Spied Out: The Best Brownies

Brownies take priority over the Saturday papers in The Black Cat.

Are you a connoisseur of a cakey crumb, or a fan of the fiendishly fudgy? Warmed with a dollop of ice cream, or as chilled and dense as a black dwarf star? Knobbled with nuts, chock full of chocolate chunks, or as pure and smooth as a baby nun's bottom? The search for the perfect brownie is a knotty and divisive issue. There is a fine line between a chocolate cake, a brownie and a big truffle, and it must be trodden with care, for you tread upon a million chocolate-drenched dreams. However, so that this quick survey of the best brownies to be found in Cambridge does not turn into a several-volume magnum opus, a quick straw poll of fellow spies suggests a popular leaning towards a fudgy texture with a chewy crust, studded with chocolate chunks and without nuts. So, bowing to the prevailing wisdom bestowed by such a scientifically selected sample, The Cambridge Spy now turns its attention to the best on the local market. This investigation has uncovered a titanic struggle between three behemoths of the brownie world, happily all to be found in some of the best independent cafes around.  

1. The Cambridge Spy prostrates itself humbly before the altar of The Black Cat Cafe on Mill Road, the epitome of everything that it holds dear. Despite the fact that seating is limited, foods can run out and service tends to be a little erratic at the weekends, any cafe whose cake recipes come from old medieval cookbooks, South African favourites and family culinary traditions is a corker by any standards. And the brownies are the cocoa-covered jewel in their crown: moist and crackly on top with big chunks of chocolate and an enigmatic vein of chewy caramel that runs throughout the piece, gathering in crispy pools at the bottom. This final element can neither be fathomed nor replicated by The Spy, and it doesn’t look as if the mystery is going to be solved any time soon, for although the cafe brought out a cookery book based on their recipes, the brownies were conspicuous by their absence. They can be warmed up (so the chunks melt) and served with a dollop of cream in the cafe, or taken away and eaten cold; both ways are equally good. The coffee is also excellent, should you so wish to break off a piece of brownie, place it on a teaspoon and dunk the chocolatey nubble so that it melts tantalisingly at the edges...

Black Cat brownie on a day out, unaware of the fate that awaits him.

2. Origin8 on St Andrew’s Street is home to a denser, darker beast, sitting in jars on the counter and calling to customers with their fudgy siren song. The truffly texture and various flavours of the brownies give them the edge, with varieties containing chunks of milk chocolate, orange chocolate, white chocolate or brandy-soaked cherries. The Spy was once given unfettered access to these beauties at a party at which Origin8 were the caterers, and as the red mist of gluttony descended, The Spy proceeded to stuff them by the fistful into pockets, bags and even a couple of empty wine glasses. By all means, enjoy on the premises with a cup of coffee, but beware what will henceforth be known as the ‘Satan’s spoons’ provided by this worthily eco-friendly establishment: wooden monstrosities that soak up any liquid that they come into contact with and puff up into giant, unwieldy mushrooms.

Other Origin8 goodies pilfered from the party. The brownies had mysteriously disappeared.

3. The final contender in this formidable cocoa trinity is something of an unlikely hero, and hails from the deceptively low-profile Cambridge Coffee Company on Hills Road. The sofas are squishy, newspapers are stacked on the side for your perusal, and there are crisp bacon butties and thick nutella milkshakes to be had by all. Yet in an unassuming plastic tray above the sandwich spreads sit these chewy triangles of joy, with a perfect inner-fudgey-goo-to-outer-crackling-crust ratio and glorious discs of milk chocolate lining their little gooey bottoms. On one particularly magical day, The Spy discovered that the discs had been so generously bestowed upon the mixture that they had SPREAD OUT OVER THE ENTIRE BOTTOM OF THE BROWNIE LIKE A SOLID SHEET. Joy. Their coffee even comes with metal spoons. Double joy.

Cambridge Coffee Company brownie, top view. 

Same brownie, view from the bottom thus revealing chocolate discs. 100% spy commitment.

4. Finally, a special mention must go to the Cambridge brownie that comes with the most bells, whistles and nipple tassels, for the creations at The Kingston Arms (just off Mill Road) are worth a mention if only for effort alone. The end results are debatable: The Spy has limited and easily confused mental faculties, and to be confronted by an enormous cakey slab, stuffed fit to burst with enough dried fruit and nuts to pass as a bracing Swiss breakfast, was simply too much for it to bear. The Spy had to go lie down in a darkened room with a cold compress pressed against its forehead for quite some time until the flashing lights and hedgehog hallucinations had receded. However, it readily acknowledges that the creative impulse that produces such an edifice is also responsible for the rest of the fabulous food in the Kingston Arms, a Cambridge gem in its own right that doubtless will be returned to in future posts.