Vegan Salted Caramel Brownies

Hi baking friends!

Vegan Salted Caramel Brownies.… the legend speaks for itself. The ultimate fudgy, rich, gooey, moist and delicious treat to end all treats. This may be one of my FAVOURITE bakes of all time. Flaky sea salt is the perfect garnish for this treat to make the most sweet-and-salt-tastic flavour explosion you’ll ever find.

If you’re here, it means you’re looking for a specifically vegan version of salted caramel brownies so I know the first question on your mind: how did you replace the eggs?!? Applesauce? Smashed banana? Flax egg?

Nope, nope, and nope! I actually didn’t really use any egg replacer for this recipe – the closest thing to an egg replacer in this recipe is the aquafaba but truly it can be swapped out for water! For most desserts, eggs have MANY uses: binding, leavening, stabilising, flavouring, etc. but for brownies they’re only there to bind the brownies and make them rich! Brownies can be rich without the eggs and the aquafaba helps a little with the binding!

If you’re looking for stodgy and thick brownies then feel free to add in any of those traditional egg replacers but honestly, they’re not needed!

I’ve formed a little bit of a habit of making recipes with many elements and ingredients- opera cakes, layered cakes, etc. With that in mind, I didn’t want to burden you guys with a super long recipe so for this post I’ve just recommended using a shop-bought vegan caramel sauce. In the UK we have access to at least two kinds – Nature’s Charm caramel sauce (which you can just add sea salt to) or Janda dairy-free salted caramel sauce. If you live somewhere where you don’t have access to any vegan caramels or salted caramels in the supermarket then please refer to the bottom of this recipe page for my salted caramel recipe (that I’ve borrowed from my Millionaire’s shortbread recipe!)

My biggest pet peeve with reading recipes online is when a recipe creator has made a really specific or unusual choice in their recipe and not explained why. In light of this, here’s a breakdown of all the choices I made in my version of vegan salted caramel brownies:

200g caster sugar + 80g light brown sugar:

I like to use a small fraction of brown sugar because it provides a touch of extra flavour. Brown sugar contains molasses which is hygroscopic (ability to absorb water) which means the brownies retain more moisture than usual. To simplify the recipe you can just use 280g of caster sugar.

150g aquafaba:

aquafaba is a fairly good binding agent. In small amounts in can replace the properties of egg yolks or whites. As a last resort you can use water as a substitute.

½ tsp baking powder:

Despite only being a small amount, baking powder here serves a vital purpose in making these brownies ever so slightly “cakey”. The baking powder forces the brownie batter to puff up and react when baking. If you are aiming for super fudgy and thick brownies you can omit this completely!

110g vegetable oil:

Vegetable oil is a common ingredient in brownies. Cakes and desserts that use oil instead of butter are always more moist, which is preferable here. If you only have vegan butter or margarine available this is absolutely fine. It can be substituted 1:1 and butter adds a rich flavour. 

80g chopped dark chocolate:

I recommend using dark chocolate with a slightly lower cocoa solids % ratio of 55 – 70%. As a general rule, dark chocolate less than 70% cocoa solids are considered lower quality as they have less cocoa and more sugar. Feel free to use 70% if you like the bitter taste of dark chocolate but if you’d prefer a sweeter treat then go lower! Also, I like to set aside 80g and add that into the batter later so there’s more texture to the brownie. In fact, I sometimes will use 80g of chocolate chips instead of chopped chocolate.

One small recipe note – try to spread out your caramel as thin as possible. If it’s too thick in any one spot, the two layers of brownie will cook separately and when you cut into them they will slide apart.

Let’s get to the recipe!!

As mentioned above, here is my salted caramel recipe if you cannot find any in store! This caramel recipe is a little more advanced than a typical “home baker” style caramel but it’s truly delicious and worth the extra effort. If you want a simpler recipe then there’s hundreds online that use much simpler ingredients, and without a sugar thermometer, such as medjool date caramels or “quick” caramels that just use brown sugar and milk. Jane’s Patisserie has a 3-ingredient vegan caramel recipe for her vegan Millionaire’s shortbread that would work here! 

Salted Caramel: 

120g vegan butter

200g caster sugar

120g soy cream

60ml water

100g golden syrup

1 tsp vanilla paste/extract

1 – 2 tsp of sea salt

Method:

Microwave the butter with the cream for 30 seconds until they are combined.

Mix together the caster sugar, water and golden syrup in a pan on low-medium heat. Leave the mixture alone and heat for 10-15minutes until you reach 320F (160C).

As soon as you reach 320F, pour in a quarter of the cream mixture into the hot caramel. Keep stirring while it violently bubbles up.

Continue to add in the rest of the mixture a quarter at time until it’s fully incorporated. This will reduce to the temperature of the caramel to below 212F (100C).

Keep stirring the caramel whilst you bring the temperature back up to 245F (118C). As soon as you reach this temperature, take it off the heat and add in the vanilla paste and salt.

To test if the caramel is successful, spoon a small amount of caramel onto a plate and place in the fridge/freezer to chill for 3 minutes. If the caramel has reached “firm ball” stage then it should set relatively firm. If it has failed then place the caramel back on the heat and repeat the end process.

For this recipe you’ll need:

• 8 or 9-inch square baking tin
• silicone spatula

Enjoy!!

5 from 4 reviews

Vegan Salted Caramel Brownies

August 15, 2020

Servings: 12

Prep: 10 min

Cook: 40 min

Total: 1 hr

Difficulty: Easy

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The ultimate fudgy, rich, gooey and delicious treat perfect for those chocolate and salted caramel cravings! Wow your friends and family with that oozy salted caramel core!

By: Project Vegan Baking

Ingredients

• 280g chopped dark chocolate
• 110g vegetable oil (or other neutral-tasting oil)
• 200g caster sugar
• 80g light brown sugar
• 200g plain flour
• 80g cocoa powder
• 150g aquafaba (from 1 can of chickpeas)
• 70ml plant milk (or brewed coffee)
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp flaky sea salt (+ some extra for decoration)
• 300g salted caramel sauce

Directions

• Step 1 Pre-heat the oven to 170C (338F). Line an 8-inch square baking pan (or similar) with baking paper.
• Step 2 Prepare the salted caramel in advance if you’re not using store-bought.
• Step 3 Pour the aquafaba and both sugars into a saucepan on low heat. Simmer for 2 minutes until the sugar has completely dissolved.
• Step 4 Melt 200g chocolate in a bain-marie (leaving 80g spare to sprinkle in later) or in the microwave using 30 second bursts.
• Step 5 Warm up the plant milk in the microwave for 30 seconds and then gently mix it with the melted chocolate. Then add in the oil. Stir until smooth.
• Step 6 Sieve together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt).
• Step 7 Mix the warm aquafaba sugar syrup with the melted chocolate+milk+oil combo. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until your batter is completely smooth. Sprinkle in the remaining chopped chocolate.
• Step 8 Pour half of the batter into the baking tin and place in the freezer for 10 minutes. Take it out and distribute the salted caramel sauce across the brownie base. Avoid spreading it to the edges as we don’t want the caramel to ooze out and burn!
• Step 9 Freeze again for 10 minutes and then take out to cover with the remaining brownie batter.
• Step 10 Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a small amount of batter with some moist crumbs attached.
• Step 11 Leave them to cool to room temperature before serving.