5 Quick and Easy Ways to Cut Brownies Cleanly (Every Time)

After you’ve made a flawless tray of brownies, you’ve arrived at one of the most difficult phases of baking brownies: cutting them! If you cut your brownies wrong, your perfectly cooked brownies will appear sloppy. This is not something you want to happen!

Fortunately, I have some wonderful tips and tactics for you to learn to neatly cut brownies, ensuring that your brownies look as good as they taste!

Brownies vs. Chocolate Cake

Have you ever considered how similar brownies and chocolate cake are? Both contain the same basic elements, yet the ultimate outcome is very different. Cake is light and fluffy (and easy to cut!) while brownies are dense and thick, making cutting them quite hard.

The difference in texture is mostly due to the amount of leaveners used in cake vs brownies. Baking powder, baking soda, or another leavener, such as beaten eggs, are always used in the preparation of cakes. Brownies are often made without any leavener, so they bake up thick.

Cake recipes often utilize twice as much flour as brownie recipes, which adds to the soft texture. Brownies, on the other hand, need a lot more cocoa powder and chocolate, which makes them thick and rich.

Because of these little variances, brownies and cakes are regarded two distinct treats, despite the fact that they are produced in the same way. It’s also why you can slice a cake neatly but your brownies end up looking like mush- they’re more denser than a cake!

Why Brownies Are Hard to Cut

Brownies are notoriously difficult to cut because they are so soft and thick. Under the pressure of a knife, all that chocolate may mash together! When baking brownies, you may have a propensity to underbake them to achieve a chewy texture.

This makes the brownies very mushy and difficult to cut neatly. Consider cutting through unbaked batter to understand why soft brownies are difficult to cut–the middle is basically batter!

If you’ve had trouble cutting your brownies neatly, know that you’re not alone, and it’s not your fault- brownies are difficult to cut for anybody. They are soft and thick, with an almost pure chocolate texture that shattered easily as you cut. It’s not as easy as cutting a chocolate cake!

But don’t worry, your days of struggle to cut thick brownies are gone because I’ve got plenty of tips and methods for you right here. Your brownies will soon look flawless, with wonderful crisp edges and be as delicious as they taste!

How to Cut Brownies Cleanly

There are many strategies you may attempt to help you cut your brownies properly. Read over them all and then choose the one you believe will work best for you. Bake multiple pans of brownies just so you can try them all (and enjoy some extra brownies!).

No matter the technique you choose to cut brownies, you should always allow them to cool fully before cutting them. Warm brownies are more prone to be sticky and messy, resulting in sloppy edges and malformed brownies.

Allow the brownies to cool completely in the pan. Place them in the refrigerator to cold even more, making them easier to cut. The chewy texture of the brownies will be more substantial and easier to slice when they are extremely cold.

1 – Hot Knife Method

The first method is to use a heated knife to cut clean brownies. Allow the brownies to cool fully at room temperature (or, better yet, in the refrigerator).

Get a big glass of boiling water and immerse a chefs knife in it, totally immersing the blade. Allow the knife to soak in the water for several minutes to warm up the blade.

Remove the knife from the hot water and dry it with a kitchen towel. Then, make the initial cut in the tray of brownies with the hot knife. Return the knife to the hot water to lift it off and reheat it. Wipe the blade clean before cutting again.

sliced, wash, reheat, and dry the knife many times more until your brownies are sliced! This strategy is fantastic for a variety of reasons.

To begin, the hot knife will cut directly through the cooled brownies. The knife will also melt the chocolate as it cuts, resulting in crisp and clean lines on the brownies.

Any brownie residue on the knife will be wiped away if you clean and wipe it after each usage, rather than landing up on the brownies in your next cut. Clean cuts need a clean knife!

This technique of cutting brownies may take some time, but the results will be beautiful brownies.

2 – Frozen Brownie Method

After baking the brownies and allowing them to cool to room temperature naturally, remove them from the pan and place them on a flat plate or sheet tray. Wrap the brownies tightly in plastic wrap and store them in the freezer.

Allow the brownies to freeze for several hours, making sure they’re totally frozen.

Unwrap the brownie sheet and lay it on a cutting board after the brownies have frozen. Cut the brownies with a sharp chefs knife. To cut the brownies neatly, press down on the knife gently and firmly.

Once all of the brownies have been cut, lay them on a tray or platter to cool to room temperature.

Because brownies freeze well, the texture of your brownies will not alter if you utilize this cutting technique. When thawed, the brownies will taste perfectly as if they had never been frozen!

They will, however, appear quite different since they are correctly trimmed! A frozen brownie is much simpler to cut neat lines on than a room temperature brownie.

3 – Cooking Spray Method

After your brownies have cooled, use your chefs knife and gently coat it with cooking spray. The cooking spray will make it easier for the knife blade to slide through the soft brownies without any brownie clinging to it.

After making one clean cut, wipe the knife blade, spray it again, and cut again. Repeat until all of the brownies have been sliced.

4 – Plastic Knife Method

To cut your cooled brownies, use a plastic knife rather than a knife with a metal blade. Because plastic knives are inherently nonstick, they should not break your brownies apart when cutting.

Wipe the plastic knife clean after each cut to ensure you start each slice with a clean knife.

5 – Cookie Cutter Method

Find a metal cookie cutter in the desired form if you want to cut your brownie sheet into certain shapes. For approximately a minute, immerse the cookie cutter in a small dish of boiling water.

When the cookie cutter is hot, take it from the water, fully dry it, and then use it to cut your brownie sheet. Insert the cookie cutter right into the brownie dish, then carefully slide the brownie out.

Wash the cookie cutter in hot water, dry it, and then cut again! After you’ve sliced all of the brownies, you may eat the crumbs!

What to Avoid When Cutting Brownies

There are a few things you should never do while cutting gorgeous, clean brownies.

• Never cut into the brownies with a knife. Dragging the knife back and forth through the brownies will cause the brownies to break and fall apart. Always cut the brownies directly with the knife, pushing straight down.
• Never, ever cut hot brownies. When the brownies are heated, they will be very soft and difficult to cut cleanly. Allow the brownies to thoroughly cool before attempting to cut them!
• Always wipe the knife after each cut to ensure it is clean and free of brownie residue. This ensures that your cuts are clean!

These tactics are fairly easy, and following them will leave you with perfectly baked brownies!

Tools for Cutting Brownies

There are a few things you may wish to invest in to make cutting brownies even simpler. Some of them, in fact, will assure that you never have to cut brownies again!

The first thing you should look at is a brownie tray divider (Amazon link). This is a metal grid divider that goes inside your brownie pan. The divider will split your pan into equal squares.

Bake as usual after pouring the brownie mixture into the brownie pan with the divider. When the brownies have completely cooled, carefully pull the brownie divider, pushing the individual brownies out as you do so. No cutting is required to make perfect square brownies!

You may also use a brownie divider after baking a conventional pan of brownies. Spray the metal divider with cooking spray before pressing it into the cooked and cooled brownie sheet. The brownies will all be cut in one go and will be beautiful and even.

An individual brownie baking pan is another equipment you should consider purchasing. Brownie pans resemble muffin pans but contain square rather than circular cavities. Spray the pan with cooking spray and spoon the brownie batter into each square.

You may want to bake your brownies for shorter time or check them sooner than you would if you were creating a full tray of brownies; they may cook quicker since they are smaller. When the brownies have cooled, remove them from the pan and enjoy your perfectly formed brownies!

If you don’t want to buy a new pan especially for brownies, make sure you have a fine sharp knife on hand to assist you cut your brownies. A sharp knife can help you get the clean cut brownies you want, and you may also use it for other culinary duties!

Cutting lovely brownies should be a breeze now that you’re armed with these tips and tactics. Everyone will like these soft, chewy, precisely sliced brownies!

Just be prepared to be asked how you managed to cut such perfect brownies.