Giada Dunked A Pan Of Brownies In Ice Water - Here's What Happened!

05 August 2022

by Giadzy

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We gave the latest baking hack a try, and spoiler alert: it didn't go according to plan.

The internet is full of cooking hacks that sound bizarre, but we've learned to not be quick to judge - even the strangest sounding tricks sometimes end up being a success (like blow-drying a raw chicken, for example!). So when Giada, our resident chocoholic, heard about this trick for making brownies extra fudgy and decadent, she had to give it a whirl.

The Concept:

For this trick, you are supposed to bake a tray sheet of brownies until just baked through. While they bake, prepare an ice bath. The tray of brownies is supposed to go straight from the oven to the ice bath. The idea is that this will halt all carry-over cooking, leaving the center gooey and fudgy - similar to a truffle.

The Verdict:

Giada gave this test a whirl using boxed Ghirardelli brownies - she made one batch and let it cool regularly, and tried the ice-dunking test on the second batch. Giada's boyfriend Shane (who always ends up being the very honest guinea pig when testing out these viral internet food hacks) did a blind taste test, and said "There's one that's clearly better than the other." The result? The brownies that were not dunked in the ice bath had a much better texture overall. The non-dunked brownies actually had the gooier, fudgier texture, whereas the ice-dunked tray had a much cakier crumb.

Our theory? When you rapidly cool a hot baked good like a brownie, this traps steam inside which can result in a denser texture. This hack could potentially work better on brownies that are intentionally under-baked in order to preserve the gooey texture without any carry-over cooking. However, when baking a regular tray of brownies, our vote is to let them cool down like normal!

Watch the video below!