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Frosted Brownies take a rich, fudgy double chocolate brownie and crown it with a thick layer of fluffy strawberry buttercream whipped from real pureed berries. I made a pan for a *Friday movie night* and Maddie and Lizzie negotiated over the corner pieces like it was a business deal. If you love a bare pan of my classic fudgy brownies, this is the dressed up version.
A dense chocolate brownie base under a cloud of pink strawberry buttercream, cut into thick bakery style bars.
Frosted Brownies Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 15 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 60 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 15 servings
- ⚡ Calories: 723kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Fudgy dark chocolate with a sweet, fruity strawberry cream topping
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, on par with my Oreo brownies
Quick Answer
Melt chocolate chips and butter together, then stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Fold the wet mixture into a bowl of whisked flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt, then spread the thick batter into a parchment lined 9×13 dish and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 50 to 60 minutes. Cool the slab completely, whip softened butter with powdered sugar and pureed strawberries into a fluffy frosting, spread it over the brownies, and cut into bars.
Jump to:
- Frosted Brownies Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Frosted Brownies
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Frosted Brownies FAQs
- Other Recommended Brownie Recipes
- Frosted Brownies with Strawberry Frosting
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Melted chocolate plus cocoa doubles the flavor. Melting a full bag of chocolate chips into the butter gives the base fudgy density, while cocoa powder in the dry mix layers in a second, deeper chocolate note.
- Six eggs build that fudgy chew. The eggs bind the heavy chocolate batter and set into a moist, dense crumb that can hold a thick layer of frosting without crumbling.
- A full cool down protects the frosting. Spreading buttercream on a fully cooled slab keeps the frosting thick and fluffy instead of melting into a pink glaze.
- Real pureed strawberries flavor the buttercream. A quarter cup of blended berries brings genuine fruit flavor and a natural blush that extract alone cannot fake.
- The parchment sling makes clean bars. Lining the dish with parchment lets you lift the whole frosted slab out and cut neat bakery style squares on a board.
- Baking powder gives just enough lift. One teaspoon opens the dense batter slightly, so the bars are fudgy but not heavy like fudge candy.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The brownie base is dense and fudgy with double chocolate from melted chips plus cocoa powder.
- The strawberry buttercream uses real pureed berries, so the pink layer actually tastes like strawberries.
- The melted chocolate plus cocoa combo gives them the same double chocolate depth as my Butterfinger brownies.
Key Ingredients
A double dose of chocolate meets real berries in the frosting.
- Semi sweet chocolate chips: The fudge factor. A whole bag melts into the butter for a dense, rich base.
- Cocoa powder: The second layer of chocolate. It deepens the flavor and darkens the crumb.
- Salted butter: The base richness. The salt balances all that sugar and chocolate.
- Eggs: The structure. Six of them set the heavy batter into a sliceable, fudgy bar.
- Pureed strawberries: The frosting star. Fresh berries blended smooth flavor and tint the buttercream naturally.
- Powdered sugar: The frosting body. It whips with the butter into a thick, spreadable cloud.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
One fudgy slab, plenty of ways to top it.
- Use raspberry or blackberry puree in the buttercream instead of strawberry for a deeper berry flavor.
- Add a teaspoon of espresso powder to the dry mix to push the chocolate even darker.
- Go green and minty instead with the frosting idea from my mint brownies.
- Skip the food coloring for a soft natural blush, or add a drop more for bakery pink.
- Scatter freeze dried strawberry pieces over the frosting for crunch and color.
How to Make Frosted Brownies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper. Cut the butter into tablespoons, place it over the chocolate chips in a large bowl, and microwave in short intervals, stirring between each, until melted and completely smooth.
- Stir the sugar into the warm chocolate mixture. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing each in fully before adding the next, then stir in the vanilla.
- Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Pour the wet chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until combined with no dry patches left.
- Spread the thick batter evenly into the prepared dish. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with a few moist crumbs. Let the slab cool completely in the pan.
- For the frosting, whip the softened butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, then the salt, pureed strawberries, vanilla, and strawberry extract if using. Whip on medium high for 3 minutes until light and fluffy, adding a drop of red food coloring if you want a deeper pink.
- Spread the strawberry buttercream evenly over the cooled brownies. Lift the slab out by the parchment, cut into 15 bars, and serve.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Cool the brownies completely before frosting. Even a little residual warmth melts the buttercream into a glaze instead of a fluffy layer.
- Melt the chocolate gently. Short microwave bursts with stirring between keeps the chocolate smooth instead of scorched and grainy.
- Add the eggs one at a time. Each egg needs to emulsify into the heavy batter before the next goes in, or the mixture can split.
- Pat the strawberry puree dry of excess juice. Too much liquid loosens the buttercream, so measure a thick quarter cup of puree.
- Use the parchment sling. Lifting the whole slab out before cutting gives you clean edges on every bar.
- Wipe the knife between cuts. A hot, clean knife makes those bakery sharp lines through the frosting and fudgy base.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Serve them beside my strawberry earthquake cake for a pink and chocolate dessert table.
My strawberry poke cake doubles down on the strawberry cream combo in sheet cake form.
For a boozy chocolate cousin, my Baileys brownies are the grown up option.
And my classic fudgy brownies are the no frosting fallback when you want pure chocolate.
Frosted Brownies FAQs
Yes, these frosted brownies are best stored in the refrigerator because the buttercream contains real strawberry puree. Keep them in an airtight container for up to 4 days and let them sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes before serving so the frosting softens and the brownie base loses its chill. Unfrosted, the slab keeps at room temperature for 2 days.
The trick is patience, the brownie slab must be completely cool before any frosting touches it. Even slightly warm brownies will melt the butter in the frosting and turn that thick fluffy layer into a runny glaze. If your kitchen runs hot, chill the baked slab in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before spreading the buttercream.
Yes. Freeze the bars in a single layer until the frosting is firm, then layer them in an airtight container with parchment between layers for up to 2 months. Thaw them in the refrigerator overnight and bring to room temperature before serving. The strawberry buttercream holds up surprisingly well because the fruit is fully blended into the butter and sugar.
A 9×13 pan of this thick, six egg batter genuinely needs 50 to 60 minutes in the oven, which is longer than most brownie recipes. Pull them only when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. If the edges brown too fast while the center bakes, tent the pan loosely with foil for the last 15 minutes.
Absolutely. Thaw the berries completely, drain off the excess liquid, and puree them before measuring the quarter cup. Frozen strawberries are picked at peak ripeness, so the flavor is often stronger than off season fresh berries. Just make sure the puree is thick, extra water thins the buttercream and makes it harder to spread in a tall layer.
Frosted brownies add a thick layer of buttercream over the cooled brownie slab, turning a simple bar into a layered dessert that eats more like a cake slice. The frosting adds sweetness and moisture, so the base is usually a denser, slightly less sweet brownie to balance it, exactly how this double chocolate version is built.
Made these frosted brownies? Leave a comment and a star rating below, and tell me if the strawberry frosting survived long enough to make it onto the pan!
Berry fans should try my raspberry brownies with white chocolate next.
Prefer blondes to brunettes? My white chocolate blondies pack blueberries into a butterscotch batter.
Frosted Brownies with Strawberry Frosting
Ingredients
For the brownies:
- 1 cup salted butter
- 12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 & ½ teaspoons salt
For the strawberry frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- pinch fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup pureed strawberries
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon strawberry extract optional
- Red gel food coloring optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper, set aside.
- Cut the butter into tablespoons. Place the chocolate chips in a large bowl and add the cut-up butter on top—place in the microwave and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir, microwave for another 30 seconds, and stir again. Continue to microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring in between, until everything is melted and smooth.
- Add the sugar to the chocolate mixture and stir to combine. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing them in thoroughly before adding the next. Stir in the vanilla.
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until combined with no dry patches left.
- Spread out the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, a few moist crumbs are okay but there should be no wet batter.
- Let cool completely.
- While the brownies are cooling, make the frosting. Place the butter into the body of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer. Whip the butter until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until fully incorporated. Add the salt, pureed strawberries, vanilla, and strawberry extract if using. Stir it in until combined, then whip on medium-high speed for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add red food coloring if desired until the color you want is achieved.
- Frost the top of the brownies with the strawberry buttercream, cut, and serve.
Notes
- This makes a large batch, but you can easily halve the recipe as needed. Bake in an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish to make half a recipe, baking times may vary.
- Tons of custom options, see my tips above on that.
- Great for a make-ahead dessert.
- This freezes well, see my tips above on how to store.
- Use gel food coloring for more vibrancy.
Nutrition
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