The Heavenly Cake Bake-Through: Barcelona Brownies

Those of you that have seen my kitchen bookcase know that I own many of Rose Levy Beranbaum's "Bibles". Well, I have just purchased her latest book, Rose's Heavenly Cakes, and have signed up for a bake along at Marie's Heavenly Cake Place.

Twice a month, I will be baking and blogging about a recipe from this book. These posts will be about sharing baking experiences, not sharing recipes. For those family or friends that would like the recipe, you can borrow my book. My first edition is the Barcelona Brownies.

Overall, this was an uncomplicated recipe that took less than an hour to make. Instead of using the suggested financier molds, I baked mine in cupcake form. I yielded 12 cupcakes. I had to add about 5 more minutes to the suggested bake time as well. Also, instead of filling the brownies with the optional ganache, I topped them with it while it was still slightly warm. Since the brownies did not rise over the liners, the liners provided a nice wall to hold in the ganache before it set up all the way.

The brownies turned out rich, chocolaty, and very moist. The texture was very appealing, being fudgy and cakey at the same time. The ganache, being bittersweet chocolate and cream, was of course, delicious too. This is definitely a recipe to be repeated. Due to the portability and attractive appearance, this would be a great dessert to bring to a party. I am picturing some gold glitter dust sprinkled on top next time.