Plate Class

I am always testing out new recipes, trying to find the ultimate in everything I bake. The following recipe is my current favourite for brownies because it is quick, delicious and very chocolatey.

I recently made an improvement on these by accident. I was mixing them for a dinner party, but didn't have enough castor sugar. I substituted soft brown sugar and the brownies had a richer, deeper flavour. The addition of molasses in the sugar tempered the brownies' sweetness.

The quality of chocolate is important: I use semi-sweet chocolate pieces for convenience, but for special occasions I'll splurge on good-quality bittersweet.

Check the list of ingredients on the pack - do not use chocolate that contains vegetable shortening as a substitute for cocoa butter which tastes awful. The best-quality chocolate has a high percentage of cocoa butter and chocolate liqueur.

Ingredients 170 grams unsalted butter 250 grams semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped 1.5 cups sugar, either castor or soft brown 3 large eggs 1.25 cup plain flour .75 tsp baking powder .125 tsp salt 1 tbl vanilla extract Brush a 23cm x 28cm baking pan with melted butter, then line smoothly with aluminium and brush with a little more butter. Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. In a heavy pan, heat the butter; when it is completely melted, remove from the heat and stir in chocolate until smooth. Stir in sugar, then whisk in eggs one at a time.

Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt, then quickly fold into chocolate mixture. Pour into pan and bake for 15 minutes. Lower heat to 160 degrees and bake for about 10 more minutes, until surface is firm. Cool in pan before cutting.