Never-fail (cakey) chocolate brownies

For all those times you need a simple, yummy something to take along to a party or you just need a whole lot of comfort food, this is a great recipe. It makes loads of brownies, so you may even have left-overs :)

The connection between food and memories comes into play big time for me with this one. I was lucky enough to have a lovely friend living 4 houses down the street from me as I grew up and this was out staple baking treat. Frances, this one's for you :)

Recipe:

1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
3/4 cups cocoa
1 1/2 tsp bicarb
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup boiling water
chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 180°C

Sift dry ingredients, beat oil, egg, milk, vanilla essence and add to dry ingredients.
Add boiling water and mix well.
Pour (yes, it should look runny) into a greased baking tin (I use a pyrex dish about 30 x 20 cm) and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Icing:
50g butter
30ml cocoa
45ml milk
250g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter and milk
Sift in icing sugar and cocoa, add vanilla and mix well. If you have sugar lumps, just keep mixing.

Tip: When cutting, it can get a bit messy, so my trick is to place some old newspaper under the tray I'm cutting it on. That way you can just fold up the newspaper afterwards and chuck it in the bin.