Chocolate Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Brownies covered in chocolate cream cheese frosting on parchment paper.

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5 from 1 vote

Chocolate Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Extra fudgy brownies topped with cream cheese frosting.

Prep Time30

Cook Time30

Total Time1

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: brownies

Calories: 447kcal

Author: Ella Gilbert

Equipment

8" square pan

Ingredients

Chocolate Brownies

¾ cup unsalted butter
½ cup dutch process cocoa powder
4 oz semisweet or dark chocolate chopped
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon espresso powder

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

¾ cup unsalted butter room temperature
3 ¾ cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon kosher salt
4 oz cream cheese cold
½ cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1 tablespoon heavy cream optional

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Brownies

Preheat the oven to 350℉/180℃ and line an 8x8 baking pan with foil or parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. It should be hot.
¾ cup unsalted butter
Add the cocoa powder to the hot butter and whisk until smooth. This is called blooming the cocoa powder and will make your brownies much richer.
½ cup dutch process cocoa powder
Pour in the chopped chocolate and let sit for a minute or two. Whisk until smooth.
4 oz semisweet or dark chocolate
In a separate medium bowl, whisk the eggs with the granulated sugar and light brown sugar. Whisk for 2 minutes.
3 large eggs, 1 cup granulated sugar, ½ cup light brown sugar
Once the melted chocolate mixture has cooled down slightly, pour in the sugar mixture. Whisk until smooth and add in the vanilla extract.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
With a rubber spatula, fold in the flour, salt and espresso powder.
½ cup all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon espresso powder
Pour the brownie batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 26-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with moist crumbs.
Let the brownies cool completely in the pan. To have even fudgier brownies, place the cooled brownie pan in the fridge for a few hours.

Frosting

In a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter and confectioners' sugar together until light and fluffy.
¾ cup unsalted butter, 3 ¾ cups confectioners' sugar
Mix in the vanilla extract and salt.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Beat in the cold cream cheese and cocoa powder, mixing until just combined.
4 oz cream cheese, ½ cup dutch processed cocoa powder
If the frosting is too thick, you can add heavy cream, a tablespoon at a time.
1 tablespoon heavy cream
Frost your cooled brownies and enjoy!

Video

Notes

My recipes have been developed and tested in metric grams. I highly recommend using a weighing scale and measuring out your ingredients the metric way. I have provided a conversion to US cups but please note that I haven’t tested the recipe with this method. Just click on ‘Metric’ above the ingredients to see the metric measurements.

Temperature for Ingredients: I usually recommend having all of your ingredients be at room temperature before starting, but you want the cream cheese for the frosting to be cold - keep it in the fridge until you're ready to start making the frosting!

Salt: If you don’t have kosher salt, halve the amount of salt called for in the recipe. 1 teaspoon kosher salt = ½ teaspoon fine salt. Please note, this is diamond crystal salt and not Morton salt, which is much too salty for this.

Cocoa Powder: I'm using dutch processed cocoa powder but you can swap it out for natural cocoa powder, just note that the brownies won't be as rich.

Storage: Keep the frosted brownies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Nutrition