Red Velvet Brownies with White Chocolate Buttercream

A recipe that combines anything red velvet, brownies or white chocolate is a friend of mine. Add a Ghirardelli twist and I'm in a state of absolute bliss! Instead of making these in an 8x8 pans, I made individual brownies in a cupcake tin. The edges were crispy but the insides were perfect, so if you're a corner brownie kind of guy/gal I would suggest making (and eating) the smaller servings. You'll notice a lot of my recipes are made for easy sharing and that's because I like to keep things simple for my amazing group of taste-testers at work & home. No dishes to clean up, no long lines to wait in, no messy knife to cut with that someone blindly left in the middle of the cake pan...you know, just easy. However, any recipe listed so far can also easily be made into a standard cake size as well. These red velvet brownies would be fabulous made either way! Oh, and the icing is a definite keeper for ANY cake that white chocolate could work for. Just be sure not to overheat the white chocolate when you're melting it as it will burn quickly.

Red Velvet Brownies with White Chocolate Buttercream

For the brownies:

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 oz red food coloring (yes, a whole bottle)

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, slowly stir together the cocoa powder, food coloring, and vanilla into a thick paste until no lumps of cocoa remain. Set aside.

In a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. With the mixer off, add in the cocoa mixture, then turn the mixer to medium and beat the two mixtures together until they are one uniform color. Mix the flour and salt together and slowly add to the main mix on medium-low speed, just until combined. Do not overmix.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir up the batter with a rubber spatula once or twice just to ensure all of the flour has incorporated from the sides of the bowl and there isn’t anything stuck on the bottom of the bowl. You’ll want one uniformly colored batter (velvety Red, of course).

Pour the batter into a prepared pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the brownies. Allow brownies to completely cool in the pan on a baking rack before frosting.

For the white chocolate buttercream frosting:

1/2 cup (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

4 oz good-quality white chocolate (not chips), melted

In a stand mixer, cream butter until soft and fluffy then beat in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time; allow the sugar to mix in before adding the next 1/2 cup. Once all of the sugar has been added, beat on medium speed for 30 seconds and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in the melted white chocolate and beat on medium speed until incorporated.