This recipe is a paid partnership with Vivani.
Heart-shaped brownies with fresh raspberry compote are the PERFECT Valentine (or anytime) brownies!
Show how much you love someone by giving them your heart…well, a chocolate brownie heart!
Valentine’s day is fast approaching. I have your special Valentine’s dessert sorted, you can thank me later!
A rich and chewy chocolate brownie with a raspberry compote baked into the brownie, dunked in a silky smooth chocolate ganache, topped with a fresh raspberry and a sprinkling of sea salt (optional).
I’ve had the idea of shaping brownies into hearts for a while, so I am excited to finally bring it to life and share it with you all!
Brownies can be quickly whipped up and are super chocolately, but with added tart yet sweet and juicy raspberry compote infused into them takes them to another level. They are the perfect combination of sweet, rich, indulgent and fruity.
These brownies are:
- Decadent
- Fudgy
- Chewy
- Rich
- Fruity with the tart raspberries
- Easy to make
- Lovely Valentines gifts
In order to make this recipe indulgent and decadent, I have used one of my favourite dark chocolates – Vivani Cooking Chocolate. Vivani lovingly creates some of the tastiest, silkiest chocolate. They see their chocolate as a work of art and once you’ve tasted their creations you will be definitely converted.
This is a paid post with Vivani. For more information about product placement and partnerships, check out my Disclosure Policy.
Quite honestly, this chocolate is one of THE BEST vegan / dairy-free chocolates for baking. It uses the finest, organic ingredients and uses 70% cocoa.
For bakes such as brownies, you want them to be as rich as possible. Chocolate with over 65% is key!
Why I love this chocolate:
- Ultra creamy
- The shape of the bar makes it easy for baking and melting
- It’s suitable for vegans and is organic.
- Vivani’s packaging is plastic free which is amazing!
- It uses 70% chocolate, which makes it PERFECT for indulgent bakes and desserts.
Buy the Dark Cooking Chocolate here. It’s also available on Planet Organic.
Check out the whole Vivani vegan range here.
I made a batch of my favourite, 3 ingredient raspberry compote which I originally was going to spread over the brownies then dunk in chocolate, but I had the genius idea of creating a poke cake inspired brownie.
Before the brownies baked, I used the end of a wooden spoon, made holes in the brownie batter, added the compote into a piping bag and piped the compote into the holes.
It was a little experiment as I had never used compote in this way before, but oh my, it turned out PERFECTLY! Once the compote baked, It thickened up and went chewy, kind of like a thick jam.
Preparation: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Makes: 9 brownies (depending on cookie cutter size)
Level: Easy
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Ingredients for the raspberry compote
- 140g of frozen raspberries
- 60g of caster sugar
- 2 teaspoons of cornflour
Ingredients for the brownie
- 4 tablespoons of flaxseed + 8 tablespoons of water
- 140g of dairy-free butter
- 120g of dark brown sugar
- 200g of caster sugar
- 120g of cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 200g of self-raising flour
Ingredients for the chocolate ganache
- 200g of Vivani Cooking Chocolate (1 bar)
- 100g of dairy-free cream
+
- Fresh raspberries (for decoration)
- Sea salt (optional)
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Method (raspberry compote)
1. Place the frozen raspberries into a medium-sized saucepan and sprinkle over the sugar and cornflour.
2. Place ontop onto the hob over a medium to high heat and bring to the boil. This will take around 5-8 minutes Keep stirring with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon to prevent the mixture from sticking and burning.
It will start to turn thick. Once thick, remove from the heat and allow to cool before using. As it cools, it will thicken up even more and turn into a jellified sauce.
Store in a sealed container in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
Method (brownie)
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees c fan, and line an 9×9 square inch baking tin with grease-proof paper.
2. Make the flax eggs.
Add 4 tablespoons of ground flaxseed into a small bowl and add in 8 tablespoons of water. Stir to combine then set aside to thicken. This will take around 10 minutes.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free butter/margarine, both sugars and flax egg. Whisk to combine until light in colour.
4. Add in the cocoa powder, baking powder and flour. Mix until a thick brownie batter.
5. Spoon then spread the batter into the lined tin, making sure to get it as flat as possible.
Smooth out using the back of a spoon or offset spatula.
6. Make holes in the brownie batter with the end of a wooden spoon. Add the raspberry compote into a piping bag and pipe the compote into the holes. Level off with a off-set spatula.
6. Place the tin into the oven and bake for around 30 minutes. You will know its baked when you put a skewer or tooth pick down the centre and it comes out ‘just’ clean. Too clean shows that it’s overbaked. Too wet with dough shows that it’s underbaked.
7. When the brownie is ready, remove from the oven and allow to cool. You want to cut the heart shapes out whilst it’s still slightly warm.
Using an 3 inch heart cookie cutter, cut 9 hearts from brownie and place onto greaseproof paper. Discard trimmings (I like to store them in a sealed container in the fridge for snacking).
Method (chocolate ganache)
1. Place the dairy-free cream into a medium-sized saucepan, and heat on medium until it comes to a low boil.
2. Place the dairy-free chocolate into a heatproof bowl and pour over the hot cream.
Allow to sit for a few minutes then stir together.
The cream will melt the chocolate.
3. Balance a brownie heart on a fork, and using a spoon, pour the ganache over the brownie, allowing any excess ganache to drip back into the bowl.
Don’t try to dunk the brownies as they will crumble, you want to be very careful.
Repeat for all brownies. Place them into the freezer for 5 minutes or fridge for 20 minutes to allow the ganache to set.
Method (decoration)
1. Slice a raspberry in half and add half onto the ganache and fill the middle of the berry with some of the raspberry compote.
Finish with a sprinkling of sea salt (optional).
You could even add a sprinkling of freeze-dried raspberries!
Serve with a drizzle of cream, ice cream or enjoy just as they are.
To store:
Store in the fridge in a sealed container, best enjoyed within 3 days of making.
Check out the Dark Cooking Chocolate here.
This is a paid collaboration with Vivani.
A huge thank you to Vivani for collabing on this recipe with me!
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Just made these today! Wasn’t quite sure if the butter should be softened or melted, so I just used softened because it didn’t specify. The batter was very thick so I was a little bit worried but they turned out delicious! My boyfriend and I agreed that they were one of the best vegan desserts we had had. I didn’t cut them into hearts and I made one side with the compote (I just used jam that I already had) and one side plain. I put chocolate chips and drizzled ganache on top. Thank you so much for this recipe! I will definitely make again!