June 5, 2017
Black Forest Brownies!
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Dark chocolate chip brownies, cherries in Kirsch, fresh cherries, and even more chocolate on top. The BEST black forest brownies!
Black Forest!
One of the main requests I had recently is for something black forest themed! Ever since I posted my no-bake black forest cheesecake you guys have wanted more!
I will admit that to me personally anything black forest themed is a bit more Christmas than anything else.. but its really not. It’s just SO DELICIOUS.
As I said in my no-bake black forest cheesecake I was never really a fan of black forest themed treats in comparison to others, but now having made my fourth batch of these, the cheesecake itself several times, I am OBSESSED.
Brownies
I made these ever so slightly differently this time by using golden caster sugar and oh my days it was delicious. I much preferred the flavour, and I feel like it made it more fudgey.
Also, as I think a black forest gateau uses dark chocolate more than anything, I used dark chocolate chips in the brownie batter as well as the extra.
Cherries
Adding the cherries that had already been soaked in kirsch, some extra kirsch liquid, and then the fresh cherries gave it some moisture that made them even more fudgey! Honestly, they are SO DAMN GOOD.
I decided to also go a little bit further with these and give them a bit of a chocolate drizzle, and sprinkle on some chocolate curls as who doesn’t like more chocolate?!
Decoration
Honestly, it was worth it. Once the chocolate on top has set, you get the crunch of the chocolate, and then the gooey delicious perfect fudgey brownie underneath.
Chocolate
I obviously use the dark chocolate, but you can swap the chocolate chips that you fold through (Not the ones you melt for the batter) to milk chocolate, and the drizzle on top can also be milk chocolate, for these though I prefer dark!
The actual brownie batter won’t taste like dark chocolate itself if you’re worried though.. it just makes it perfect. The best way to counter the chocolateyness and make it delicious? Drizzle on some cream, or dollop some mascarpone on the side! Just like my triple chocolate brownies, they are HEAVENLY either way. I hope you love these as much as I do! Enjoy! x
Black Forest Brownies!
Ingredients
Brownies
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 200 g dark chocolate
- 3 large eggs (or 4 medium)
- 275 g golden caster sugar
- 90 g plain flour
- 35 g cocoa powder
- 200-300 g cherries (de-stoned and halved)
- 350 g Opies black cherries in kirsch
- 200 g dark chocolate chips
Optional Topping
- 100 g dark chocolate
- Triple chocolate curls
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan and line a 9″ square baking tray with parchment paper.
- Melt together the butter, and dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water, or in the microwave for 1-2 minutes until melted. Leave to the side to cool to room temperature!
- Using an electric whisk/stand mixer, whisk together the eggs & golden caster sugar for a few minutes until the colour has turned pale, is very mousse like, and is double the original volume of the amount of eggs + sugar!
- 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. It might take some time, but be patient – you don’t want to knock out the air you made up on the previous step!
- Once completely combined, sift the cocoa powder and plain flour on top of the chocolate mix and then fold together again – still be careful to not knock out the air!
- Drain the black cherries in kirsch from their jar, and keep the liquid. Fold through the cherries in kirsch, the fresh cherries, the chocolate chips, and 4tbsps of the Kirsch liquid from the jar.
- Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes! Once baked, leave to cool in the tin completely.
- If you are decorating them, drizzle over the 100g of melted dark chocolate, and then sprinkle on some triple chocolate curls, and maybe even a dash of icing sugar! Enjoy!
Notes
- I use the Opies jar of cherries in kirsch, as well as fresh cherries. You can use all fresh cherries, or even more cherries in kirsch (but it might take longer as they contain more liquid! I wouldn’t advise adding much more of the kirsch liquid however.
- If you can’t source the cherries in kirsch, use 500-600g of fresh cherries in total, halve them and de stone them, and soak them in Kirsch over night instead. You can use milk or white chocolate chips in the middle instead if you wish, but for me Black Forest is dark chocolate all the way!
- Warm these up in the microwave and serve with some ice-cream, a delicious dessert for any occasion!
- Depending on your ovens, or how you mixed the brownies up, some can take up to an hour to bake successfully. I’ve never fully understood why, but don’t give up if they’re not done after 40 minutes – cover with foil and continue to bake for longer. I poke a skewer through them and wait till its mostly clean, and the mixture doesn’t wobble in the tin.
- These will last in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks!
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J x
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If I use frozen cherries instead of fresh should I put them in the mixture still frozen or defrost first?
Still frozen is fine!!
These look delicious and I can’t wait to try the recipe. As I bake for a new mums group I’ll have to omit the alcohol but hopefully that will be ok. Could I use dried cherries instead of fresh ones?
Dried cherries would work well! x
Can you freeze these?
Yes, you can! x
Made this yesterday as a trial run for Christmas, added an almond drizzle and flaked almonds on top -WoW just WoW.
This is definitely our Christmas pudding as everyone in my house loves a brownie not so much any fruited cakes/puddings.
So a big thumbs up from me and my family xx
Hi Jane,
Can you use two jars of 350 g Opies black cherries in kirsch and add then 4tbsps of the Kirsch liquid from the jar at the end as you did instead of the fresh cherries?
Thanks
It may be a little bit too much soft cherry and cause a problem with the bake but it’s worth a go! x
How do you stop all your bulky ingredients sinking to the bottom of the brownies? X
Hiya! my mixture is usually really thick so they don’t sink – if yours is thin, double check to cocoa content of you chocolate and make sure you’re whacking the eggs and sugar for long enough! Hope this helps! x
Could you use glacier cherries instead along with fresh cherries? Or would sticky to fresh cherries throughout be best?
These sound amazing but I can’t have alcohol!
If you use frozen cherries do you use same weight ?
Thank you for any help ,sorry if this has been asked
Help im having a disaster 😩 I’ve made the mix all fine and now my oven has decided to die and doesn’t want to heat up is there a way to keep the mix so I can cook it tomorrow
Hello! Normally I would say no because mixtures should be baked straight away, but its always worth a try if you don’t want to waste it!x
Hi Jane making the cherry kirsch. I showed high and low and went to off licence and got the kirsch but I just went by your recipe ans soaked the Fran cheeries in kirsch but then I read that your suppose to boil up sugar and water and then add the kirch I didn’t do this and now have to make them today and panicking will they be anything like what they need to be? I have the 200 g fresh to add to
I find soaking cherries in kirsch is enough personally x
Made on boxing day for my family. Great recipe and goes amazing with some clotted cream. Will no doubt make these again. I’ve tried a few of your brownie recipes now and all have worked lovely. Thankyou
Hi
I can’t get hold of cherries in kirsch so could I soak frozen cherries in cherry liqueur and use those? And if so would I still add the 4tbsp of liqueur as you have with kirsch?
Thanks
Yes you can do that! xx
Hi. Could I use a tin of cherry pie filling instead of the cherries in kirsch?
Yes!
These have now been in the oven on 180 for 1 hour and 20 mins and they’re still not cooked in the middle, the knife keeps coming out still gooey. The edge is hard and it’s not wobbly but these are supposed to be for work and I’m worried its not going to work out. Not sure what I did wrong
Have you swapped any ingredients? The common culprit is swapping the dark chocolate in the base mixture to milk – that can cause a problem! Then, the next common problem is the mixing process – if you don’t whip the eggs/sugar enough, or you aren’t careful enough when folding the other ingredients in, it can cause massive problems when baking!
These look and sound amazing. unfortunately I am allergic to alcohol so I am wondering if I omitted the kirsch would the recipe still work?
Yes it should!
I’ve made these twice now and they are delish! I had to improvise as I could only get frozen cherries and I used amaretto as it was the only suitable alcohol I had. The amaretto added to the richness and the brownies go beautifully with vanilla ice cream. They are definitely worth the effort!
I made these yesterday, and replaced the fresh cherries with 100g white choc Toblerone. OMG!!! They were made as a birthday gift….definitely kept a piece (or 2) for me!! Thank you x
Sounds great! Do you think substituting the fresh cherries for frozen ones would work?
I haven’t personally tried it but I don’t see why not! Might just take a smidge longer to bake due to the extra moisture!
Hello! Issit ok to use salted butter instead for your brownies recipes? 🙂
Yes you can do, be prepared it might taste saltier!
Just baked these, waiting for them to cool now. They look and smell so good. It’s going to be a real challenge to share them with the family.
Forgot to say, I had one problem – I got the hard crust on top of my brownies. Which is heavenly, don’t get me wrong, but not what I was trying to get.
Any idea what I did wrong? I suspect that I over-whisked the egg/ golden caster sugar. It was more meringue than mousse.
Usually thats down to the oven I find, as mine always have a softer top. What sort of oven do you use? And the thicker the better with the mousse mixture I find!
It’s a gas oven.
That could be it! Try lowering the temp slightly and bake for a little longer next time.
Ok now I have tasted a helluva brownie on earth! and Hell is Beautiful. One of the best ever recipes I have baked, I couldn’t wait tilll fully cooled so I got myself a slightly bigger square that could accomodate on top 2 lovely scoops of vanilla parfait ice cream. You were spot on in your tips, warm and gooey as the ice cream melted on top was just this side of the gluttony sin. I couldn’t find the cherries in kirsch so I had to substitute with italian amarena in sirup plus cherry liqueur, but still it came out great. Thanks and keep the good work going., greetings from the Greek islands.
Oh my! Oh my! Oh my!!!! I have stumbled upon Heaven! I will be making these pronto! They look and sound absolutely delicious!
Awwh thank you Catherine!