Tim Tam® Brownie Cake** Layers of chocolate brownie, peanut butter and chocolate mousse topped with caramel sauce and Arnott's Tim Tam® cookies from Australia.

Cakes are soft and fluffy, while brownies are more crunchy and have a dense texture. The difference in the texture is due to the raising agent. Brownies use little or no raising agent depending on the recipe you are following. The brownie is generally cut into squares while the cake can be served round or square.

Some of you may say they are both cakes, and there is no solid difference between brownie and cake, but the reality begs to differ. Cakes are soft and fluffy, while brownies have a denser and chewy texture and feel crunchier in the mouth. Cakes are light, but brownies are more like a cookie.

brownie noun [C] (CAKE) a small, square chocolate cake that is soft in the middle, often with pieces of chocolate or nuts in it: I made a batch of brownies.

There are three distinct types of brownie recipes - fudgy, chewy, and cakey - and they each bring something a little different to the table.

Brownies are thought to be of US origin, the name derived from their color (brown) and from the mythical pixie-like characters common in children's stories from the same time period. One story suggests that brownies were invented at the Palmer House in Chicago in 1892.

The story is about a Brownie troop of fourth-grade African American girls from suburban Atlanta, Georgia, who go to summer camp. At the camp, they encounter a troop of white girls and believe that one of the white girls addressed them with a racial insult. The African American girls resolve to beat up the white girls.

Some of you may say they are both cakes, and there is no solid difference between brownie and cake, but the reality begs to differ. Cakes are soft and fluffy, while brownies have a denser and chewy texture and feel crunchier in the mouth. Cakes are light, but brownies are more like a cookie.

The ubiquitous and irresistable chocolate brownie is not only a cafe culture staple, it's also one of the first forgiving bakes many of us attempt at home. In fact, chocolate brownies are the childhood treat that never gets old, although the recipe might be taken up a gear to appeal to a more sophisticated crowd.

What are the best types of brownies?

• Classic brownies.
• Iced brownies.
• Peanut butter brownies.
• Chocolate chip cookie brownies.
• Cheesecake brownies.
• Brownies with walnuts.
• Caramel brownies.

Brownie textures fall into three general camps… Cakey, fudgy and chewy. Cakey brownies, like the name implies, are light, moist and airy, with a slightly fluffy, cake-like interior. Fudgy brownies are moist, dense and gooey, with almost the texture of fudge, but not quite as compact.

Brownies originated as domestic tutelary spirits, very similar to the Lares of ancient Roman tradition, who were envisioned as the protective spirits of deceased ancestors. Brownies and Lares are both regarded as solitary and devoted to serving the members of the house.

The wife of a hotel owner asked the kitchen staff at the hotel to create a dessert that she could put in the lunch boxes for a women's board. Brownies were made as a special dessert that was easily packable.

Brownies are not classified as cakes – this is a very interesting point about the brownie. The reason for this is that although the texture is similar to cakes, it is classed as finger food (whereas usually cake is eaten with a fork), therefore they are categorised as a cookie bar (in America).

First, brownies are plain addictive. It isn't too soft and fluffy like a chocolate cake, and it's never tough and dry. We load our brownies with chocolate and butter and great eggs so they remain deliciously seductive for many months.

brownie noun [C] (CAKE) a small, square chocolate cake that is soft in the middle, often with pieces of chocolate or nuts in it: I made a batch of brownies.