Black, White and Orange Brownie

The traditional dark chocolate brownie is such a winner at home and with friends that I end up making it a little too often. I can see that the creative cook in me is taking a backseat when someone asks me to make dessert and all I can think of is chocolate brownie. So this time, I made my brownie alright, but with a welcome twist.

It’s got white chocolate instead of dark; but since it’s called “brownie”, I retained the brown colour by not eliminating the cocoa bit. What makes this a good deal yummier than the usual is that I’ve also added freshly squeezed orange juice and orange rind to it. The slight bitterness imparted by the orange rind is nicely balanced by the extra sweetness of white chocolate. All in all, the flavours marry well, and I’m glad I’ve found a way of making chocolate brownie more interesting. As though that’s even possible!

Serves: 6-8 people

Prep time: 15min

Cooking time: 35min (includes baking time of 20min)

Cooking tray: 25cm baking tin

Ingredients

Brownie

75g white chocolate shards

175g unsalted butter

300g caster sugar

100g cocoa powder

150g plain flour sifted with 1tsp baking powder

1tsp vanilla essence

4 eggs, whisked

50g walnuts chopped roughly

Juice of one orange, freshly squeezed

1 tsp orange rind

Icing

50g white chocolate

50ml fresh double cream, room temperature

1 orange peeled and deseeded

3-4 fresh mint sprigs

Method

Preheat oven to 190°C. Line a 25cm baking tin with butter, keep aside.

Whisk 4 eggs in a bowl, add vanilla essence, whisk some more and keep aside.

Heat a non-stick saucepan on a medium flame. Place the butter, sugar and cocoa in the saucepan and stir till the sugar and butter melt. Gently stir, bringing the mixture together till it turns smooth and gooey. Add the sifted flour slowly, folding it in evenly. Remove the saucepan from the flame. Add the whisked eggs (with vanilla essence mixed added to it already) to the cocoa-butter-sugar mix, making sure that the heat of the pan doesn’t scramble the eggs. Work fast, adding the white chocolate shards, orange juice, orange rind, and chopped walnuts to the pan, mixing all ingredients well. Quickly transfer the mixture to the greased baking tin and bake at 190°C in a preheated oven for 20min.

Allow resting time of 30 minutes.

For the icing, melt white chocolate shards on a double boiler till smooth, removing lumps and whisking gently till the chocolate has completely melted. Remove from flame and add double cream, mix well, and quickly pour over the surface of the brownie. Garnish with fresh mint sprigs and peeled orange pieces.