The Difference Between Cakey and Fudgy Brownies, and How to Bake the Perfect Batch (2024)

FAQs

What makes brownies fudgy vs cakey? ›

Fudgy brownies have a higher fat-to-flour ratio than cakey ones. So add more fat—in this case, butter and chocolate. A cakey batch has more flour and relies on baking powder for leavening. The amount of sugar and eggs does not change whether you're going fudgy or cakey.

Even fudgy brownies will pull from the edges once they've finished baking. You'll see that the edges look dry while the middle still looks soft or slightly wet. Chewy and cakey brownies will have dry edges with firmer-looking centers. The edges of chewy brownies might even look crispy—this is totally fine!

Wrapping aluminum foil around individual brownies or a tin of brownies will block the air from entering and preserve their chewy nature.

To test for doneness with a toothpick, insert a toothpick into the center of the brownies and pull it back out. For fudgy brownies, you'll want to see some moist crumbs attached to the toothpick when you pull it back out. If it looks like it's covered in brownie batter, the brownies will need to bake a bit longer.

They give brownies a lighter, drier, and more cake-like texture. If you prefer this over the chewy variety, then go ahead and crack in that additional egg. On the other hand, too many eggs will yield brownies that are hard, heavy, and tough.

It's useful to know that the internal temperature of a regular cake should read 210°F for moist-but-not-fudgy fluffiness. So fudgy, gooey brownies will be done at around 165°F while cakey brownies will be done at around 210°F. The higher the temperature, the more cakey your brownies will be.

Achieving a fudgy brownie is all to do with the ratio of fat to flour. A fudgy brownie recipe will use more fat than flour. Generally this is achieved by adding more butter or real chocolate to your brownie recipe. A cakey brownie recipe on the other hand will call for more flour in the ratio of fat to flour.

The brownies will continue to set as they cool. This recipe must be served after they've cooled to room temperature completely. In fact, they solidify into even more fudgy brownie bits if you chill them in the fridge before slicing and serving.

Brownies: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Line the bottom and sides of an 8 inch (20 cm) square baking pan with foil.

That being said, if you're in charge of bringing brownies somewhere and you want to get a head-start, you could certainly refrigerate the batter overnight (you just may want to add a few minutes to the bake time). But honestly, I still think you'd be better off baking the brownies and refrigerating the cooked brownies.

Do fudgy brownies need to be refrigerated? ›

Do Brownies Need to Be Refrigerated? Brownies don't need to be refrigerated, but they'll hold up a few more days if they are. Unless your brownies include more perishable ingredients like fresh fruit or cream cheese frosting, they'll be fine at room temperature as long as they're stored in an airtight container.

A brownie that contains too much flour will slowly turn into a chocolate cake instead of a brownie. It will lose some of that richness and depend more and more on the flour for overall texture, instead of the fats and other ingredients.

Use a toothpick or skewer to test for doneness. It really depends on what kind of brownies you prefer. fudge-like (top): you want there to be a some crumbs stuck to the toothpick. cake-like (bottom): you want the toothpick to come out clean (no crumbs stuck to it).

Fudgy brownies are moist, dense and gooey, with almost the texture of fudge, but not quite as compact. Chewy brownies are dense (like fudgy brownies), but have a little more “bite” to them or elastic texture when you chew them. Personally, I think that a fudgy brownie is the only way to go.

Achieving a fudgy brownie is all to do with the ratio of fat to flour. A fudgy brownie recipe will use more fat than flour. Generally this is achieved by adding more butter or real chocolate to your brownie recipe. A cakey brownie recipe on the other hand will call for more flour in the ratio of fat to flour.

Fudge doesn't contain very much besides chocolate, sweetened condensed milk and if you want some inclusions like nuts, marshmallows, cookies, cacao nibs, peanut butter, dried fruit and so on. Whereas brownies contain cacao powder (no chocolate!), flour, eggs, butter or oil, baking powder and nuts.

Brownies also sink in the middle because they weren't baked for long enough. Even when your toothpick comes out almost clean but you start noticing a dent in your brownies, bake them for 4-5 more minutes. These last few minutes do their magic.

Note that while some brownie recipes do call for melted butter instead of oil, the butter can aerate the batter, altering the texture of the brownies and making them cakey rather than fudgy. So, while you can substitute butter for oil and vice versa, remember that it might alter the texture.