You can make these “browniemals” without decorating them – they are deliciously fudgey and decadent in themselves – or go all out. I’ve made these with orange, pink, black, blue, white and grey food dyes, but use whatever you like or have to hand. And if you like them even more gooey, bake them for a few minutes less.
Prep time: 15-20 minutes, plus cooling and decorating
Bake time: 35 minutes
Makes: 12
Ingredients
250g unsalted butter, cubed
¼ tsp salt
190g light brown sugar
190g caster sugar
3 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
85g cocoa powder
95g plain flour
250g roughly chopped chocolate/chocolate chips
To decorate
100g icing sugar
20g egg whites
Gel food dye
200g white chocolate, plus food dyes suitable for chocolate. Or use pre-coloured candy coatings/candy melts
Coloured candy buttons (for ears, fins, etc)
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/400F/gas mark 6.
Grease the base and sides of a 23cm square tin. Line the base with greaseproof paper.
Add the butter, salt and sugars to a pan and stir over low heat until melted.
Remove from the heat, add the eggs, egg yolk and vanilla paste and whisk until the mixture is pale.
Sieve in the cocoa powder and flour, add the chocolate chips and then whisk until just combined (don’t overmix).
Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin.
Bake for 35 minutes or until crackly on top and firm, but still slightly fudgey.
Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then run a knife around the edges and turn out on to a wire rack. Leave to cool completely before trimming off the edges and cutting into 12 neat slices.
If you are decorating the brownies, make the royal icing while they cool. Whisk together the icing sugar and egg until smooth, then divide among different bowls before colouring. Use the photograph as a guide to make polar bears, whales and/or penguins.
Cover half of each brownie with melted chocolate, coloured as required – place the brownie on a wire rack with a sheet of baking paper underneath and drizzle the chocolate over with a spoon. (Tip: use white food dye to make the chocolate white rather than yellowy.) Before the chocolate sets, add the chocolate buttons to make ears, fins etc. Once set, add the facial details using royal icing.
