Bake or Break
New to BAKE or BREAK? Start Here!

Gooey Chocolate Caramel Brownies

A decadent chocolate brownie with gooey caramel inside.

To say I have been absent from baking and blogging would be a gross understatement. I took a bit of a break after Christmas when I reached that point when I couldn’t bear to look at another cake, cookie, or other baked good. After that, it’s just proven difficult to get back into the baking habit. Hopefully, I’m back into the swing of things with these chocolate caramel brownies. I know Quinn hopes so.

With this recipe, I am unashamedly easing back into baking. I picked these chocolate caramel brownies primarily because I knew Quinn would love them. It didn’t hurt that they started with a cake mix, though, just to make them a bit simpler. They did prove simple, although I had forgotten how tedious it is to melt caramel. Patience is not my strongest suit. That aside, these chocolate caramel brownies are rather simple to make.

A couple of notes: I used a devil’s food cake mix and pecans to make these brownies. You’re probably all familiar with my ongoing love affair with pecans. I told Quinn I would put in whatever kind of nuts he wanted, and pecans were his choice. I half-expected him to pick his new love, hazelnuts, but I certainly didn’t complain about his choice.

These chocolate caramel brownies are wonderfully rich, due in part to the devil’s food cake mix. A regular chocolate cake mix would certainly work if you wanted to tame these down a bit. I really liked the layers of these bars – brownie, chocolate, caramel, more brownie. They are wonderfully delicious and gooey when they are still a bit warm. Just don’t forget your napkin.

Gooey Chocolate Caramel Brownies

Yield 24 2-inch bars
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

These Caramel Brownies are wonderfully rich with layers of brownie, chocolate, gooey caramel, and more brownie. A decadent and easy dessert made with devil's food cake mix!

A decadent chocolate brownie with gooey caramel inside.

Ingredients

  • 1 18.25 oz. package chocolate cake mix
  • 1 cup chopped nuts
  • 1 cup evaporated milk, divided
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 35 caramels, unwrapped (about 10 oz.)
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Combine cake mix and nuts. Stir in 2/3 cup evaporated milk and melted butter. Batter will be thick.
  3. Spread half of mixture into bottom of a 9"x 13"x 2" baking pan. Bake 15 minutes. Place pan on wire rack to cool slightly.
  4. Place caramels and remaining 1/3 cup evaporated milk in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until caramels have melted. Stir until smooth.
  5. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over partially baked brownie. Drizzle with caramel mixture.
  6. Drop remaining brownie batter by teaspoonfuls onto caramel.
  7. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until center is set. Cool completely in pan on wire rack before cutting into bars.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Nestle.

Show off your baking masterpiece!

Snap a pic, tag @bakeorbreak, and use #bakeorbreak on Instagram. Can't wait to see your creation!

Share this:

    27 Comments on “Gooey Chocolate Caramel Brownies”

  1. Glad to see you are back. Although I don’t think my pants are!

  2. Welcome back – and what an entry to come back with! The ooziness of these brownies looks dangerously good 😀

  3. Gosh that picture is… well, let’s just say that tempting chocolately photographs like that are dangerous! Suddenly the chocolate bar I have sitting on the counter doesn’t look quite so satisfying.

    We’re glad to have you back!

  4. Im glad your back too! I kept visiting your site regularly during your hiatus, and I was excited to see a new post today!

  5. The brownies look so gooey and rich … yum!

  6. Hi Jennifer

    I love all the recipes on this site. They are so good!

  7. Welcome back to baking and blogging! I’m so very glad.

  8. Just finished baking them, SOOOOO delicious and gooey. (I used werthers caramels by the way) Thank you so much for the great recipe.

  9. Hi! I have been looking at your blog and I think you have awesome recipes. And looks like you did a good job coming back to baking, these look so good and I bet they would be even better with milk or even vanilla icecream!

  10. Welcome back and thank you for the great recipes!
    I can’t wait to make these brownies.

  11. Glad you are back, I was almost giving up on you.

  12. For totally selfish reasons, I’m glad you are back to baking! Just in time for Easter, too!

    Love,

    Your Sis

  13. Glad you’re back. These look and sound delicious. I’ll be trying this recipe soon.

    I’ve quickly melted caramels by placing them in a glass measuring cup and microwaving in 20-30 second increments, being sure to stir between each round of microwaving.

    Thanks for sharing your beautiful recipes and photos!
    T

  14. I made these last night for my husband to take to work today. OMG! So gooey and so good. I made him leave a few home. This one is getting transferred to the recipe box… it’s a keeper!

    Thanks!

  15. These have been a staple in my family since I was a wee one. My mom would make a massive batch and then after cutting them up she would freeze them.

    If you think they are good warm, cold they are like the best candy bar in the world. Somehow these always managed to disappear out of the freezer.

    I’ve had people offer to marry me after eating these brownies.

  16. I just made these this past Sunday and they were awesome and easy. So rich and gooey. Thanks for sharing and thanks for the devil’s food cake tip, I know that made all the difference!! Love your blog:)

  17. I made a few batches of these and I used different candy each time, mostly to use up the candy I got on clearance at Valentines day, easiest was a chocolate filled wafer, I think it was Ghiradelli, skipped the melting on the stove, just plopped them a top first layer fresh from the first bake.
    I have also used caramel kisses and rolos.
    Yummy

  18. Pingback: Chocolate Mascarpone Brownies

  19. No caramel melting! I make a similar brownie, but I used the caramel sheet wraps that are used to make caramel apples. Some stores only have them around Halloween, but my local market has them year round in the produce section. Same great taste, much quicker and easier.

  20. I made these today! They were deeelicious! Do you think it would be better to use brownie mix instead of chocolate cake mix?

  21. Meriem, I’m not sure about the brownie mix. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever used a brownie mix at all. I’m sure it would be fine. If you try it, let me know how it works.

  22. So glad you’re back! These look awesome. I use a similar recipe adn they are my favorite by far!

  23. Pingback: Salted Fudge Brownies | Bake or Break

  24. I forgot to add nuts (hoops!) but they were still great. I will definitely make these again.

  25. Pingback: 1 + 1 + 1 = 10 – lead.learn.live.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *