Bake of the Week: Warm Fondant Brownies

REGULAR readers of Bake of the week will know that we are on a never-ending quest to find the ultimate chocolate brownie.

Hold the front page. We think we might just have found it.

It’s from Mary Berry’s new book.

Of course it is – she may no longer be on Bake Off, but Mary still knows a thing or two about a decent traybake.

Extracted from Classic by Mary Berry (BBC Books, £26). Photography by Georgia Glynn Smith.

You’ll need:

350g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

250g butter, cubed, plus extra for greasing

300g dark muscovado sugar

6 eggs

75g ground almonds

Method:

You will need a 23 x 30cm traybake tin. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4, then grease the tin with butter and line with baking paper.

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl, add the butter and set over a small saucepan of gently simmering water.

Heat through until runny and melted.

Measure the sugar into a bowl, add the eggs and whisk until all the sugar has been incorporated. Carefully pour in the melted chocolate mixture and stir until evenly mixed, then fold in the ground almonds and gently stir to combine.

Pour in to the prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until a light crust forms on top and the mixture is firm around the edges but still soft in the middle.

It’s best to leave the cooked brownies in the tin, rather than trying to turn them over and peel off the baking paper. They are so gooey, the beautiful crust will be cooled if they are over-handled. Slice straight from the tin and use a palette knife to remove each square.

Serve with ice cream.