Lighter than a regular Brownie, but richer than a sponge cake, these are a delicious tea-time treat, or snack, or even an after dinner pudding, warm and with ice cream. Gooey caramel and crunchy pecans are a great combination of flavours and textures.

Makes: At least 20 “reasonably sized “ pieces.

Level: Easy

Time: Prep: 30 min. Bake: 30 – 40 min.

Need: A deep sided 30 x 20cm baking tray. You could use a food processor or hand held electric whisk, but I think a wooden spoon works as well and is a lot easier to wash up. Take your pick.

Main Ingredients

200g/7oz unsalted butter, softened
200g/7oz caster sugar
4 large eggs
200g/7oz self raising flour
Pinch of salt
200g/7oz dark chocolate chips*
At least 100g/3½oz pecans, chopped

Extras for a swirl

½ a tin of caramel (or use the whole tin for an even bigger sugar hit)

* If you chop bars of chocolate rather than use chips, make sure there are no large lumps.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / fan 160°C / 350°F / Gas 4. Line the baking tray with baking parchment.

2. Whisk or beat the butter and sugar together (or blitz in a food processor.) then break in the eggs one by one with a tsp of the flour and continue beating.

3. By hand, mix in the rest of the flour with the salt. Stir until smooth then stir in the chocolate chips and the pecans.

4. Tip the mixture into the tin and spread evenly with a spatula.

5. Spoon or blob on the caramel then ripple it into the mixture. Don’t over mix.

6. Bake for 30 – 40 min.

N.B. A few days before I made this tray bake I made a similar “test version” without pecans. I swirled over a small amount of white chocolate. It came out well, but I think the texture of the pecan version makes it even better. Once again, it’s your choice.

Also, the initial recipe “came into my head” while baking something completely different, so I quickly jotted down some notes. I thought you might like to see this “detailed plan” as shown in the gallery below.

I hope you enjoy this lovely tray-baked cake. Click this link for more tasty traybake recipes. Meanwhile, here are a few bakes that I’m confident you’ll enjoy too and I’d love you to try them:

Strawberry and Pistachio Polenta Cake