I say saga because this truly is an epic dessert. Yet it was REALLY easy to make. All you do is fill a chocolate pie crust with a rich brownie mix (I used a fudge brownie mix and would definitely recommend it) and then top it with the slightly more complicated cocoa buttercream frosting.
I can count the number of times I’ve made frosting myself on one hand - in fact I think I could still do this if I was missing several fingers - so I have very little to compare this buttercream recipe to as far as effort required. It seemed pretty easy to me though, as it only took about 10 minutes from start to finish.
The site that I found this cake on - CakeSpy - lists recipes for the brownies as well as the frosting. I just used a box of brownie mix though, and focused my efforts on the frosting. The brownie recipe looked a little complicated and in my opinion the boxes taste just fine. Would it have been better if I had made it homemade? Probably. Would I still have been able to pull it off? Possibly not. What I’m posting here is what I did, but you can link through to the CakeSpy site if you’re more ambitious than I. If so, I give you credit. *pats you on back*
You’ll need:
* 1 pie crust (chocolate)
* 1 brownie mix - prepared like the box says (fudge is goood!)
* 1 cup butter
* 4 tablespoons cocoa
* 2-3 tablespoons milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2-3 cups confectioner’s sugar (I only used two)
The instructions for the pie are simple - just prepare the brownie mix as directed on the box - mine wanted oil and eggs and a splash of water - and then pour it in the pie crust, until it’s about 2/3 full. You’ll have batter leftover, so go to town on that. When you’re done shamefully eating at least a little of the batter, pop it in the oven (which should be preheated to 350 degrees, did I mention that? You should have seen it coming). Although the recipe says to cook it for about 30 minutes, mine took around 40. This may be because I have a slightly wonky oven, so you can probably stick to around 30 minutes. You want the brownie to be mostly cooked, but still slightly gooey. When it’s done, take it out and let it cool.
Now you’re ready to make the frosting! Aren’t you excited? Good.
Start by creaming the butter in a mixing bowl. When it’s smooth, add the cocoa and mix well, and then add the vanilla and milk and mix until it is all incorporated. Just in case you were wondering, if at this point you happened to accidentally get some of what you just mixed on your hand and licked it off, it would not taste delicious yet. In fact it would taste very bad. To make it delicious, add the powdered sugar until the frosting reaches the consistency you’d like. I used two cups.
Once the pie is cooled you can carefully spread the frosting on top, trying not to get brownie bits into the frosting. I did this awesomely, if I do say so myself. Hopefully you’ll get something that looks as good as, but not better than, this:
Enjoy!
