Chocolate Gingerbread Brownies with Fudgy Icing

Chocolate Gingerbread Brownies with Fudgy Icing

400g dark chocolate, broken into chunks

25g cocoa powder

250g golden caster sugar

250g butter, plus extra for the tin

1 tbsp. ground ginger

140g ground almonds

6 large eggs, separated

For the icing

100g butter, chopped

50g dark chocolate, broken into chunks

50g cocoa

200g icing sugar, sifted

few chunks of crystallised ginger, chopped into small pieces

2tbsp ground ginger

Preheat oven 180C fan. Butter a 20cm x 30cm cake tin, and line base and sides with baking parchment. Heat the chocolate, cocoa, sugar and butter together in a saucepan over a low heat. Once the chocolate and butter have melted and the sugar dissolved, remove from the heat and stir in the ginger and ground almonds, followed by the egg yolks one at a time. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Using a metal spoon, stir in a couple of spoonfuls of egg whites into the chocolate mixture to loosen, then gently fold in the rest. Transfer the mixture to the tin. Bake for 30 – 35 mins until the top is set and the centre doesn’t wobble too much. Leave in the tin on a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cool make the icing. Gently heat the butter, chocolate, cocoa, icing sugar, ground ginger and 4 tbsp. of water in a pan, stirring until you have a smooth icing. Pour over the cake, [still in its tin], leave for about 2 mins to cool slightly, then scatter over the crystallised ginger. Leave to cool completely before cutting into bars. Serve with ice cream or whipped double cream.

 

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