The Best Cakey Brownies Recipe
Did you ever make “Disgustingly Rich Brownies” growing up? These cakey brownies are still my favorite brownie recipe!
Today is my guy’s birthday. I always love spoiling him with fun baked goodies, but this week has been extra special. Since baking is a little hard for me this month (I’m not allowed to look down much), easy recipes are my go to.
On Saturday morning I got a craving for these brownies because, well, they really are the best brownies you can make at home and luckily he thought they sounded yummy too!
These “Disgustingly Rich Brownies” are a recipe from a cookbook I used as a kid. The tagline was “these are only for people who’ve been really good recently,” (underline included). I’m pretty sure the recipe was on page 60 and the pages were stuck together due to extensive reference in our house!
The best memory about this brownie recipe with cocoa powder, however, was when my friend and I made them on our own. We were in elementary school and missed the ¼ teaspoon of salt, reading instead ¼ cup of salt! Disgustingly rich went straight disgusting in no time! I’d like to pretend we were ahead of the salted chocolate trend, but you know that’s not true…
CONTENTS
The Best Cakey Brownies
So what makes these the best brownies? Well, you have to make them to really know. They’re rich but not too rich, dense but not too dense, and so easy to make (kind of like my Scottish tiffin come to think of it!). Short of using a box mix, these homemade cakey brownies are as easy as it comes.
The added pecan halves (you could use any nut by the way) are honestly the hardest part – well, besides waiting for them to cool of course!
Brownie Recipe with Cocoa Powder
Apparently brownie recipes exist in this world without cocoa powder, which I think is just mind boggling! I will say that the cocoa powder gives it a more grown up taste – not so fudgy and sweet (which I also love).
This recipe makes the best brownies the day of baking and the day after. If you haven’t eaten them all by the next day, you’ll notice they start to dry out, but I can’t imagine you’ll have any left by then!
How to Store Cakey Brownies
Let’s say you couldn’t eat the whole batch, however, and wanted to keep them fresh. The first thing is to make sure their container is sealed.
After a day or two, however, I’d highly recommend freezing these cakey brownies to keep them fresh. You can wrap them individually (preferably in beeswax paper) or just put cut brownies into a sealed container.
To defrost, simply remove form the freezer 20-30 minutes before you want to eat them at room temp. You could always put them into a warm oven if you want too!
Chocolate Recipes
Chocolate lovers are serious about their love of chocolate – my husband is. And he’s a purest – he wants straight chocolate morsels rather than chocolate with a bunch of stuff added in!
Other favorite chocolate recipes in our house include this Mexican Chocolate Cake, these Chocolate Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bars, and chocolate dipped figs! And don’t miss that no bake Chocolate Tiffin recipe I mentioned above! For breakfast, we sometimes have chocolate rolls too – it’s serious around here.
And if you love cookies as much as we do, you’ll love these peanut butter granola cookies, muesli cookies, saffron shortbread, key lime cookies, and matcha cookies!
BEST CAKEY BROWNIE RECIPE
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter melted
- 2 cups sugar
- ¾ cup cocoa
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1¼ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 20 pecan halves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9 inch square pan with nonstick spray.
- Melt butter in microwave or on stovetop, being careful not to burn butter.
- Meanwhile, mix cocoa and sugar in a stand mixer or large bowl. Add melted butter.
- Beat eggs in a small bowl. Add beaten eggs and vanilla to sugar mixture. Mix well.
- Add flour and salt. Mix until just smooth.
- Pour batter into baking pan. Place pecan halves in rows across top of batter.
- Bake 45-55 minutes until sides just begin o pull away from the side. Let cool. Cut into squares.
Notes
Made this recipe?
I’d love to hear how it turned out. Leave a comment and rating below.
Instagram: Tag me @lucismorsels Save This Recipe to Pinterest
Quite good! Taste-tested chopped pecans in half and whole pecans topped on the other half–can’t go wrong, but they did caramelize nicely on top. Can’t help adding chile to everything in New Mexico… added half teaspoon chipotle powder and love the additional warmth. Super yummy, thanks!
Music to my ears! I haven’t tried these brownies with chile, but I have this Chile Chocolate Cake recipe along those lines, so I can imagine it’s deliciousness!! xo, Luci
No baking soda or powder?
Nope! They’re fairly dense (as far as brownies go)! And the eggs bake up nicely! I hope you love them!!
Great recipe and great brownies! Just what I was looking for. I did cut the sugar down by half, as I always do in baked goods. They are excellent! Thank you, Luci!
Always a yummy idea!! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! – Luci
This recipe is great. My favorite brownies. I’ve made these 3 times so far and they are the best. I sent some with my husband to bring to the girls at work and they loved them. I’ll most likely make them by the end of this coming weekend….yeah..that good. My search has ended here. Thank you Luci!
Hi Carole! This makes me so happy, but I totally understand. Once you find that perfect recipe, there’s no need to try more! xo, Luci
This recipe is so good! I keep making it.
These brownies are so easy to put together with regular pantry items and the result is magically delicious! My husband said he thinks they are the BEST brownies he has ever had in his entire life! This recipe will be on repeat at our house for sure. Thanks for the inspiration and the recipe.
This MADE MY DAY!!! I’m so happy you both love them so much!! xo, Luci
Very delicious fresh… after letting them sit for a day the edges became so hard. And yes they were stored properly. Any tips?
Hi Grace! So sorry to hear they dried out so much. A few ideas:
Glass pans retain heat longer, so if you’re using a glass pan, I’d switch to another material or do one of the two below ideas
Otherwise, you can trying baking them for 3-5 minutes lessor try dropping the oven temperature to 325º.
I hope this helps!
xo,
Luci
Sound great! Is the cocoa powder unsweetened or not? Can’t wait to try them! Thanks!!
Hi Rose! The cocoa powder is unsweetened. Enjoy!! xo, Luci
Finally! A cakey brownie recipe with just the right amount of denseness. I’m not a fan of brownies that are so dense it’s like eating fudge. Thanks Luci!
I am SO happy I found this recipe!!
Thank you for sharing, I added chocolate chips and oh my goodness they were amazing. Have made twice so far and will be making whenever I get the craving.
Absolutely love this recipe. Cannot praise it enough and so simple too.
Thank you ❤️
Walnuts work great too, and these turned out delicious. An 8×8 worked for me but I would definitely just find a 9×9 to use.
I only have a 8×8 dish too. May I know long did it take you to bake the brownies? Also, were the brownies too tall? Thanks in advance for the info! 🙂
Hi , how are you ? Your brownies look so good . Can’t wait to try them . I have a question about the butter used . Salted or unsalted ? Thank you
The following is likely controversial, but I never cook with unsalted butter. I find the salt in butter to enhance the flavors. You can certainly use unsalted if you’d like, but I don’t recall the original kids’ cookbook recipe calling for it. xo, Luci
Has anyone tried this recipe with browned butter?
HI Tiffany! Not that I know of, but I’m sure it would be good. That nutty flavor from the browned butter would probably be subtle but lovely! Let me know if you try it and how it goes. xo, Luci
Do you AP or self rising flour
I used all purpose flour. xo Luci
Excellent recipe if you love cake-type, moist brownies. They turned out perfectly, thank you for this recipe. The second time I made them I added chopped pecans instead of pecan halves on top, and reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup because I prefer semi-sweet dark chocolate. I’m going to make them again and substitute some some of the flour with protein powder & oatmeal to see if I can also make a health bar recipe with them. But the original recipe is a keeper!
I love how much you’re working with the recipe to make it perfect for you!! I do love chopped pecans too, but so many people are purists about not having nuts in their brownies…I found this as a happy medium. But if I were making them just for me, I’d chop them up too! xo, Luci
My 17 is some such purist. I’m considering disinheritance. Thank you for the recipe.
What size pan should I use?
Hi Emma! You want to use a 9″ square pan. xo, Luci
after numerous attempts with other recipes, this one works the best for making medicated brownies. slightly cakey and fudgy at the same time, delicious, I’ve tried with chocolate chips but it gets too gooey. fantastic recipe
The absolute best brownie recipe. Easy, simple ingredients, not too sweet, not too bitter, just perfect. And the texture, what I was looking for because I don’t live fudgy brownies. Thank you 🙏🏼
Oh yay!! This makes me oh so happy. I knew there had to be others out there like me who are not enamored with fudgy brownies!! xo, Luci
Hello! How could I adjust the recipe to suit a 9×13” pan?
Hi Lauren! I haven’t done it yet, but I think i need to figure this one out! A general rule of thumb is to do 1.5x the recipe. If you change the servings in the recipe card above to 30, that’ll do the math for you. And for baking, try 375° and start checking for doneness round 35 minutes. I’m not sure on the time. I hope this helps. xo Luci
Which is better bake for 45 minutes or 55 minutes in metal nonstick pan
I’m making them now.
Hi Carolyn! I can only recommend starting to check them at 45 minutes. Using a toothpick, insert into the center then and if batter comes out, it needs more time. If it’s clean or you get crumbs, pull them out and let cool!
Hi Luci, found your recipe last night and made the brownies early this morning. My grandson took his first bite of the brownie cake and his exact words were “Grandma you really upped your baking skills”. What he doesn’t know is that I used your recipe and want to thank you for sharing it!
I did however use two 4×4 pans and cooked them in my air fryer toaster oven on bake setting at 325 degrees for approximately 35 minutes.
THIS is the best compliment!! You know what I extra love is that this recipe is from my childhood cookbook. If you ever want to bake it with him.
Thanks for the air fryer instructions. I know a lot of people will want that info.
xo,
Luci
I am baking this brownies right i can’t wait untill the timer goes off i tested the batter and its so yummy
Isn’t it so good? I’m tempted to say I like the batter more, which probably would put me in recipe jail, but it’s just so tasty. I hope you loved the brownies just as much!!
Found it! This is THE brownie. Thank you. Sometimes you are looking for a nice brownie to give guests, with a scoop of good quality vanilla ice cream. I am foregoing turkey this year and having a gooey homemade lasagna and garlic bread and big healthy salad. So I was looking for a tasty brownie to pair with refreshing ice cream. It’s actually not too heavy, maybe because it’s not a big piece of cake with sweet icing. This is great. 😊
Lee! That all sounds DELICIOUS!!!! Happy cooking and baking!
I have never liked brownie recipes with oil, so this one is a game changer for me. I was a little skeptical before trying it out, but this is now my go-to brownie recipe!
I made this vegan and gluten free with appropriate substitutes and these came out amazing!
Wow! Those are difficult substitutes to get just right. WELL DONE!!!
Hey, please if you don’t mind sharing your substitutions?? I want to make them for my vegan bestfriend ! Did you use soy? She is soy free as well.
Do brownies get any better than this? Fantastic rcipe and that texture… oh wow!
I can never get tired of brownis and always look for a recipe to experiment with – like yours!
Love the addition of the pecan on top of each piece. Thanks for the recipe!
Brownies that aren’t too dense are a hit in my house, so we all loved this best cakey brownie recipe. Thank you!
My kids love these brownies! The texture and chocolate flavor is just right.