Easy Brownie Birthday Cake

Published: Jan 20, 2020 · Modified: Jun 3, 2022 by Irina Totterman · 69 Comments

This brownie birthday cake is intensely chocolatey, soft yet fudgy, with white chocolate whipped cream and red fruit on top. If you are a chocolate lover, this new twist on the brownie is just for you.

A slice of decorated brownie cake with blackberries on a white plate

What a great idea to make a brownie birthday cake instead of simple homemade brownies or a traditional birthday cake. It keeps the classic fudgy brownie taste combined with chocolate whipped cream.

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Why you should try this recipe
Ingredients
Recipe variations
How to make brownie birthday cake
Expert Tips
Storing and freezing
Recipe FAQ
Love chocolate cakes? Try these next!
Recipe card
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These sliced birthday brownies have such a gorgeous presentation that the dessert becomes a winner of the table once it is served. Moreover, this delicious dessert will surely please brownie lovers.

Why you should try this recipe

Made with simple ingredients, this brownie cake recipe is a great recipe, also easy and quick.

The cake is decorated with white chocolate whipped cream and fresh fruit and is perfect for a birthday party, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or another special occasion.

Sliced in squares or triangles, these homemade birthday brownies are rich and fudgy: they are just for chocolate lovers.

A couple of brownies decorated with cream and fresh fruits on a marble board

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

Heavy cream: Opt for heavy cream or heavy whipping cream with at least 30% fat content.

Red fruit tea: Use loose fruit leaf tea or replace it with tea bags, but calculate how many bags you need to infuse whipping cream.

White chocolate: Use Lindt white chocolate or Callebaut white chocolate. Try to avoid chocolate chips for making chocolate whipped cream.

Butter: The recipe calls for unsalted butter for the best results, but you can replace it with canola oil, rapeseed oil, or other types of vegetable oils.

Dark chocolate: This brownie recipe is made with real chocolate, not unsweetened cocoa powder. Top-quality dark chocolate is the key to making chocolate brownies.

Use 70% dark cacao chocolate: Scharffen Berger dark chocolate, Valrhona dark chocolate, or Lindt Excellence dark chocolate. You can replace half of the dark chocolate with milk chocolate if desired.

Dark brown sugar brings a beautiful caramel taste and flavor, but you can replace it with light brown muscovado sugar or even more powerful dark brown muscovado sugar.

Eggs: The recipe calls for whole large-sized eggs at room temperature.

Flour: Use all-purpose flour, the same as plain flour in the UK.

Cacao powder: Use unsweetened cocoa powder for this recipe.

Salt: A pinch of salt enhances the flavors of this brownie cake.

Icing sugar is used to decorate the cake. Use homemade icing sugar made with a coffee grinder or purchase powdered sugar.

Fresh berries: Use only fresh red fruit like raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries. Try to avoid frozen fruits. Instead, decorate the cake with chocolate vermicelli sprinkles, duo chocolate curls, or chocolate thins.

Red fruit preserves are optional, but even a few drops on top of the cake bring the perfect finishing touch.

Recipe variations

Don't you have time during your hectic weekdays? No problem. Whip up a delicious brownie mix to make this brownie birthday cake.

Don't have fresh fruit on hand to decorate the cake? No worries. Add some fun and color to your creation with rainbow sprinkles.

Don't you like whipped cream? Skip it and cover your brownie cake with a luscious chocolate glaze. Then serve it with your favorite ice cream or delicious creme Anglaise.

A single brownie slice topped with Chantilly cream and fresh red fruit on a dessert plate

How to make brownie birthday cake

To make chocolate whipped cream, pour heavy cream into a small saucepan and bring it to a boil, then remove it from the heat.

Place loose-leaf fruit tea in a tea mesh strainer and infuse heavy cream for 3 minutes (photo 1).

Meanwhile, break the white chocolate into small pieces. Pass whipping cream through a mini-sieve and discard tea leaves. Pour warm cream over white chocolate and mix with a hand whisk (photo 2).

Cover the preparation with plastic film in contact and refrigerate overnight.

Photo 1: Tea strainer in a bowl with cream Photo 2: Cream mixture in a bowl — **PHOTO 1 PHOTO 2**

To make the brownie batter, preheat the oven to 340°F (170°C). Place butter and dark chocolate broken into pieces in a large microwave-safe bowl and melt it in a microwave for a few seconds.

Place brown sugar and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk for 2 minutes (photo 3). You can use an electric mixer instead.

Continue to beat and add the melted butter and chocolate mixture with dry ingredients (flour, cacao powder, salt), and mix (photo 4).

Photo 3: Eggs/brown sugar mixture in a bowl Photo 4: Brownie preparation in a bowl — **PHOTO 3 PHOTO 4**

Pour batter into a greased (use softened butter or a non-stick spray) rectangular tart pan (photo 5) and bake for 20 minutes.

Take the ready brownie out of the oven, let it cool for 30 minutes (photo 6), then remove it from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Photo 5: Brownie preparation in a tart pan Photo 6: Baked brownie in a tart pan — **PHOTO 5 PHOTO 6**

To decorate the brownie cake, whisk the cream preparation to get chocolate whipped cream. Then, dust the top of the cooled cake with powdered (icing) sugar (photo 7).

Place one part of the ready cream in a pastry bag fitted with Ateco plain pastry tip 809 and pipe large balls along the cake's centerline.

Place another part of the cream in a pastry bag fitted with Ateco plain pastry tip 806 and pipe small balls on both sides of the central line.

Warm a watermelon or melon fruit baller spoon or a mini teaspoon up in a bowl with hot water and gently press on top of large cream balls.

Drop raspberry jam or preserves into each second large ball (into their cavity) and decorate the brownie cake with fresh berries (photo 8). Store in the refrigerator. Happy birthday!

Photo 7: Cake with icing sugar on a board Photo 8: Served brownies with cream, berries — **PHOTO 7 PHOTO 8**

Expert Tips

Use tea bags instead of loose-leaf tea, but calculate how many bags you need to infuse the cream.
Omit drops of raspberry jam or preserves while decorating the cake. Arrange more fresh berries on top of the dessert.
Cut brownie cake into small squares or triangles using a regular knife, wiping it down after every cut.
Make-ahead option: Bake the cake one day in advance and decorate it the next day.

Storing and freezing

The decorated brownie birthday cake is best eaten on the day of making. Store leftover cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Can you freeze a brownie cake? You can freeze an undecorated brownie cake for up to three months. Let it cool completely, wrap it with plastic, then with foil, and freeze.

To thaw, unwrap the brownie cake and let it come to room temperature on the countertop, then decorate it.

Recipe FAQ

What is the difference between a chocolate cake and a brownie?

Brownies are made with less flour and more cocoa than chocolate cake. This creates a richer and more intense chocolate flavor in brownies compared to their counterpart. Moreover, while a chocolate cake requires baking powder and baking soda, brownies do not use these ingredients in their recipe.

Love chocolate cakes? Try these next!

Satisfy your sweet tooth with our delicious selection of the best chocolate cakes on the web, from rich chocolate cake to elaborate chocolate Charlotte.

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The recipe was adapted from http://madame.lefigaro.fr/. It was originally published in May 2019. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.

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About Irina Totterman

I'm Irina, an experienced home baker with over 30 years of expertise and the blogger behind Baking Like a Chef (since 2018), where I share baking recipes, tips, and tricks. My recipes have been featured in the renowned French Chef Simon and Le Journal des Femmes.

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