Innovative pizza brownies to delight

By Fathima Riznaz Hafi

Home bakers are coming up with new and exciting ways to up their game lately, developing creative variations from classic recipes and turning them into unique products. The Weekend FT met one such baker in Dehiwala recently. Brownie & Co. has stepped up a notch from the classic brownie and come up with a colourful way to allure through eye-catching presentation and variation of tastes.

They offer mouth-watering brownies that come in different forms ranging from the classic brownie squares to brownie cakes, brownie mousse cups, brownie truffles, mini brownies and the most striking in the range – the ‘Brownie Pizza’. They do wedding favours and structure cakes as well, while mini brownies are for birthday parties.

“When I started this my main focus was to bring a variety of brownies; we usually find just chocolate brownies but mine also has strawberries and all sorts of toppings. Since I wanted to do a variety I had to do a lot of thinking to come up with a lot of ideas. We are working on many other innovative dishes and are still coming up with new flavours to increase the variety of products available,” said the young baker, who is running the business with the support of her mother. 

“The Brownie Pizza is our most special product as it’s very different from the other cakes and bakes available in Sri Lanka (as far as I know) and that is our main attraction. I want my pizza to be very attractive and more appealing than the Brownie pieces. For pieces it’s usually a half and half option – we don’t give too many varieties – but in the pizza we have all the toppings. We use mostly branded chocolates such as Twix, Toblerone and Hershey for our pizza. This is the trendier one – it has all the chocolates that are ‘in’ – people buy it for the name. 

“One of our motives is to have a very reasonable price but also at the same time offer good quality products so the customer is satisfied and feels the money spent is worth it. Our main focus is customer satisfaction and the quality of our products; there are good and bad days and we make sure that if a batch doesn’t turn out right we would redo the whole thing even if we run late, as long as we can deliver the perfect product.

“It doesn’t end with just baking the brownie and sending it; we have to make sure it’s delivered on time and in proper condition. Only once we get the customer feedback are we satisfied – till that our work is not done,” she said. 

I couldn’t wait to see what these brownies looked like; I was enticed by the pictures on her Facebook page and now I was about to see them up-close. As I approached the table, the drool-worthy presentation was ever-so-inviting and the taste did not disappoint…

Brownie Pizza

Needless to say I went straight for the ‘Brownie Pizza’, pretty excited to experience this new creation. They normally offer an assortment of six different varieties but had seven in this one; customers can choose the preferred slices and toppings in their pizza. Each slice of brownie in the pizza had a tasty, fudgy texture and when complemented with luscious toppings it served as a pleasurable experience. Following are the slices that I got:

M&M’s – This slice of pizza had M&M’s placed neatly on it, giving it a vibrant, colourful look. The gooey goodness of the brownie coupled with the delicious chocolatey crunch of M&M’s gave out a feeling of childish bliss. It was the most colourful in the range and I loved every bite of it, enjoying that crunch when I get a chocolate in. 

Strawberry – Pieces of sliced, fresh strawberries were placed on this one. I always take pleasure in the teasing combination of sweet and bitter that chocolate and strawberries combined offer, so I obviously liked this one.

Maltesers – Here we have maltesers laid on top with drizzles of white and brown chocolate sauce over them. As with the M&M’s the crunch from the maltesers was very welcome. 

S’more – This was toasted marshmallows, drizzled over with chocolate sauce. Someone who loves marshmallows would find this to be a double indulgence. The marshmallows were soft, mushy and fluffy and delightful to bite through.

Galaxy – Pieces of Galaxy chocolate were strewn over this slice. Pure chocolate on chocolate was a delightful experience. So much chocolate in one piece is just something to close your eyes and indulge in. 

Snickers and Peanut Butter – Small chunks of Snickers were scattered over a layer of peanut sauce spread on this slice. So I got the taste of brownie and peanut sauce along with the nuts, caramel and even more chocolate from the Snicker, giving me a whole load of flavours at one go.  

Oreo – With bits of Oreo strewn on top of a spread of white chocolate, this had a brownie and cookie taste combined. If you don’t like the mix of brownie with cookie I wouldn’t recommend this but Oreo lovers would enjoy it. 

Every slice of this assorted pizza was delicious, satisfying and filling. I had to take a break before I moved on to the Brownie squares, eager as ever to taste more from their range.

Brownie Squares

The Brownie Squares which were really rich in chocolate, had basically the same toppings and flavours as the pizza but came in the classic form of square shaped brownies. The brownies were certainly yummy, with a cakey texture on the outside and a gooey, fudgy taste from the inside but the crust on top was not crunchy probably because it was softened by the toppings and spread but I didn’t mind because those tasty toppings made up for that. If you prefer a crusty top on your brownies I suggest ordering the plain brownie because without the topping the crunch on the crust remains intact.

Though some of the same toppings as the pizza were shared here, I was given a few other varieties to try. These same toppings are available for the pizza if you prefer to order them as a pizza. They have about 15 flavours of which I tried out nine. 

Brownie with almonds and chocolate sprinkles – the almonds were thinly sliced and placed on a layer of white chocolate spread on top of the brownie, with a dash of chocolate sprinkles thrown in along with it. It was nice and crunchy with the combination of three items.

Brownie with cashew nuts – this was even crunchier, with tasty chopped cashew nuts all over the top.

Brownie with M&M’s – four pieces of M&M’s were enough to beautify the top of this brownie. The taste was the same as with the pizza so it’s a matter of preference in terms of presentation here. 

Brownie with Maltesers – it was presented the same way as the M&M’s brownie and therefore had a similar effect but with the taste of maltesers. 

Brownie with strawberry – two pretty slices of strawberries lay in an overlapped position here and again I got a nice tease of the two lovely items put together. 

S’more Brownie – a nice big toasted chunk of marshmallow sits in the middle of this brownie giving a mushy, fluffy addition to it. 

Brownie with Galaxy – chocolate on chocolate again on this scrumptious square for chocolate lovers.

Brownie with Snickers – this one as with the pizza had small chunks of Snickers strewn on top. 

Plain Brownie – If you just want a good ole plain brownie unadulterated, then go for this one. It is perfect on its own, with gooey fudge inside and a ganache drizzle on top of a crispy crust. It may sound simple without the fancy toppings but is delicious. This is the base for all her toppings and if you wondered what her brownie would taste like without those toppings, this would be it. She says many of her customers prefer the plain brownies because they are already rich in chocolate. 

Brownie Chocolate Mousse Cups

The mousse cups come in chocolate, strawberry, raspberry and mint flavours – I got chocolate. It consisted of a layer of fudge brownie and chocolate sauce at the bottom, followed by delightfully light, soft and fluffy chocolate cream at the centre and then nuts and nougat at the top. The yummy mixed taste of the three layers was certainly enjoyed but I would have been happier with a little more of that lovely, crunchy nougat on top. 

Orders

The regular brownie pack deliveries go out at two times: 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. For the first batch you need to place an order by 12:30 at the latest; after that it will go into the later batch for delivery. Orders for cakes require a day’s notice but sometimes they carry it out under short notice if there’s no rush on that day. For a party or quantities of 500 or 600 pieces two days’ notice is enough but if it’s a wedding and you need a structure cake then at least one or two weeks’ notice is required.

Pix by Gitika Talukdar