How do I make a brownie mix more cakelike? (2024)

FAQs

How to make brownie mix more cakey? ›

Cake-like brownies? Add an extra egg to your brownie batter to make more cake-like brownies.

Add Salt. If you've ever found boxed brownies to be too sweet for your taste, stir a pinch of salt into the batter before baking. This'll help bring out the deeper chocolate flavors. You can even try sprinkling some flaky sea salt on top of the brownies as soon as they come out of the oven.

Fudgy brownies have a higher fat-to-flour ratio than cakey ones. So add more fat—in this case, butter and chocolate. A cakey batch has more flour and relies on baking powder for leavening. The amount of sugar and eggs does not change whether you're going fudgy or cakey.

Add a teaspoon of instant coffee or espresso powder. Throw in a handful of nuts—pecans, walnuts, macadamia, whatever you have on hand. Scoop in a palmful of dried or frozen fruit. Add an extra splash of the top-shelf vanilla extract, or a dab of vanilla paste, or a dash of vanilla powder, to the batter.

You can make several substitutions to help improve a boxed brownie mix and make it taste homemade. One change is to use milk or heavy cream instead of water. This change will make brownies more moist and gooey since milk is more fatty and flavorful than water. A second change is to use butter instead of oil.

A more certain result is to choose a brownie recipe that has a higher amount of chocolate and butter. A brownie recipe with baking powder should be avoided as you'll most certainly end up with a cakey texture. Another reason your brownies may be cakey is too much mixing or beating during the cooking process.

If you want to get a little more creative with your brownie mix hacks, add an extra egg to the batter. The extra protein will help thicken up the batter and make it fluffier, creating a more decadent, fudgy texture. You can also add the yolk by itself in addition to the 2 eggs a box brownie mix typically calls for.

You can absolutely substitute butter for the vegetable oil. Use the same quantity specified in the directions (for example, if it calls for 1/3 cup of oil, use 5 1/3 tablespoons of butter). Melt it down, then let it cool a bit. You might not ever go back to oil!

Milk is the key

If you look at the back of a box of brownie mix, the directions usually call for the cook to add three things: water, oil, and eggs. Adjusting these ingredients to make fudgier brownies is as easy as swapping out the water for milk.

Are my brownies fudgy or undercooked? ›

To test for doneness with a toothpick, insert a toothpick into the center of the brownies and pull it back out. For fudgy brownies, you'll want to see some moist crumbs attached to the toothpick when you pull it back out. If it looks like it's covered in brownie batter, the brownies will need to bake a bit longer.

Airtight Containers

Use parchment paper to layer brownies into an airtight container for best results. Tip: When storing brownies in an airtight container, add a slice of bread in with them. The moisture from the bread will help keep your brownies fresh and soft for a couple more days.

The trick: Replace the water with coffee. You don't need much, generally ¼ to ⅓ cup. We already know that adding espresso and coffee flavor to chocolate desserts supercharges chocolate flavor, and the same principle applies here. Using coffee in your brownie mix will result in better, more chocolaty brownies.

Over mixing brownie leads to too much air incorporation and can leave your brownie looking and tasting like a chocolate cake. Under mixing will lead to insufficient combination of your core ingredients and so the brownie texture will not form to perfection.

Too much flour? Go back to your edges - if they're not burnt, look a good colour (similar to the centre) but the brownie is too cakey and dry throughout, the recipe probably included too much flour.

To do this, there's one ingredient that's more important than anything else: baking powder. Baking powder is a leavening agent, which means that it is responsible for lifting up the batter to create that lighter consistency — making it absolutely essential for fluffy brownies.

Other ways to make brownies chewier

If you can't imagine not following the package directions, think again and try melted butter in place of the vegetable oil. The fattiness of the butter works similarly to the milk in the previously suggested swap — it makes the batter denser and the brownies chewier.

What should I do if my brownie mix is too thick? If your brownie mix is too thick, you can add a small amount of liquid such as water, milk, or oil to thin it out to the desired consistency. Add the liquid gradually and mix well until you achieve the right texture.