Episode 21 – Haunted Graveyard Brownies

Episode 21
October 25, 2010
Haunted Graveyard Brownies

Happy Halloween!  In this episode I cover how to make a basic brownie but I think more importantly I go over how to make some basic decorations to jazz up your Halloween desserts.  These tips and tricks are great for cakes and cupcakes as well as brownies but keep in mind, especially with the ghost, that the brownie is much more dense than cake and can hold heavier objects in place better than a cake can.  Some of the tricks I go over in the video include: rice crispy fondant ghosts, fondant pumpkins, royal icing bones and skeletons, graham cracker and fondant tombstones, and tempered chocolate lattice.

In this video we also work a little more with tempered chocolate to make chocolate lattice to decorate the sides of the brownie for a really fun effect.  Ironically, it took me 2 days to get this to work.  The first block of chocolate I was working with just did not want to temper for me – which is why in the video I mention that the tombstones, pumpkins, and the ghosts have that weird spotty effect.  That effect is fat bloom.  Since we just piped a simple direction it doesn’t really matter – it doesn’t look all that nice – but there aren’t any severe consequences since it’s such a small amount.  However, when piping the lattice or any ornate chocolate work you must use tempered chocolate.  Untempered chocolate will never set up and if it does it will be brittle and difficult to use.  Now with that said, I had a chef I worked with at a resort who used untempered chocolate to create a lattice which he then rolled up like a log – he claims that it wouldn’t work with tempered chocolate, or at least it worked better with untempered chocolate.  Of course he has a level skill much higher than I do in working with chocolate so I’m going to keep it basic – work with tempered chocolate!  By the way, I ended up using the dark chocolate Ghiradelli chips from the grocery store.

Another issue I had is with the royal icing.  The 5 1/2 oz powdered sugar to 1 egg white ratio was a little too runny.  I increased it to 6 – 6 1/2 oz to make it stiffer but you may need more powdered sugar if this is still too runny for you.  However, once you get it to the level stiffness you need it’s great to work with.  It’s particularly helpful to use it as a glue when it’s stiffer so the royal icing doesn’t slip or run when you’re trying to hold the bones together.

Keep in mind the buttercream we used is called grease cream or American Buttercream.  This is the kind of buttercream that is common to use on kid’s birthday cakes or cupcakes.  The recipe I use in the video is even a step lower as it’s only shortening and powdered sugar.  This is great for decorating because it is resistant to heat and is easy to manipulate in the sense that you can control how you can make it stiff or soft by simply adding water.  However because shortening melts at a temperature higher than body temperature it will having a greasy unpleasant mouth feel not to mention the powdered sugar will provide an unsophisticated ultra sweet flavor.  Now you can adjust the American buttercream recipe by replacing some of the shortening with butter and if you really want to you can even fold in an egg white chiffon/meringue.  However if you use butter it will become softer so it may be a little more difficult to work with.  Plus if you’re really going to go through the effort to use expensive butter and make a meringue you probably should just make a Swiss or Italian buttercream.

Here are the recipes for the basic brownies, grease cream / American Buttercream, and puffed rice / rice crispy treats that were used in this video.  The royal icing recipe is from a previous episode and I just cut it into a much smaller amount.  Enjoy the videos and have a Happy Halloween!