No matter if you’re making a box mix or from-scratch brownie recipe, it can sometimes be a little tricky to hit that perfectly fudgy or cakey sweet spot between undercooked and over-baked brownies. While I believe that essentially any brownie is a good brownie, making sure you know when to take the brownies out of the oven can make the difference between a good brownie and great brownie.
What Is the Toothpick Test for Brownies?
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. If the toothpick is totally clean, the brownies may already be over-baked.
For cakey brownies, you’re looking for a toothpick that is clean or has just a few crumbs attached.
How to Tell if Brownies Are Done Without a Toothpick
No toothpick? No problem. For cakey brownies, you’ll be looking for brownies that are evenly dry on top with edges that are starting to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Fudgy brownies can be a bit more difficult to judge without using something to test for doneness in the middle. You can use a butter knife to test for doneness – as with the toothpick, you’ll want to make sure you don’t have an excessive amount of batter clinging to the knife. Just know that it can be harder to look for that “few crumbs attached” level of doneness with a butter knife. Other alternatives for toothpicks include cake testers (they’re reusable!) or wooden skewers, like you might use for kabobs.
Fudgy vs. Undercooked Brownies
Want to make sure that your brownies are still fudgy but not raw? The truth is, fudgy brownies are slightly undercooked. The key is to make sure the center of the brownies is set and that the toothpick doesn’t look too gooey when you remove it from the brownies.
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How Long Should You Let Brownies Cool?
It can be difficult to resist a warm, gooey brownie straight from the oven, but letting the brownies cool for at least an hour before cutting them helps the brownies set in the middle, especially if you’re following a recipe for fudgy brownies.
For a perfect cut on your brownies, try refrigerating them before cutting – it’s much easier to achieve perfect squares when a brownie is firm from the fridge.
If you’re adding a frosting to your brownies, you’ll want to make sure the brownies are fully cooled first, or the residual heat from the brownies will melt the frosting.
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When Should You Remove Brownies From the Pan?
Brownies will be easiest to remove from the pan when they are fully cooled, because they will be fully set and firm. If you want to be able to remove the brownies from the pan without cutting them first, you can line the pan with parchment paper, allowing it to hang over the sides of the pan. Once the brownies are fully cooled, use the parchment to carefully lift them out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board.
More Tips for Making Sure Your Brownies Will Be Perfectly Cooked:
Make sure you’re using the same size pan that the recipe does. Shifting from a 13x9-inch pan to a 9x9-inch pan will give you thicker brownies that will likely take longer to bake (if all of the batter even fits into the smaller pan). Note that the material your pan is made out of will also make a difference, as brownies in a glass baking dishes or pans with a very dark coating tend to bake a bit faster than a lighter-colored pan.
Start checking for doneness at the beginning of the bake time range, or even a minute or two early. Most home ovens are not perfectly calibrated (running at the temperature the oven is set for), and if your oven is running hot, your brownies may bake faster than what the recipe says.
Speaking of oven temperatures, use an oven thermometer to check how hot your oven really is when it says it’s reached the temperature listed in the recipe. Check your manual – some ovens can be calibrated easily by yourself, but if yours cannot, you can make adjustments by setting your oven higher or lower as needed.
When you think they're ready, insert a toothpick in the center of the brownie pan. Remove the toothpick — if it's coated in wet batter, the brownies still need baking. The toothpick should come out fairly clean with just a few moist crumbs.
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.
Insert a toothpick to see if just a few crumbs stick.
If the toothpick comes out completely wet and coated with batter, you know the brownies are underdone and need more time. If the toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it, the brownies are ready!
Look at your knife set and find the one with the thinnest blade. Then insert the blade into the center of the cake. If the knife comes out clean, the cake is done. If batter or crumbs stick to the blade, let your cake bake a few minutes more and retest with a clean knife.
That's how brownies are meant to be. The edges should be firm and crisp and the center should be soft and gooey. If you want the whole pan to be firm, lower the temperature of your oven by 10 degrees (F) and bake until a tester comes out clean.
Place a toothpick into the brownie halfway between edge and center. A toothpick covered in brownie batter means a wet batter and will need to bake a bit longer. Moist crumbs on the toothpick means the middle of the pan is still gooey.
To avoid overcooking, remember that brownies will firm up A LOT once taken out of the oven; the brownie should still be wobbly in the middle when you take it out of the oven (there is a lot of butter and chocolate in the mix, both of which are basically liquid when hot, but firm when at room temperature).
Put the brownies back in the 300 degree oven and bake until a cooking thermometer reads 195 degrees, or about 30 more minutes. Finally, you'll cool the brownies for 30 minutes in the pan, then for 10 minutes on a cooling rack before slicing with a pizza cutter (my favorite tip) and serving.
Brownies keep cooking after you remove them from the oven, so you'll end up with an overcooked batch if you wait until there are no crumbs at all. Using an oven thermometer can also help you avoid overbaking because it'll tell you the exact temperature of your oven.
You can speed the cooling process by refrigerating the brownies in the pan, or by freezing them, but we think letting them cool at room temperature will give you the best results.
The best option is to wrap each brownie in an airtight wrapping such as plastic wrap. Wrapped brownies can be stored at room temperature or in the refrigerator and should be consumed within 1-2 days before they become dry and stale.
As brownies don't rise much, it may also help to rotate the pan by 180 degrees halfway though the cooking time, particularly if the batter in the corners is too well-cooked. Hot and cool spots should not be an issue in a fan oven, but it may help if the air circulation isn't completely even.
Brownie textures fall into three general camps… Cakey, fudgy and chewy. Cakey brownies, like the name implies, are light, moist and airy, with a slightly fluffy, cake-like interior. Fudgy brownies are moist, dense and gooey, with almost the texture of fudge, but not quite as compact.
A brownie recipe with baking powder should be avoided as you'll most certainly end up with a cakey texture. Another reason your brownies may be cakey is too much mixing or beating during the cooking process. Of course make sure you have a high fat to flour brownie recipe.
My mom, on the other hand, would say that corner pieces are truly where it's at, because what's dessert without a little bit of crunch? The crispy-to-soft edge ratio is perfectly 50/50, and there are only four corner pieces for any batch of brownies, making them the rarest — and therefore tastiest — treat.
If the recipe you're using gives instructions for a specific cooling method, follow it and wait for your brownies to cool completely. If there aren't specific instructions, leave the brownies in the pan, put the pan on a rack and let them cool completely (which means a 2 to 3 hour wait).
As the brownies bake, the edges will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, and the surface of the brownies will start to crack. This is a good sign that the brownies are getting close to being done.
Introduction: My name is Jonah Leffler, I am a determined, faithful, outstanding, inexpensive, cheerful, determined, smiling person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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