Voice of London

Sunday evening. You are hungry and close to dinner and you need something to do to stop you eating the kitchen table. You decide to open up the baking cupboard and bake something. Seeing as you’ve got a lot of cocoa powder left, a brownie or two should tingle your taste buds.

You gather the ingredients when… shock! There are no more eggs in the house! Do not panic my friends. This happened to me over the weekend and, the recipe I found was just so perfect and so speedy I honestly thought I had missed out on some ingredients.

I shall not leave you pondering on how to make this mouth-watering dish any longer. You can make it yourself and, to tempt you further, I have added a scrummy layer of cookie dough on top:

Egg-free brownie cake with no-bake cookie dough layer

Note: The original recipe is for flat brownies and has taken from a fabulous website called the edible garden, which I have adjusted slightly. You can make the cookie dough while the cake is baking- it is that quick.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• ½ cup of cocoa powder
• ¾ cup + 2 tbsp. of caster sugar
• 1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
• A pinch of salt
• ⅓ cup of vegetable oil
• 1 cup of milk
• ½ tsp of instant coffee powder or coffee granules

For the cookie dough:

• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2-4 tbsp. milk
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F / 180C.
2. Mix the milk and the oil in a small bowl and set aside.
3. In a bowl, sift together the flour, soda, cocoa powder, coffee powder, salt and sugar.
4. Now add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold to combine.
5. Pour into a buttered round cake tin or into a tin which has been lined with baking paper. This allows the cake to come out easily.
6. Bake for 25-30 mins until a skewer inserted into the brownie comes out with crumbs. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Flip one over.
7. To make the cookie dough, cream the butter and sugar together. Then add one ingredient at a time, folding well as you go along.
8. When the cake is cooled completely, scoop and spread the cookie dough carefully yet generously across the brownie cake. 
9. Add the top layer. I added some more cookie dough round the sides just to fill it in a little. Don’t worry if it looks a little rough, that’s what makes your cake look more homely!
10. It should be left in the fridge overnight. However, if you are impatient, four hours in the fridge should do it.

Words: Melina Zachariou | Subbing: Milica Cosic