Brown butter bay leaf brownies

Hi!

I was contemplating what to make this week - there’s been a lot of ice cream lately and I felt like doing something more cakey. For some reason I can eat ice cream all year round, but cake is very much an autumn thing for me. Especially with ice cream, but I tend to like almost every dessert in the world with a scoop of something cold and creamy.

Anyway, I have been working on the cake recipes for the book lately and trying to figure out which goes and which stays. This one went in the “go” pile, despite loving the recipe. It just didn’t fit the theme we are working on. But that means I get to share it here!

Now I realise that brownies are a contentious subject: Are you team fudgey or team cakey? I used to be team fudgey, but I have to admit that I am leaning more and more towards cakey brownies with a light spongy crumb and rich cocoa flavour. This is the kind of brownie you could frost with a thick layer of whipped ganache or serve with vanilla ice cream.

You can leave them out or substitute for other infusions, but the bay leaves add a deep herbal, slightly lemony flavour to the cocoa that balances the caramel like richness of the brown butter. The smell alone is intoxicating and I was fighting my kids for the right to the spatula. (I lost.)

Brown butter bay leaf brownies

Makes one 23cm square cake

225g butter
4 bay leaves
450g sugar
4 large eggs
160 g all-purpose flour
100g dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
90ml milk

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a 23x23cm square cake pan and line with parchment paper.

Add the butter to a small saucepan set over medium-low heat and simmer, stirring and scraping the bottom with a spatula, until the butter is melted. Continue cooking until the foaming subsides and butter smells like toasted hazelnuts and the milk solids are golden brown, about 5-7 minutes. Scrape the melted butter and milk solids into a small heatproof bowl and add the bay leaves to the butter. Cover with clingfilm and let infuse for 20-25 minutes.

Remove the bay leaves and whisk in the sugar until combined. Whisk in the eggs one at time until combined.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl, then add to the butter mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk.

Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until an inserted cake tester comes out with a few crumbs attached. Leave the cake to cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes, then leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.