Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
Photos show how common baking mistakes can drastically change your brownies
Photos show how common baking mistakes can drastically change your brownies
Rachel AskinasiJun 12, 2020, 22:03 IST
Insider
I intentionally made nine common baking mistakes while making brownies to see how each would affect the finished product.
From not using enough butter to adding too much flour or mistaking baking soda for baking powder, there are a lot of mess-ups to be made.
Leaving out eggs altogether left me with an inedible, sugary soup but adding extra flour resulted in a more fluffy, delicious brownie.
When it comes to baking brownies, I usually stick to mix that comes in a box. It's convenient, and it's pretty hard to make a mistake. As it turns out, baking them from scratch is a lot easier to mess up; there's more measuring, ingredients, and room for human error.
To find out how some of these classic mistakes would alter my dessert, I intentionally made nine baking faux pas while using the same brownie recipe. To keep things consistent, I found Hershey's Best Brownies recipe online and stuck with it the whole way through.
I learned a lot from this day spent in the kitchen, but probably the most important rule of thumb is that you can't rush a brownie out of its pan. Let them cool first, otherwise, they'll completely fall apart — it took me three batches to figure this one out.
From mistaking baking soda for baking powder and forgetting to add the eggs, here's what happened when I made nine classic errors.
Advertisement
Using too much flour, expectedly, made for thicker brownies.
A brownie batch made with too much flour.
Rachel Askinasi/Insider
Using too little flour didn't negatively affect the flavor, but it did leave me with a very thin brownie.
A brownie batch made with too little flour.
Rachel Askinasi/Insider
Advertisement
This recipe calls for baking powder, but it's easy to mess up and use baking soda instead. This mistake won't ruin your brownies.
A brownie batch made with baking soda.
Rachel Askinasi/Insider
Using too much sugar resulted in chewy brownies that stuck to my teeth.
A brownie batch made with too much sugar.
Rachel Askinasi/Insider
Advertisement
Not using enough sugar made for an airy, cake-like brownie.
A brownie batch made with too little sugar.
Rachel Askinasi/Insider
Forgetting to add the eggs was the most disastrous mistake of all — this batch was inedible.
A brownie batch made without eggs.
Rachel Askinasi/Insider
Advertisement
On the other hand, adding an extra egg made for a lightweight, cakey batch.
A brownie batch made with an extra egg.
Rachel Askinasi/Insider
Incorrectly measuring butter and adding too much didn't have a huge effect on the overall taste of the brownies.
A brownie batch made with too much butter.
Rachel Askinasi/Insider
Advertisement
I didn't use enough butter in this batch and it muted the flavor of the brownies.
A brownie batch made with too little butter.
Rachel Askinasi/Insider
Ultimately, the best version depends on how you like your brownies.
Eight of the nine brownies were edible.
Rachel Askinasi/Insider