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.
Hi Jane,
Could you suggest an alternative to eggs for this recipe?
Thanks
Riya
I’m sure there’s a vegan brownie recipe on here somewhere.
Hi Jane,
There are so many comments on here, so I’m sorry if I repeat something that has been asked already.
Do you think crispy M&M’s would work in place of some of the chocolate? Would it be best to do half and half or would full crispy be okay?
Yes they’d work in place of, or half and half with the chocolate chips!
These came out perfect. As suggested, when cool put them in the fridge. They were soft and fudgey as brownies should be. A complete hit.
Hi Jane,
Have you got any tips for adding a shot of espresso to this? would that work?
Hiya – yes you can that should be delicious, x
Hi Jane, the recipe looks delicious! I was just wondering whether you’ve ever made these with gluten free plain flour, or whether you think they’d turn out okay if I used gf flour? Thank you x
Heyy! I haven’t actually tried these gluten free – but I don’t see why this wouldn’t work! x
I did this today with plain gf flour. The main body of the brownie was pretty normal, but the crackly top crumbled a bit & some fell off.
I recently tried these with gluten free flour and they are just as delicious!!
gf flour works fine ! brownies don’t rly need any gluten or structure, i can’t even tell the difference (:
I made these for my husbands work colleagues with gluten free flour and they were delicious! I only use gluten free flour for baking as my mom is coeliac, nobody ever notices though!
Hi Jane,
the new website looks amazing!
I was wondering if you can help me, how would I make these coffee/espresso brownies?
Also would I be able to remove the 300g of chocolate inside or is that crucial?
Many thanks
Hi Sophie,
I have the same question, i have previously used a Nadiya recipe but Jane’s recipes work a lot better.
Hopefully we will both find out soon.
I made these brownies without the
chocolate chips (forgot to add them!) and
they turned out lovely. So no I don’t think it’s crucial to include them.
Love love love these brownies! So much so that I’m going to be making these for my wedding favours!
I know you’ve said in previous comments that these can be frozen, but do you know how long these can be frozen for and how you would go about storing them in the freezer?
Thank you!
They can typically freeze for 3+ months, and I use a freezeproof container with parchment paper between layers of brownies!
I need to cool my brownies quickly can I put them in the freezer to cook and set and how long for?
Hi was wondering , do these have the chewy texture as that’s what I’m looking for =) also mu sister is dairy intolerant so was going to use flora, as it says baking spread do you think this would be okay?
Yes it would be fine!! x
Hello! Hope you’re well! Would you recommend any particular chocolate bar to use as chunks? I used Sainsbury’s own chocolate bars in white, dark and milk. They’re quite thick but to my surprise they melted in the oven when i expected them to be chunky and give some texture. I’d love actual chunks like the ones in your pics! Thank you xx
I just use any random bars, or chocolate callets!
This is from FAR the best brownie recipe I’ve ever made! However the chocolate chips melt all the time and I don’t have this crusty aspect inside the brownie. I use the Dr. Oetker chocolate chips. Is there any tip or something that I should be doing differently?
It may be that because they are smaller they melt quicker – try chunks of chocolate chopped from a bar instead and see if it helps! x
These are sooooo good! I’m curious – if I baked these without chocolate chips, would they still set up the same? Additionally. I’m wanting more of a firm but still fudgey brownie. Is this possible? Would I just bake for longer? Thank you!!
Hey, they will be slightly less gooey without the chocolate chips and for a fudge brownie bake for the same amount of time but put them in the fridge overnight xx
This so great recipe . How do I stop it from cracking so much on top? When I cut it lots of the top comes off. You don’t seem to have a crust one top of yours? X
Hey, sometimes this can be to do with over whisking the eggs and sugar x
It seems to be undercooked when I take it out the oven, I think I’m whisking it too much ~ would that be the reason? I’m too worried about not whisking it enough. How do i know when I’ve whisked it enough?