GBBO's Nadiya Hussain Says The Secret To Chocolatey Brownies Is 'Coffee'
Trying to figure out how to give your brownies that extra chocolatey flavor you're looking for can be a bit of a puzzle. There are a lot of big mistakes people make when baking brownies. Using the wrong kind of chocolate is one factor that plays into poorly made brownies that lack a chocolatey flavor (via Food52). Or perhaps using an extra scoop of cocoa trying to really bring out the richness you're looking for, but it fails miserably. What can be hard to figure out is how to make it taste extra chocolatey without adding all that extra chocolate. Unless you're a baking expert, that is.
Lucky for us, we have baking experts all around to help find the answer. "Great British Bake Off" Season 3 champion Nadiya Hussain definitely knows these types of answers, being a baking champion and all. In a recent bonus episode of Table Manners, a podcast all about food and talking about food, Hussain was able to give us a little tip when it comes to bringing out that extra chocolatey flavor in your homemade brownies.
Coffee brings out sweetness
During the interview on the podcast "Table Manners," Nadiya Hussain is asked what kind of cakes she can make blindfolded and her answer is the iconic brownie. She describes them as fudgy brownies with that "little thin veil on top" and discusses how they are so versatile in whatever toppings or fillings you can add. She goes on to spill her secret for making brownies that taste "chocolatey beyond words": coffee. "Adding a little bit of instant coffee that's quite concentrated" (about three tablespoons) for a tray of brownies does the trick.
According to a study published in 2020, coffee can make people more sensitive to sweetness and less sensitive to bitterness. So perhaps adding some coffee to your chocolate desserts, like brownies, will bring out the sweeter side of chocolate and leave behind its bitterness. This is why adding either instant coffee or brewed coffee to your chocolate brownies really lets you taste the chocolate. As long as you are using good cocoa in your brownie mix, Hussain reminds listeners.