Heretic! 
I’m totally immature about baked goods. I’m 26 and all grown up but, honestly, if my Mom didn’t make it, it probably sucks.
It depends on who the brownies are for.
Kids bring cupcakes for their birthdays, and I hope none of my parents ever read this, because good lord, don’t bring nasty grocery store cupcakes! I lack the willpower not to eat one, and every time I eat one and regret that giant mound of whipped sugared crisco with a few Betty Crocker knockoff crumbs beneath.
Good cupcakes, though–ahhhhh. My wife occasionally makes these things that are like Ho Hos only they’re worth starting a religious war over, they’re so good.
I don’t eat brownies because I’m allergic to chocolate, but I make them all the time for other people.
I think the answer, as others have noted, depends what you mean by “frosting”.
My best-loved brownie recipe involves taking the hot pan of perfectly baked brownies out of the oven and tossing a few one-ounce blocks of semi-sweet baking chocolate on top of the brownie surface while the pan sits on the cooling rack.
The hot brownies melt the chocolate, which I then spread evenly over the top in about a half-centimeter layer and leave to finish cooling. The resulting product is a very soft moist brownie with a hard crust of pure semi-sweet chocolate on top.
Nobody I’ve ever served those to has ever indicated that they would prefer them to be different in any way, except they generally wish there were more.
Solid fudgy brownies with the rice-paper top: no frosting.
Fluffy cakey brownies: frosting.
Simples.
I’m not sure if I’m the only one who has posted pro-frosting in the thread (if this is a poll, I can’t vote because I’m on my phone), but I’m of the belief that anything is better with frosting on it. Especially if we’re talking cream cheese.
So yeah, all you folks that don’t like frosting, pass it this way. Just means more for me.
Frosted please!
My favorite brownie has ganache on it. So I voted yes to frosting. I love frosting. A lot.
No frosting on brownies. I agree that most baked goods with frosting has too much frosting.
No frosting. It makes everything worse. However, if the perfect, naked brownie were to be served with a side scoop of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream, I would not say no.
I usually don’t like frosting, but I had to vote either because of these ones my mom gets with peanut butter frosting, chocolate swirl, and peanuts on it. So yummy
My mother used to make brownies with a thin layer of marshmallow on top, and, on top of that, an even thinner layer of pure chocolate. They were quite good, and, in that sense, frosting is more than acceptable. Cake frosting, on the other hand, is right out.
Also, chewy, not cakey, and pecans are good but not mandantory. Chocolate chips are not permitted.
Frosted for sure!
A frosted brownie is like gilding a lily. But if offered one, I wouldn’t turn it down.
Yeah, a warm, chewy brownie with a slightly melty scoop of good vanilla ice cream is pretty close to the most perfect dessert ever!!
Jesus, how do you live?!
Cake is just a medium to hold frosting. Frosting goes on anything baked, even ham.
Good brownies have walnuts, chocolate chips or chunks, and have chewy edges. Better ones have frosting, too.
But it has to be made by someone else. My brownies never make it to the oven, unfortunately.
I don’t even like frosting on cake, much less a brownie. It makes things way too sweet. It’s sickening.
I can go either way. Homemade vanilla buttercream on brownies is awesome, but they’re fine without, too.
For those of you who call the nonchewy variety brownies, what separates it from cake?
Because I’m absolutely fine with having frosting on chocolate cake–in fact, I think it can serve to bring out the chocolate. And I did’t count cream cheese, ice cream or even whipped cream as frosting. I was thinking buttercream, fondent, and similar.
Plain for me please. Although I won’t complain if there are pecans on top.