The Ugly Duckling Brownie

I love giving people gifts that reflect my personality, that is why my friends and family often find themselves unwrapping a beautiful teacup or some homemade delights.

It's hard to find ways to turn food into something beautiful enough to give to your loved ones, sure you have cupcakes and cakes that you could work your magic on. BUT what about those not so pretty favourites like brownies and caramel slices that everyone loves but rarely make it into a gift box?

I'm going to show you how to turn the ugly duckling brownie into something you would be proud to be wrapping up and gifting !

The ugly Duckling slab of fudge brownie 

 What you need: 
-Brownie (recipe below)
-Chocolate to melt (choose one that you would eat, I prefer dark to counter the richness of the brownie but I only had milk on this occasion)
-Square cutter (to cut perfect squares of brownies or simply freehand it with a knife)
-Little flower cutter
-Ball sugar flower tool (can be purchased online )
-Edible Gold lustre dust
-White fondant
-Gold sugar pearls (or alternatively you can pipe royal icing in the middle of the flower)
-Soft paint brush

Brownie Recipe: ( This recipe produces an incredibly fudgy brownie!)
-8 inch square pan
-150 grams of butter
-1 cup of dark cocoa powder
-4 eggs
-1 1/2 cups of white sugar
-1 cup of plain flour
-1/4 tsp of baking powder
-A pinch of salt

What to do : (To make your brownie)

1. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees
2. Melt Butter in the microwave (around 40-60 seconds)
3. Mix in the cocoa powder with the melted butter
4. Then mix in the eggs one at a time
5. Mix n the sugar, flour, salt and baking powder
6. pour into a 8 inch (20cm) square and bake for around 45 minutes

*The texture when out of the oven should be the slightest wobble on top this will ensure an extra fudgy brownie once cooled.

Fudge Brownie Cut into squares with a cookie cutter

What to do: (To transform your brownie)

1. Let your brownie cool completely.
2. Cut out square blocks of brownie either with a cookie cutter or freehand with a knife.
3. Melt your chocolate (I microwave mine for around 60 seconds)
4. Dip the sides of the square blocks of brownie and then the top
5. let the chocolate harden
6. Now for the fun part! Making your Golden flower decorations (what better way than to show you!)





7. Once you are done with the flowers and they have dried lustre dust the chocolate dipped fudge brownies and place your flower on top
8. Your fudge brownie squares are now ready for gift wrapping!

*Tips: I don't have a foam pad to make my flowers on so I replicated one using folded up paper towel with a piece of baking paper on top.
*I also like icing sugar dusting bags that help stop your fondant from sticking to everything. I make by placing icing sugar inside a paper towel pouch and using a fine knife to pierce it a few times.

The perfect little gift. Great for little party favours or place multiple in a larger box for a big gift 

Enjoy


xx Mel.