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!
Black Forest Brownies
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
- Prepare a ¼ sheet pan with grease & parchment paper liner & preheat the oven to 350°F
- Bring the vegan butter & molasses to a boil add the chocolate and whisk constantly to melt then remove from heat
- Add the cocoa powder and whisk smooth
- Add the cherry juice and then transfer to a large mixing bowl, add the vanilla extract & the sugar
- Whisk smooth
- Sift the flour, baking powder & salt into the batter and stir just to combine, do not over mix
- Add the chopped cherries to the batter
- Spread into the greased & parchment lined sheet pan.
- Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 30 minutes
- 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.
- 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
Gauree
Hi,
Can we replace cherry juice with any other liquid? Or just with plain water
Gretchen
In the original recipe from where this was adapted I used coffee- so water would be a suitable replacement
CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL RECIPE
Jan Wainwright
Dumb question, but what size sheet pan? Normal 1/2 sheet or 1/4 sheet? Thanks, Gretchen! <3
Gretchen
Hey! Not a dumb question at all! I specified 1/4 sheet in the recipe section, maybe it’s hard to find, I’ll have to update it to a more visible spot! Thanks!
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!
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!
Gretchen
Thank you Janelle!
Lou
Can you substitute molasses for black treacle?
Gretchen
Yes!
Ana Regina
A farinha de trigo pode ser substituída por farinha sem glúten?
Gretchen
I have not tried that with this recipe