Red Velvet Brownies with White Chocolate Frosting.
This recipe has been a loooong time coming.
Like, it seems as if it has taken me forever to perfect it.
Note the dramatic-ness. Mr. How Sweet says I’m too dramatic. I can’t not share my dramaticness with you.
I’ve been attempting to make a red velvet brownie from scratch for months. It is quite the feat since red velvet isn’t technically “just chocolate” and isn’t just a chocolate cookie, cake or cupcake dyed red. True red velvet connoisseurs know that red velvet treats have just the slightest hint of cocoa. That’s what I finally mastered – a chewy, dense brownie with a hint of chocolate!
I adapted my oooey, gooey brownie recipe (also used for brownie cupcakes) for red velvet success – after about 30 failed attempts. And I added chocolate chips because, well… I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t add additional chocolate and calories.
Or top it off with even more chocolate.
That would be white chocolate buttercream.
That would be my livelihood.
That would be my soul in bowl.
That would also be a surefire way to gain ten pounds.
You know how you guys always ask me what happens to my baked goods? Well, I’ll tell you what happened on Saturday. My brother, his girlfriend, and my cousin came over Saturday afternoon just as I was finishing up some baking. Which meant that within minutes, I plopped down two pans of chocolate chip cookie cinnamon rolls, a 9 x 13 baking dish full of pierogi casserole, and this big square of red velvet brownies… that were still warm. Can you spell GLUTTON FEST?
Mr. How Sweet came home, and in true Mr. How Sweet fashion decided he was on a plain chicken, egg whites, and diet Coke diet. After about six hours of nagging, I convinced him to try a red velvet brownie, then I watched him promptly hit the floor in ecstasy. I’m such a good influence.
But I ended up giving the rest to my brother to take home the next day, because red velvet brownies aren’t exactly on the plain chicken and egg whites and diet Coke diet. Right?
Wrong. Mr. How Sweet had a mini tantrum that I gave said brownies away. That man gives me more mixed signals now than he did when we first met and he talked with his hands, wore only Dolce & Gabbana and knew more about fashion than I did.
He asked me to make the brownies again this weekend, so guess what I’m doing?
Red Velvet Brownies
Ingredients
Red Velvet Brownies
- 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons red food coloring
- 2/3 cups chocolate chips, optional
White Chocolate Frosting
- 1 stick of butter, at room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 ounces white chocolate, melted (I used Lindt)
- 1-2 tablespoons milk, or more if needed
Instructions
Red Velvet Brownies
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Butter and flour an 8 x 8 cake pan.
- In a small bowl, combine cocoa powder, red food coloring, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to create a paste.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then add remaining teaspoon of vanilla. With the mixer on medium speed, add in cocoa powder mixture. Beat until batter is completely red. (If at this time your batter is NOT red, you can add a little more food coloring if desired. Color will depend on brand.) Add flour and salt, mixing until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Spread in the 8 x 8 pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.
White Chocolate Frosting
- Cream butter in an electric mixer until fluffy, then add vanilla. Slowly add in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time with the mixer on low speed. Add in melted white chocolate and beat until incorporated. To reach desired consistency, add in milk 1 teaspoon at a time with mixer on low speed. If frosting becomes too liquidy, simple add additional sugar.
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
Is it gluttony week around here or something? Sure seems like it.
327 Comments on “Red Velvet Brownies with White Chocolate Frosting.”
this looks absolutely amazing but I have a question. most red velvet recipes call for distilled white vinegar, do you think that would work with this recipe. doesn’t the vinegar make it light and fluffly, maybe that’s just for cakes? thanks so much!!
Hi Susan!
You are correct – that is true red velvet! I tried many trials with the white vinegar and didn’t end up using it for a few reason: it didn’t seem to make a huge difference in the brownies (probably since they aren’t the same texture as cake) and I prefer my brownies to be chewy over light and fluffy.
I dont know where red velvet came from… I feel like red food coloring is trying to take over the world.
Lets say I wanted to make a red velvet recipe without the food coloring… would it explode?! or could I just call it a non-red velvet treat?
Red velvet without the red food coloring would simply be a brownie/bar/cake/cookie with a very light chocolate flavor. I mention this above in my post.
Actually, the “red” colour from red velvet cake is thought to come from the colour of undutched cocoa when it reacts with an acid (like buttermilk). Because most chocolate and cocoa today is dutched (or alkalized) it has a much lower acidity, and won’t react the same. You can, for the most part, use dutched and un-dutched (or natural) cocoa powders interchangeably, but they won’t always give the same results. In the case of red velvet cake, using natural cocoa powder really brings out a more reddy colour, whereas using dutched cocoa powder will make the cake much darker.
Short answer: yes, you can omit the red food colouring, just don’t expect the cake to be bright cherry red. There are also recipes that use beets to enhance the colour.
You are so creative! This is a wonderful idea!
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ok, you win. I don’t even like red velvet cake but I will be making these brownies. Next chance I get. After your description, how could I not?
You’re killing meeee! I’d be mad if you gave these away, too. hah!
Wowie. I’ve been following your blog for a while Jessica and this post drew me out of my vow of commenting silence. Your description of your husband’s reaction to the brownies is hysterical and I could totally see myself abandoning a chicken, egg white and diet coke diet for the red velvety deliciousness.
My husband would be upset if I gave away brownies too without saving him a couple. Although he’s trying to lose weight, there are just some things he can’t give up. ;-)
YUMMY!! I can’t wait to try your frosting recipe. I made red velvet brownie covered oreos a while back. I will have to try them with your recipe. :)
Yum! I think you should continue the brownie deliciousness with these:
http://www.foodbuzz.com/recipes/3336738-caramel-bacon-brownies
Bacon, Caramel, Chocolate what could be better?
These were sooo good! I loved using a white chocolate frosting. I had a weird crust form on top that had like an inch gap between it and the brownies. They tasted great of course, I just wasn’t expecting it!
Hmmm that is odd! I just made a second batch today and didn’t have that crust. Glad you liked them though. :)
Funny, I made you ooey-gooey brownies and got the exact same odd topping… Definitely made presentation difficult…
Andie – did you use the marshmallows with the oooey gooey brownies? Those brownies do develop a crunchy topping as I’ve mentioned in the posts, but the marshmallows help combat it. The red velvet brownies have less egg and more flour in the recipe and shouldn’t develop a crust.
I made them last night and had the exact same experience! I went to frost them and the ceiling caved in! It’s ok… I got to eat all the crunchy bits off the top and then frosted the “bottom” layer and no one had any idea. They are SO YUMMY! Wonder why the top separated so much from the bottom? I’ve never had that happen before.
Ah! Glad I’m not alone! I had the gap, a hard crust and then it all caved in. I frosted those suckers and they tasted phenom. it was just so strange, I’ve never had that happen before! I wonder what element it was that made that happen?
You might be mixing your brownies too much, and putting too much air into the batter?
Thanks for a fun recipe! These got good reviews when I took them into the office last week.
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Oh my word! This looks heavenly!
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Thought these looked amazing and needing to perk up my co-workers thought I’d better double the recipe. I sheepishly brought them into work after being really disappointed with how they turned out :(
Trouble is have just had one this morning – 36 hours after making them – and there seems to have been some mysterious forces at work as they are now amazing!
Is it possible that letting these brownies ‘sit’ for a day makes them even better?
Glad they ended up turning out!
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OMG!! These brownies are freaking awesome! I am having a really hard time trying not to eat too many.
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Love these!
Made them last night, and they were fantastic.
They didn’t turn out like the picture, but they were crunchy on top, and chewy and soft in the middle. Perfection.
However, I had to cook mine for almost an hour to get them to fully cook.
Oh. my. goodness. These are amazing! I made them for the husband as a “welcome home!” surprise after he had been gone for a week, and I think I’ve eaten about 3x as many as he has. Seriously – these are so, so, SO good! I’m not even a fan of brownies (please don’t hate me!) and I only made these because the husband loves red velvet cake, but I am 100% in love with these! :)
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Wow, these look like perfection! I just emailed this link to my fiance and told him we’re making them this weekend! I just tasted red velvet for the first time a few months back and now it’s going to be our wedding cake flavor!
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I made them, they are BEYOND!
http://eatrunread.blogspot.com/2011/03/cake-of-week-red-velvet-brownies-with.html
Thank you for the recipe!!!
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Phew, thank goodness for the bakers who posted near the bottom about having the crust on top and having to bake them longer! I’ve had them in my oven for almost 50 minutes now and they still aren’t cooked through and there’s definitely a crust on top, so I was starting to get nervous. They look and smell amazing, though, and I hope they taste just as good!
Did you really only need to cook them for 25 minutes? I, too, have had mine in for at least 45 minutes so far – doesn’t appear to have any crust yet, but at 25 minutes the pan was definitely still jiggly. I even turned up the heat a bit on my oven…hmmm….
I cooked mine exactly to the recipe and worked perfect for the 25 min time frame. I also never had any of the problem with the crust dropping as others had mentioned. Awesome!
Tried this, LOVED it! Made a full bunny mould out of it, I ate the whole thing…I never do that. I loved the icing. Will post soon.
Awesome!! :)
Again thanks for the recipe, I linked back to you!
http://indigosugarspectrum.blogspot.com/2011/04/red-velvet-brownie-bunny-with-white.html
I have to try this recipe. Love it!
Just found your blog and really loving it. I’m scanning through these old posts trying not to eat my fingers because I find myself suddenly so hungry (wonder why?) Anyway I LOVE the bowl in this post. The ceramic looking one that is blackened around the top, where did you get those at?
Thanks! My mom got it for me in a gift shop in Northern Michigan a few years ago, but I’ve seen similar ones in Sur La Table!
What is your website for your blog? Thanks for the recipe! Can’t wait to see more of your delicious desserts!
I made these last night. They turned out great!
Update: made them a second time using the ENTIRE tube of Betty Crocker red food gel and could NOT get them to turn red. They were still delicious but looked brown instead of red.
I just went to gather my supplies to start making these (SO EXCITED!) then realized my mom has my proper-sized pan! Do you think they’d work in cupcake tins? It might at least help with portion control ….
I couldn’t wait and just went ahead with it. They are AMAZING as cupcakes, with an unexpected bonus! I had that crust form on top, and it sank into the middle …. allowing the frosting to sink down into it. It’s unbelievable. I think I have diabetes now, but it was worth it.
We made two batches this weekend and they were a huge hit! We didn’t even make it to the frosting…
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Mine are in the oven right now! they look great and the batter…WOW…i could eat the raw batter just by itself! How do you think they would turn out with cream cheese frosting??
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Hey, I had a quick question: I’ve noticed that all red velvet cakes have a distinct taste I’ve attributed to the buttermilk/sour cream. These brownies seem to be simple a light chocolate brownie with red food coloring. Do they have an actual “red velvet” taste? I am planning on making red velvet brownies for a friend, and I’m wondering whether I should make these or simply use a red velvet cake mix and adapt them to brownies to achieve both the fudgy texture and red velvet taste. What would be your advice? Thank you so much! I love your site, and the brownies do look delish!
This brownie recipe! The crust makes me drooled.. I love to taste this red velvet brownies.. I know for sure my boyfriend like this too. We both love sweet snacks.
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I’m guessing that some white chocolate cream cheese frosting on these bad boys would be heaven. I love the red velvet + cream cheese frosting combo. I’ve been looking for a red velvet brownie recipe and will try this out pronto!
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OMGoodness!!!! I made these tonight for my family after dinner. Soooo good! Thanks for sharing.
I made this recipe, but instead of putting them in a pan, I used muffin top paper (instead of cupcakes). They came out fabulous and tasted even better than they looked. Thanks for posting this recipe.
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