How The Number Of Eggs Affects Your Brownies' Structure And Mouthfeel (2024)

Close your eyes and imagine that you are biting into the perfect brownie. What does it feel like? Does it feel like a piece of cake? Is it moist and dense and fudgy? Or does it have a chewy texture? All three are valid. And everyone has their ideal. If you prefer fudgy over cakey, that's fine. It's also okay if you'd rather have a chewy brownie. No matter which type of brownie you like, however, you want to be able to bake that specific type without fail. And there is one ingredient that is largely responsible for a brownie's structure: the eggs.

Eggs are a seemingly magical ingredient in baking. They add stability and structure to your recipe. They can act like glue, add moisture, or they can increase the amount of air bubbles trapped inside your batter to affect the texture. Consequently, changing how many eggs you add to your brownie batter, as well as what part of the egg you add, can create the type of brownie that you crave.

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Using Eggs To Get The Type Of Brownie You Desire

How The Number Of Eggs Affects Your Brownies' Structure And Mouthfeel (1)

A classic brownie recipe is going to give you a somewhat fudgy brownie. That is your baseline. While you can use fewer eggs, this will make your brownies thinner and you will need to add more moisture, such as milk or applesauce, to get desirable results.

If you opt to add more eggs, say double the amount, something interesting happens. Even though you are adding more moisture, the air bubbles that you catch in the extra eggs add volume, which decreases the density of your final product. This makes your brownies rise and gives them a much more cake-like texture.

If you want a chewy brownie, the kind that has a little more gummy pull to it when you bite down, then you need to add only the yolks. A good place to start, again, is by doubling. If your recipe calls for two whole eggs, use two whole eggs and two egg yolks. The result is a brownie that not only has a more decadent element, but has a markedly chewier texture as well.

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How The Number Of Eggs Affects Your Brownies' Structure And Mouthfeel (2024)

FAQs

How The Number Of Eggs Affects Your Brownies' Structure And Mouthfeel? ›

If you opt to add more eggs, say double the amount, something interesting happens. Even though you are adding more moisture, the air bubbles that you catch in the extra eggs add volume, which decreases the density of your final product. This makes your brownies rise and gives them a much more cake-like texture.

What happens if you add too many eggs to brownies? ›

They give brownies a lighter, drier, and more cake-like texture. If you prefer this over the chewy variety, then go ahead and crack in that additional egg. On the other hand, too many eggs will yield brownies that are hard, heavy, and tough.

What happens if you don't put enough eggs in brownies? ›

Without eggs, baked goods will become a little thinner and not rise as much in the oven. As long as you replace the moisture from the egg with milk, banana or applesauce, you can make brownies without eggs. And yes, this recipe makes thinner brownies than normal.

Are eggs important in brownies? ›

Eggs create structure and stability in a batter, they add moisture and impact the texture of the final baked good. Their ability to assist with bringing ingredients together makes for a smooth, velvety brownie batter.

How to make brownies less cakey? ›

Achieving a fudgy brownie is all to do with the ratio of fat to flour. A fudgy brownie recipe will use more fat than flour. Generally this is achieved by adding more butter or real chocolate to your brownie recipe. A cakey brownie recipe on the other hand will call for more flour in the ratio of fat to flour.

What makes brownies fudgy vs cakey? ›

Fudgy brownies have a higher fat-to-flour ratio than cakey ones. So add more fat—in this case, butter and chocolate. A cakey batch has more flour and relies on baking powder for leavening. The amount of sugar and eggs does not change whether you're going fudgy or cakey.

What happens if you use more eggs in baking? ›

When eggs are balanced with liquids and fats like water, oil, and butter, they ensure that your cake doesn't turn into a soupy mess, but adding too many of them adds too much structure, leaving you with a cake that's rubbery and dense.

Do brownies need room temperature eggs? ›

When Using Cold Eggs Is Fine. Baked good that are dense, not airy: McCoy explains that recipes that don't rely on eggs for their creation of air—such as brownies, blondies, and muffins—allow you to use either cold or room temperature eggs.

Does egg size matter for brownies? ›

Indeed, using a different egg size than what's called for in the recipe can affect everything from color to flavor. Baking is a science, after all, and eggs are one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. So, measuring your eggs is key.

What is the forbidden brownie? ›

It doesn't get much more decadent than this! Indulge in Forbidden Chocolate ® ice cream with brownie chunks, signature hot fudge, Swiss Chocolate, and sprinkles.

Is melted butter better for brownies? ›

The reason we melt butter in brownie recipes instead of beating room temperature butter with sugar is because that helps give a rich, chewy, fudgy texture. Beating butter incorporates air and gives a more light, airy, cakey texture, which we don't want in a brownie. Well, you might want that, but I don't!

How do you keep brownies fudgy? ›

Wrapping aluminum foil around individual brownies or a tin of brownies will block the air from entering and preserve their chewy nature.

Why don't my brownies have a crackly top? ›

Add semisweet chocolate chips

We made several varieties of brownies in my shop and I noticed that the batches that had extra chocolate chips added to the batter always came out shiny! That's when I realized that the extra step of adding chocolate chips to the brownie batter helps the brownies get a crackly top.

What to do if you added too many eggs? ›

If the batter is runny enough to drip from the bowl without a spatula, you'll know you've added too much. To fix this, Delishably instructs adding 1 tablespoon of flour at a time until it thickens up. The ideal consistency will depend on what you're baking.

Does adding an extra egg to cake mix make it more moist? ›

Add an Extra Egg

Most cake mixes call for two to three eggs. Just one more egg will add extra moisture, fat, and a little protein, which means the cake will be softer and less likely to overbake and dry out in the oven.

Why did my brownies turn out hard? ›

If your brownies are turning out dry, it's for one of two reasons - either you've overcooked the brownies or there is too much flour in your recipe.

What happens if you over mix eggs? ›

An overmixed egg foam will be slack, wet, loose, and unable to hold peaks. An overmixed egg foam will look dull or broken, like cottage cheese. With the addition of flour, an undermixed batter will have uneven streaks or visible pockets of flour.

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