Let’s talk Brownies – we love them! But…. some recipes can leave you underwhelmed and lacking the three things I think are ESSENTIAL in a good brownie – a thin papery crust on the top, a squidgy middle and a complete chocolatey taste.
After much trialling (I know the hardship I go through) these Brownies are the only ones I will ever make. I served them at my eldest’s 18th Birthday party and they were declared the best in the land – now there’s an accolade for you!
So enough waffle let me lead you to the chocolate! This version is a Dulce de Leche (caramel) but they can equally be made plain just missing out the last steps, here’s what you’ll need…
Ingredients:
180g butter
180g dark chocolate
3 eggs, large
275g caster sugar
85g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
100g Dulce de Leche (or Carnation Caramel for a tin)
Makes: 12 in a 10 x 8″ tin.
Line a 10 x 8″ tin with nonstick baking paper and preheat the oven to 160c(fan)/180c/Gas Mark 4.
Start with the butter and dark chocolate (Bournville or other 50%ish cocoa solids dark chocolate is fine), melt them in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
Whilst that’s melting whisk together the eggs and caster sugar until very foamy and doubled in size – this will take about 5 minutes or so on high speed.
Add the melted choc/butter and fold in to the mixture.
Sift over the plain flour and cocoa powder and fold again until there are no pockets of dry ingredients remaining.
Pour into the prepared tin.
Using a teaspoon dot the Dulce de Leche over the top of the brownie mixture.
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes – the middle should still be a little wobbly.
Leave to cool in the tin.
All that’s left to do is slice it up and share it out!
PS. You can also double up the quantities and bake it in a roasting tin – this larger version needs to bake for 45 minutes, not that I’m encouraging you to make more brownies of course 😉
Dulce de Leche Brownies
Ruth Clemens, Baker Extraordinaire

Wow they look amazing, how much cocoa powder as its not on the recipe
They look lovely (as your recipes always do). Dulce de Leche is delicious, if a bit sickly. I never quite know what to do with it and had never considered brownies.
I will share on my Twitter and Facebook pages..
hi these look fab…..ive always wanted to double it up haha what size was the roasting tin you used please??? i hv a couple but they vary in size. thankssss
Of course, my roasting tin is approx 25cm x 35cm but the recipe will take a bit of variation if yours is slightly different x
These look great–love the crackle on top! The mark of the perfect brownie!
I made these brownies the day I got the recipe email. They didn’t live for longer than 24 hours, they were absolutely delicious, everyone went back for more. They make an amazing dessert with some ice cream.
this looks absolutely gorgeous, have been looking for a foolproof brownie recipe for a while, and most of your recipes (for lots of different things) that I’ve tried have worked incredibly well… one question though, if you decided not to do the caramel bit, could you stir through some nuts (maybe pecan?), or would it affect the baking?
You definitely could, it shouldn’t affect the bake time at all and just judge the amount by eye – bet they will be a big hit! x
Made some for my husband’s birthday on Monday. They were not quite as ‘squidgy’ as your picture so I will reduce the cooking time for the next batch. The pools of caramel have been every popular though!
Hello -) I made these brownies today and they were a complete disaster -(((
I followed your recipe to the latter ,weighed everything precisely and after they cooled down tried to cut them but they were so wet I couldn’t .
I put them back in the oven and still the same ,had to vintner -(( so Disapointed-(
It doesn’t end there sadly -(,
I also attempted to make your raspberry ripple cake- when I was making the filling it went thin and awful , again it went in the bin -(((
Please can you help ?!?
Very disappointed and frustrated -(((
Hopeyoucan shedsomelight ???
Thanks -)
Uh oh! Hope I can help – I’m wondering re the brownies if your oven temp is running low? A good way to check it is with a removable oven thermometer in case its running too low in which case they wouldn’t be cooked through in time, otherwise bake them until there is just a slight wobble in the centre of the brownies, you may need to bake them longer.
For the raspberry cake filling the mixture needs to be whipped until it thickens up again – ideally with an electric mixer as its quicker. It needs whipping until the cream you add thickens and holds the filling together. Hope that helps for your future baking xx
These look amazing and I can’t wait to make them next week! Quick question – would you use salted or unsalted butter in these?
I use a regular salted butter Kirstie x
Tried this without the caramel but included pecans instead. Best brownie recipe I’ve tried