It's a Morse Code Birthday

Decadent, Decadent, Decadent

Those are the 3 words I would use to sum up this brownie. It is mostly made of butter, chocolate, eggs and sugar and has very little flour in it. It is very rich. As I handed out the pieces, I instructed everyone to “be careful with those – they’re dangerous.”

I really made this batch for Boyfriend’s birthday but after having 2 bites and almost suffering a heart attack, I decided it would be smart to share. The pieces that stayed at home were meant to be cut into small, dainty pieces with “happy birthday” written on them. But as it always happens, several snafus occurred to prevent this from happening. First , I purchased food color gel instead of the gel-based cake decorating pens. I don’t think they sell them here in Norway. The packaging on the food color was in German so I stood no chance. I went home with food color but no frosting or frosting ingredients to color. Of course, I don’t figure this out until 11 at night when I’m still up baking the brownies. Being the Kitchen MacGyver that I am, I decided to thin out a little of the leftover marscapone cheese with cream to make the frosting. Then I added some powdered sugar so it wouldn’t taste like ass. A funny thing started to happen – the more powdered sugar I put into the frosting, the more liquidy the frosting got until it turned into a glaze. A blue, liquidy glaze that did not hold a shape. The “happy B-day” letters on Boyfriend’s Birthday Brownies gathered into dots. When Boyfriend saw them on his birthday morning, he thought they were in Morse Code.

None the less, these brownies are PACKED with chocolate. Decadent, rich, thick and so chocolatey it will blow your socks off. For me, personally, it was a bit too rich. I could only eat one piece of this maybe once a year. I did, however, go all the way and use a very high quality chocolate. I felt that since the dessert was made almost entirely of chocolate, I would spring for the Valrhona and I am so glad I did. High quality chocolate is essential in my book so when possible – use the good stuff. You can definitely taste the difference between this and something made using Hershey’s (or even Freia) chocolate.

Chocolate Marscapone Brownies

Adapted from Confession of a Tart
3 oz. chocolate, chopped fine
1 ¼ c. sugar
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1 cup butter
3 eggs at room temperature
½ cup marscapone cheese
½ cup cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
½ cup flour

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, 160 degrees C. Butter an 8x8 inch baking pan.

Place the chopped chocolate into a large mixing bowl. Melt the butter in a pan until just boiling. Immediately pour the butter over the chocolate and let it sit for 30 seconds. Whisk the butter and the chocolate until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is glossy and smooth.

Sift the sugar, cocoa powder and espresso powder into the chocolate and butter mixture. Fold in the sugar and cocoa until it is well mixed.

Beat in the marcapone cheese, eggs, and vanilla until well mixed.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour and the salt until well combined. Pour the flour into the wet mix and fold gently until the flour is mostly incorporated. Do not overmix.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and set it in a rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for 45 – 55 minutes. Check the brownies at the 35 minute mark to make sure they are not cooking too fast and adjust the time as necessary. The brownie is done when a tester inserted into the middle of the brownie comes out clean. Let the brownies cool for 30 minutes before starting the ganache frosting.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting
6 oz. finely chopped chocolate
6 Tbs heavy cream
3 Tbs unsalted butter
2 Tbs sugar

Place the chocolate into a medium sized mixing bowl. Combine the cream, butter, and sugar in a saucepan and melt on the stove. Bring the mixture to just under its boiling point and immediately pour over the chocolate. Let it stand for 30 seconds before stirring it. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the result is a thick, glossy and smooth mixture. Spread the mixture over the brownies while the mixture is still hot.

Let the ganache cool and stiffen before cutting. You can put it in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.