used a spatula- could this be where I went wrong? What implement should I have used for folding?
The only other thing is I set the oven to 160c because I have a fan oven – next time should I go 170c or did it go wrong in the mixing?
Thanks so much- love your blog so much!!
What chocolate did you use? And what cocoa content was it? – the whisk is correct, and folding with a spatula is also correct. Sometimes it can be the chocolate, sometimes it can be not whisked enough in the beginning, and sometimes its the oven. Brownies should have an ever so slight wobble when they come as they will cool and set, but it shouldn’t be raw mix x
Hi Jane
When I melted the chocolate with the butter I used Lidl Dark chocolate and it was 75%. Maybe it was too cheap or too low in cocoa?
I whisked the eggs and sugar in my kitchen aid until it was double in size and pale- it took around 5-6 mins. I then poured the cooled chocolate mix in there and folded it very carefully to not knock air out. That took a while… (my arm was hurting!)
When I took them out of the oven, there was a slight wobble but when I went to eat them they tasted cakey not like brownies and didn’t have that cracked brownie top, like in your pictures above. I presume because they’d been in the oven too long?
Thanks so much for your help! I will definitely give them another go until I get there !
Ahh so all of the stuff you did sounds absolutely fine, it just sounds over baked! xx
Okay thanks so much. I’ll give them another go then!
Thanks for your advice ! I made them again tonight and took them out after 30 mins and they were perfect !! Thanks again !
I’ve baked brownies 4 times now and every time they’re not baked in the middle I’ve tried baking it longer but it gets beyond 5 mins and it’s still the same. It’s so frustrating and puts me off trying again.
Best brownies i’ve ever had.
If I were to add nuts to this recipe, would any of other ingredients need adjusting or can I just add them in as an extra? Thank you x
I would reduce the chocolate chips to maybe 200g, and add up to 150g nuts x
Thank you, they were amazing. Loved the gooey structure with the crunchy chocolate chips in it. It took 35 minutes on 170oC for my oven, and I use an oven within the microwave. My friends called them divine!
Best brownie recipe ever – think the whisking made all the difference. My friends and family loved them!
Just another quick question!
In your recipes that you upload, what quantity of bakes do you make? For example serves 12, 16 etc.
And will reducing the amount of the recipe affect the size/height in a 9″ tin? Xx
I’m not sure I understand sorry? Do you mean how many does the recipe serve? – how many it serves is up to you, but the servings are listed on the recipe card for what I do. And changing the recipe in any way can affect how it bakes! x
Would a 20cm square tin be okay to use? X
Ideally you would use the 9″ square, as the volume of the 8″ is smaller so can make it take longer to bake/be too gooey in the middle! x
Tried this last week and oh my goodness they went down a treat! They barely lasted a day in our house! I want to perfect it though, I was wondering which attachment on stand mixer would you recommend for this? Do you use the whisk attachment or beater for best results? Thank you
You whisk the eggs/sugar, and then you use your arm and a spatula to fold the rest, you don’t use an electric mixer for that bit!
Hi Jane!
How many grams (approx.) is a serving of brownie?
Add the weights up, and divide by how many you want to cut them into for an estimate. x
My favourite brownie recipe by far!