Cafe2U shares irresistible recipe for espresso martini brownies

The mobile coffee franchise recently shared a new blog to its website, featuring one of its favourite recipes that combines sweet deliciousness with the rich, tasty flavour of coffee.

Cafe2U is best known for its quality coffee, served on the go, and the coffee van franchise regularly shares yummy recipes like this one with its customers. Recently, in celebration of both National Chocolate Week and National Baking Week, Cafe2U shared its unbeatable “do-try-this-at-home chocolate and coffee recipe” for espresso martini brownies. To make 16, the franchise says, customers will need:

• 185g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 185g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
• 3 large eggs
• 275g golden caster sugar
• 85g plain flour
• 40g cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon of ground coffee or espresso, mixed with 1 tablespoon of water
• 16 chocolate balls/truffles with soft centres

For the espresso martini sauce, they’ll then need 60ml of freshly brewed strong coffee (or two shots of espresso), 3 tablespoons of golden caster sugar, 150ml of double cream, half a tablespoon of cornflour and 30ml of vodka. For step one, according to Cafe2U, you should “tip the butter into a heatproof bowl with the dark chocolate, then fill a small pan about a quarter full with boiling water and sit the bowl on top ensuring it doesn’t touch the water”. Then, “Put the pan on the hob over a low heat, and stir occasionally until the butter and chocolate have melted. Remove the bowl from the pan and leave the melted mixture to cool to room temperature.”

Next up, “Preheat your oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line a shallow 20cm square brownie tin with non-stick baking paper. Combine the eggs and sugar using an electric whisk, until they are creamy and doubled in volume – this may take as long as 7-8 minutes depending on the power of your whisk. Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the combined eggs and sugar, then gently fold together with a spatula until the two mixtures combine and the colour is a dark brown. Try not to knock the air out of the mixture, as this will prevent the brownies from rising properly.”

Then, “Sieve the flour and cocoa over the chocolate and egg mixture along with a generous pinch of salt. Gently fold the powder into the mixture along with the espresso and water. Mix until it resembles fudge, then pour into the tin and use a spatula to ensure an even, level topping. Push the chocolate balls into the brownie at regular intervals. Put the brownie mix into the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top develops a shiny crust and the sides begin to come away from the tin. Remove from the oven.”

Finally, to make the sauce, you should “heat the coffee and caster sugar together to dissolve the sugar”. When dissolved, “Mix a little of the double cream with the cornflour, then add to the pan with the remaining cream. Bring to a simmer and stir over a medium heat until it thickens. Add the vodka, then turn off the heat. Serve each square of brownie with the sauce poured over.” Find out more about Cafe2U via the franchise’s profile page, linked above.