Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: A chocoholic’s dream! Texture: The brownie is thick while the mousse is rich and the whipped cream is light and cloud-like. Ease: Let’s not kid ourselves, there’s quite a few steps here. But really, you can do it. Just read through the recipe and plan ahead. There’s nothing necessarily difficult. I found assembly surprisingly easy. Appearance: Admittedly, this isn’t my greatest photo. I was so busy after I made this delicious treat that I forgot to save the best looking piece and really plan out how to photograph it. But you get the point, right? Brownie + chocolate mousse + whipped cream + Kahlua really needs no explanation! Pros: Impressive and perfect for a chocolate lover. Cons: Time consuming and indulgent. Would I make this again? Yes. Maybe next time I’ll get a prettier photo too!This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
Chocolate Dream Brownie is every chocoholic’s dream with a thick brownie, rich mousse, and cloud-like whipped cream.
Hey guys! I’m currently blogging to you from Orange County, California. How cool is that? The kind folks at Thermador were nice enough to invite me to their Ultimate Cooking Event. I’ll be doing a post about it later this week or early next week. Stay tuned!
Now, onto this ridiculously fabulous recipe. There’s brownie. There’s chocolate mousse. There’s whipped cream. There’s liqueur. It’s actually one of my favorite desserts from that chain Italian restaurant you may know, Carrabba’s. Where I live there aren’t a lot of great locally owned Italian joints. Sometimes when I’m craving Italian food and don’t feel like doing dishes, I have to sacrifice locality for *shudder* a chain restaurant. But hey, things could be worse. I just got a comment from a reader on a post a few days ago asking for a possible ingredient substitute because she lives over an hour away from the nearest grocery store. What! I could never live that far from a grocery store or market. I’m at the store at least 3 times a week. Especially lately while I’ve been testing recipes for my cookbook. Whatever the case, wherever you live, this chocolate dessert is scrumptious.
Chocolate Dream Brownie
Ingredients
For the brownie layer:
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
For the mousse layer:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
For the whipped cream:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
For assembling:
- 1/4 cup coffee liqueur (such as Kahlua)
Instructions
For the brownie layer:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of two 8×8-inch square pans with parchment paper or foil. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl whisk sugar, melted butter, and vanilla together. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until combined. Stir in flour mixture until batter is smooth. Divide batter evenly among prepared pans, smoothing tops.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of pans. Transfer to wire cooling racks and let cool in pans completely. Can be made 1 day ahead of time and refrigerated.
For the mousse:
- Bring the cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Let mixture stand for 1 minute then whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Pour into a medium bowl and refrigerate for about 30 minutes, or until chocolate is cool and barely set.
- With an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whisk the cooled chocolate mixture until lightened in color and fluffy. Do not overbeat.
For the whipped cream:
- In a clean medium bowl, whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer fitted with a clean whisk attachment and set to high speed for about 2 minutes, or until cream is stiff.
To assemble:
- Brush 1 brownie layer with 2 tablespoons of the liqueur. Spread half the chocolate mousse mixture onto brownie in the pan. Top with a thin layer of the whipped cream. Carefully lift second brownie out of pan and place on top of whipped cream layer. Repeat steps with remaining brownie, liqueur, mousse, and whipped cream. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.
- Remove from the refrigerator 15 minutes before serving. Cut into 9 squares.
Nice recipe. I love a simple brownie recipe which is easy for the kids 🙂
I also like the below brownie recipe.
http://www.wascene.com/food-drink/perfect-chocolate-brownie-recipe/
Thanks for sharing,
Kelly
Ok, I believe you.I can do this! Gotta try this recipe for my grandma's birthday! Time to practice.
Wowza. This looks INSANELY delicious. Apparently I've been missing out since I've never been to a Carrabba's!
These brownies look amazing! I would so love to try some.
These brownies really do look like a dream!
Hello, and thanks for sharing the beyond-yummy recipe. But, one question: baking powder, as listed in ingredients, or baking soda, as named in directions?
Hey Cheryl – sorry for the error. Baking powder!
you're right — those are a dream! yum1
These are calling my name! 😉