Gretchen's Vegan Bakery

Black Forest Brownies

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Black Forest Brownies a simple twist on a classic!

Here’s a quick way to transform your standard brownie recipe with one simple ingredient!

My favorite fudge brownie recipe using cherry juice as the liquid and big juicy cherries throughout!

Ganache icing and you have transformed an ordinary brownie recipe into Black Forest Brownies!

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Notes for Success:

If you are super lazy you can make my Boxed Brownie Hack and use cherry juice in place of the water in that recipe.
Add 1 cup of chopped cherries to the batter before baking!

Ganache icing for these black forest brownies are perfection, but you can of course skip that part of the recipe!

This recipe is formulated to bake in a 1/4 Sheet Pan but if you don’t have that size you can bake in an 8″ x 8″ cake pan instead

Many people cannot get molasses in which case you can use light brown sugar instead of the granulated sugar I list in the recipe

Cherry Extract is not essential but it really does make this recipe pop!

CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE VIDEO FOR HOW TO MAKE THESE!

 

Yield: 15 brownies

Black Forest Brownies

Vegan Black Forest Brownies
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • All Purpose Flour 2 cups (250g)
  • Baking Powder 2/3 teaspoon
  • Salt 2/3 teaspoon
  • Granulated Sugar 11oz (311g) *this is about 1½ cups + 1 Tablespoon
  • Vegan Butter 12 Tablespoons (170g)
  • Molasses 4 teaspoons *see notes
  • Semi Sweet Vegan Chocolate 3 ounces
  • Cherry Juice from the canned cherries 5½ fluid ounces (162ml)
  • Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons (85g)
  • Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoons (5ml)
  • Cherry Extract 2 teaspoons (10ml)
  • Fresh, frozen or Canned Cherries drained and chopped 1 cup

for the icing

Instructions

  1. Prepare a ¼ sheet pan with grease & parchment paper liner & preheat the oven to 350°F
  2. Bring the vegan butter & molasses to a boil add the chocolate and whisk constantly to melt then remove from heat
  3. Add the cocoa powder and whisk smooth
  4. Add the cherry juice and then transfer to a large mixing bowl, add the vanilla extract & the sugar
  5. Whisk smooth
  6. Sift the flour, baking powder & salt into the batter and stir just to combine, do not over mix
  7. Add the chopped cherries to the batter
  8. Spread into the greased & parchment lined sheet pan.
  9. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 30 minutes
  10. Cool completely in the pan then flip it out carefully onto a cutting board, remove the parchment paper and cool the rest of the way.
  11. Prepare the ganache as per the recipe instructions on that blog post and when it has cooled to spreadable consistency ice the cooled brownie then cut into 15 portions

Notes

Black Forest Brownies can stay at room temperature for one or two days, but for longer storage refrigerate loosely wrapped for up to 10 days

© Gretchen

 

 

 

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Marya

    I made these and have a few comments. The recipe mentions putting chocolate chunks on top of the brownies before baking but I didn’t see a measurement for it, only the 3 oz of chocolate I added into the batter in the beginning. I didn’t add any on top.

    I used Del Monte dark sweet cherries in syrup and the amount of liquid and cherries came out to be the same as the recipe required.

    I ended up baking the brownies 45 mins total and they still came out fudgy around the edges, mostly raw in the middle.

    With all this said, they are incredibly rich and delicious fudgy cherry brownies, even sans ganache!

    • Gretchen

      Hey thanks for pointing that out! I copied & pasted my brownie recipe from the One Hour Fudge Brownies recipe here which has chunks on top, but this one I forgot to omit that from the instructions since I did nit add that part here!
      Thanks for the heads up & also for your pointers on bake time and substitutions!

  3. Janelle Rena Boys-Chen

    I sheepishly admit that I made more alterations to this recipe than I should. But… this recipe is amazing. Alterations and all, it is the BEST vegan brownie I have had, better than any commercial version I’ve tried. The texture is PERFECT; firm, a bit chewy, and not at all dry. I am in love. Thank you so much for this recipe!

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