Cakey Brownies

This recipe (hoisted and modified for my own designs from Shari's blog) represents an experiment--a building block in the foundation of my baking experience. With the recent acquisition of my KitchenAid mixer, I have developed a fascination with the chemistry behind all things baked. That said, my experiments generally end with somewhat underwhelming results, but I suppose that's the idea in the first place.

In this case, I wanted brownies that were significantly cakier than the fudgey ones produced by the aforementioned recipe. Not that I have any problem with fudgey brownies--far from it; I love Shari's recipe and as such, decided to use it as the base for my modifications. My ultimate purpose in this endeavor was to achieve at least one of two ends: 1) Determine how the amount of each ingredient affects the overall result and 2) Get me my cakey brownies. I have gained some insight into the first, but future posts will have to take care of the second.

Software:
1/2tsp Baking powder (modified from soda, to aid poofiness)
1/3c Natural cocoa powder (not dutch cocoa! Results in overly-sweet brownies, in my opinion. Also, this ingredient was short-changed due to my running out of it and having to improvise)
2 cubes semisweet baker's chocolate, melted (semisweet is too sweet, in retrospect)
2/3c butter, softened
1/2c hot water
2c white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3c all-purpose flour
1tsp vanilla extract
1/4tsp salt

Hardware:
Medium mixing bowl, for dry ingredients
KitchenAid mixer, with paddle attachment
Spatula for bowl scraping
Fork for mixing dry stuff

Preheat:
325F (future recipes will modify this to 350F)

As Shari's recipe provides a dense block of chocolatey goodness, I decided (in retrospect, unadvisedly) to add puffiness in as many different aspects as I could to see how things turned out. As such, I started out by creaming the butter and sugar together on medium speed. While this was going on, I mixed all the dry ingredients in the bowl with the fork (and, of course, I discovered I was short on chocolate and had to melt up some baker's cubes instead). Once the creaming was well underway, I added the eggs, making sure the first one was completely mixed in before adding the second. Once both eggs were integrated, I reduced the speed of the mixer to the lowest setting and added the water and vanilla. I gradually brought the speed back up to medium once the stuff wasn't threatening to slosh out of the bowl.

At this point, I had to add my melted chocolate to be blended into the goo, which was followed quickly by the dry ingredients. I tend to mix the dry stuff in slowly (and at low speed, mind you) due to a combination of wanting it to get mixed properly and having a bowl that doesn't pour well into the mixer bowl. After the dry was mixed in, I brought the speed back up to medium for a bit (probably the key bad idea in this experiment, as seen below) until I was satisfied. At this point, I took a picture:

Note that the thing appears to resemble whipped chocolate frosting as opposed to brownie batter--a result of very much overmixing, I have to guess. Regardless, I dumped it into the pan to see what the end result would be. I baked it at 325F for approximately 40 minutes before checking on it and determining that the center was still just about raw. All in all, I baked it for 70 minutes before a toothpick would come out clean, The final result:

As my thumb indentation at the bottom shows, the top is extremely dry and crusty, due to the long time at a somewhat low temperature. While this is not bad (actually, my coworkers complimented the contrasting textures of the crunch and the soft interior), it wasn't what I was going for. That said, the project taught me much about brownies themselves, and I look forward to building upon the experience.

Lessons learned:
One of my more educational projects thus far, I must admit.

1. The "brownies" came out dry and crispy, so I'll increase the temperature in future experiments.
2. The end product was too sweet, without enough chocolate flavor. I attribute this to an abundance of sugar, partially due to the semisweet baker's chocolate. I suspect a recipe with pure natural cocoa powder will have a better balance of flavors.
3. Too much like cake--although this was expected, I now have my ideas as to why this is so. For my next attempt, I plan to still use the mixer and baking powder, but I will keep the mixer at its lowest speed and add the ingredients in a different order.

Note: After discussion with Shari and some further research, Dutch process cocoa is not actually sweeter than natural cocoa, but it *does* have lower acidity and less "chocolate" flavor to it. Thus, while my original rationale for using natural powder was flawed, I still feel that it is the best choice for brownies, as I want a very strong chocolate flavor out of it.