Birthday Cake Fudge Brownies

I know this sounds confusing, so stuck with me and I’m pretty sure you’ll get it.

You already know about the glory associated with The World’s Greatest Fudge Brownie, right? Fudgy, chewy, rich, chocolatey, and other words that describe the best brownie ever.

Well.

What if you took my Buttermilk Vanilla Birthday Cake and chopped it up into chunks, then baked it into said brownies?

Are you getting it now?

Oh, and what if you put frosting over top of the whole thing, in homage to the whole birthday cake theme? I know, I know- it’s a mind-blower. And the best part is that you don’t even need a birthday as an excuse to make these. It’s someone’s birthday today, somewhere, so go ahead and make this batch anyway. Happy Birthday to anyone!

Adapted from my World’s Greatest Fudge Brownie and Buttermilk Vanilla Cake recipes…

CAKE (this recipe will make more than you need; you can split in half if you’d like):

1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cups + 2 tablespoons buttermilk

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

½ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup sugar

3 eggs

BROWNIE:

4 ounces chopped unsweetened chocolate (the better the chocolate, the better the brownie)

3/4 cup unsalted butter

2 cups sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons real vanilla (use the real stuff)

3 lightly beaten eggs

1 cup flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Optional: 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

5 tablespoons salted butter, softened to barely room temperature

2 tablespoons heavy cream

3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1. CAKE:
  1. Preheat oven to 350˚, and grease 18 cupcake liners or two 9″ cake pans.
  2. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together and set aside.
  3. Pour buttermilk into a measuring cup and stir in vanilla.
  4. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes). Reduce the speed and add the eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds between additions.
  5. Add alternating increments of the flour mixture and the vanilla-buttermilk, blending well after each addition (starting and ending with the flour mixture); this should take up to 5 minutes.
  6. Pour batter into greased cupcake liners/pans and bake 18 minutes for cupcakes, or 30 minutes for layer cake pans, until a cake tester comes out clean. Check cupcakes after 15 minutes to make sure you don’t overbake them. Remove from oven and let cool for 20 minutes on rack before unmolding from pans to finish cooling (especially if using a patterned mold).
  7. Allow to cool completely and cut up enough cupcakes or cake from a single layer to equal about 1 1/2 cups of cake chunks. I like the chunks to be about 3/4″ big. Set aside while making brownie batter.
2. BROWNIE:
  1. Preheat oven to 350° and grease a 9 x 9 foil-lined pan.
  2. Melt chocolate & butter in microwave for 2:15 minutes and stir.
  3. Stir in sugar, then vanilla, then eggs, then salt, espresso powder (optional) & flour.
  4. Gently stir in cake chunks, leaving some bits to sprinkle over the top of the batter.
  5. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 33 – 36 minutes (until center is just set).
3. FROSTING:
  1. In a large bowl, sift confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder together.
  2. In a separate large bowl, cream butter with 1 cup of sugar-cocoa mixture until well combined. Add another cup of sugar-cocoa and a tablespoon of cream, beating until well combined. Add remaining sugar-cocoa and cream, beating until smooth. Beat in vanilla until fluffy. (Add more cream or confectioners’ sugar until proper spreading consistency is achieved.) Microwave for 20 seconds (or until runny, melted consistency) and spoon over brownies (or fill a Ziploc bag with melted frosting and snip a corner off so you can drizzle the frosting somewhat decoratively).
  3. Allow to set before slicing and eating.
Tips:
- Cake quantity: The recipe above makes two layers; you will only need 1/2 of one layer, so either split the recipe in half, or go full-out and just have a spare cake to freeze or eat on a Wednesday. (Same thing if you make cupcakes- this will make about 18, and you’ll use about 4.)
- Too lazy to make the cake and frosting? Buy the cake, and buy the frosting. I just happened to have leftover cake in the freezer so this recipe was 75% easier for me to make in the moment…
- Read the original brownie post for more tips on how to make the best brownie ever.
- This freezes well, so bake now and eat later. Love it.
- Enjoy!
Click Here to PRINT This Recipe Now!
Related Recipes & Posts:
January 10th, 2015 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: Brownies & Bars, Vanilla, World's Best