VIRTUOUS AND DELICIOUS - REALLY!

I first made this cake back in September, when I was full of the "new school year, time for fresh copy books and fresh starts" vibe.  By now the copies are tatty the diet has died but this cake is still delicious,  and I must admit it still feels good to grab a second (or third) slice, without any diet qualms.

We tried the cake with and without the icing, and there was a unanimous decision that without was better - not often you can say that!  The cake is moist and has a rich chocolate taste - no need to add to that.  The recipe comes from Ellie Krieger's "The Food You Crave".

Ellie's Mocha Cake

3/4 cup               wholewheat flour
1/2 cup               white flour
1/2 cup               cocoa
1/4 tsp                salt
1 tsp                   bicarbonate of (bread) soda
1 tsp                   baking powder
2 tbsp                 butter
2 tbsp                 flavourless oil (I used groundnut)
2                        large eggs
2                        large egg whites
1 1/2 cups          fat free yogurt
2 tsp                   vanilla extract
3/4 cup               sugar
1 tbsp                 instant espresso powder, dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water
60g/2oz              70% (or higher) chocolate - melted


Preheat oven to 180 C
Line a 9x13 in cake tin with baking parchment

Combine the flours, cocoa, salt, bread soda and baking powder together.
Whisk the melted butter and oil in a (separate) large bowl.
Add the eggs (whole and whites) to the butter and whisk.
Fold in the yogurt, sugar, coffee and melted chocolate.
Gradually add the flour mixture, and stir until just incorporated being careful not to over beat.
Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin.
Bake until a skewer comes out clean - about 25 - 35 minutes.
Allow to cool on a baking rack.

Enjoy without a trace of guilt!!

ALL LOVED UP!

It's that time of year again - and I was trying to remember my most romantic meal.  Hands down it has to be breakfast in bed, the fact that your loved one is willing to leave the warm nest extra early to make you feel cherished - what can be better??

What foods do I associate with romance? Chocolate, berries, cream and for some strange reason lavender (go figure!!) all come to mind.  I decided to stick with the first three on my list (and actually replaced the cream (not so good first thing) with some luscious greek yogurt.  So how do I get my chocolate fix at breakfast time?  Well I'm perfectly capable of diving into a chocolate cake at any time of the day or night, but I imagine that there are more normal people than me out there (?),  so I decided to experiment with my favourite pancakes; I added some cocoa powder to the batter (yuk!), then some chocolate chips went in (see the hardships I go through?!) but the texture wasn't wonderful, then the trusty Nutella came out - and yummmmmm, perhaps not the prettiest thing to come out of the kitchen, but man oh man were they delicious!  And how romantic to delicately nibble (yeah right) some chocolate pancakes, oozing with creamy yogurt and tangy raspberries - just a pity you have to get up and bring the kids to school!

I am of course linking this with the lovely Kate and Karen's Tea Time Treats Challenge because pancakes aren't just for breakfast!!

Loved Up Pancakes

Make up one batch of this pancake batter
Add one large tbsp of Nutella (I had to heat mine, the kitchen was very chilly that early in the morning!)
Fry in butter.
Cut into heart shapes, if you are so inclined.
Serve with a dollop of greek yogurt and your favourite berries.
If it's not a driving day throw a bottle of fizz in there too :-)))


Happy St. Valentine's Day.

LIGHT AND RANDOM CHOCOLATE CAKE

Remember back in school, there was always a "cool" gang?  They always had the coolest shoes, their socks were always casually half mast and they had boys signatures on their school bags (I went to an all girl school with a strict uniform code - it was hard to be individual!!!!) - well recently all the "cool" bloggers have been baking up a storm from Dan Lepard's new book Short and Sweet, and I have to admit that I was feeling a bit left out (tragic I know!!!!). Well, all is right with the world and I can still aspire to the "cool" club, my son bought me his book for Christmas :-)).

Dom over at Belleau Kitchen challenged us to randomly choose a recipe from one of our new Christmas books and blog about it - nice one!  Then I thought my luck was really in when the book opened at The alchemist's chocolate cake which has half the fat and quarter of the carbs of a normal uniced chocolate cake, relying on blended tinned pears to provide the moisture and texture, and therefore being perfect for Chele's We Should Cocoa Challenge which this month involved chocolate bakes and healthy in the same sentence! I think I'm a bit late on Chele's challenge but am going to chance my arm!!!

The link to Dan's recipe is here, but I have to say that unless I were under doctor's orders I'd just have a small slice of a normal cake instead.

WITH APPLE OR WITHOUT??

It looks burned, doesn't it?  Actually it didn't taste burned .... maybe it is the dark chocolate - very, very dark chocolate!!

I was watching a re-run of Nigella's kitchen, and her Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding just called to me, then I thought that it would be a good idea to incorporate it with Chele's  ingredient  for this month's We Should Cocoa challenge.  Like many fellow bloggers, I had fretted as to how I could add apple to a chocolate recipe, but I thought that some apple through this pudding would be delicious.  Unfortunately Brownieville Boy #2 spotted me adding the apple, and wasn't too enthusiastic!  So I compromised and added apple to just half of the pudding - and I have to say that the non-apple half was just a fraction nicer.

The pudding was light and fluffy, and deliciously creamy (despite containing only 125ml of cream) I would recommend that you give it a try. 

Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

250g    stale bread, cut into 3cm cubes
100g    chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate
3          eggs
40g      light brown sugar
30ml    dark rum
125ml  cream
500ml  full fat milk
4 tsp    demerara sugar
1          apple (optional)


butter a pie dish (about 1.5 lt)
preheat oven to 170 C

Place the bread cubes, chopped chocolate and chopped apple in the dish, toss but make sure there aren't too many chocolate pieces on the top (to prevent the burned look!!)
Whisk the eggs, light brown sugar, rum, cream and milk together.
Pour over the bread and press the cubes down to make sure they are well soaked.
Leave to soak for at least 20 minutes.
When ready to cook, sprinkle with the demerara sugar and place in the oven for 40-50 minutes.
Allow the pudding to cool slightly before serving.
Enjoy.

I'M SUCH A WUSS!!!

I have been looking forward to this month's We Should Cocoa challenge - each month I have willed Choclette or Chele to nominate chilli as the companion in our monthly chocolate challenge, and it's come - and what did I do?  I chickened out - and just used Lindt Chilli Chocolate. I didn't risk chopping up some hot, hot, hot chilli and mixing it in there - I'm such a wuss!!!!

That said these mini chocolate pots, from Catherine Fulvio's wonderful book Catherine's Family Kitchen were delicious - I used chilli chocolate instead of the plain and omitted the Baileys Irish Cream (something told me that chilli and Baileys might not be the best combination possible!!!!)  The chilli chocolate gave a very slight kick to the back of your mouth - subtle and simply yummy.



Mini Chocolate Pots
adapted from Catherine Fulvio's Family Kitchen

100g        chilli chocolate
50g          butter
1              egg
1              egg yolk
2 tbsp       caster sugar
1 tbsp       ground almonds

Preheat oven to 180 C
Butter 4  or 5 espresso cups

Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over simmering water
In another bowl whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy
Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture
Add in the almonds
Pour the mixture into the prepared cups (up to 3/4 level) and pop into the oven
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes - they still need to be gooey in the middle.
Serve - but be careful not to burn your tongue!!

EUREKA!

Eureka! I've found it, I've found the perfect chocolate cake recipe!  It's delicious, it's impressive and it's way, way less work than it looks, and did I mention it's delicious?

Two layers of chocolate sponge, two layers of creamy white chocolate and a layer of creamy dark chocolate topped by a thick layer of milk chocolate ganache - heaven in a slice.

The cake itself is just a normal chocolate sponge which you slice in two (easier than baking two seperate sponges), next drizzle over some syrup and then you melt white chocolate in one bowl, dark chocolate in another - add cream to both, slap them on cover with a simple ganache - bish bash bosh - cake perfection!



Triple-Layer Chocolate Truffle Cake
from the wonderful Avoca Cafe Cookbook 2

Sponge

4             small eggs (I used 3 large)
100g       caster sugar
75g         self-raising flour
25g         cocoa

Syrup

75ml        milk
20ml        brandy
20ml        honey

Chocolate Layers

225g         white chocolate
300ml        double cream

110g          dark chocolate
300ml        double cream

Ganache
75ml         cream
350g         milk chocolate

Preheat oven to 180 C
Butter and line a 23cm springform cake tin

Sponge
Whisk the eggs and sugar together until thick and pale
Sieve the flour and cocoa and fold into the egg mixture.
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.


Syrup

Put the milk, brandy and honey in a small pan and heat gently.


Assembly (first step)

When the sponge has cooled, remove it from the tin.
Line the tin with cling film (use plenty)
Cut the sponge in two across its depth
Place half the cake back in the lined tin and brush with the syrup


Filling

Melt the white chocolate with 50ml of cream in a pan over simmering water.
In another bowl melt the dark chocolate with 50ml of cream.
Allow to cool slightly.
Whip 250ml double cream and add the melted white chocolate mixture.
Whip the other 250ml cream and add the dark chocolate.


Assembly (part two!)

Spread half the white chocolate on the sponge in the tin.
Follow with the dark chocolate mixture.
Finish with the other half of the white chocolate mixture.
Brush the other half of the sponge with the syrup and place on top.
Cover the cake with the cling film and place in the fridge to set overnight.


To Finish

Combine the milk chocolate and cream and heat gently to melt the chocolate.
Remove the cake from the tin and spread the chocolate ganache over the top and sides.


Sit back and wait for the praise!

A RANDOM BAKE!

The P.R. fairies must know that I need some cheering up, as I recieved a number of exciting packages over that past few weeks - Catherine Fulvio's new book (loving it so far), some yummy Skooby Dooby Doo sweeties (had to fight the kids to get near them!!) and a beautiful baking kit from Avon.

The "Avon Breast Cancer Crusade Baking Set", is part of Avon's fund raising for Breast Cancer charities, it is such a fun way to gather money for a cause that is very dear to my heart, that I am really pleased to encourage you all to participate.  The pretty kits are available from Avon representatives or online here.  The reason I am so enthusiastic about this crusade is that so many people we know recieve the dreaded diagnosis of cancer, yet so many of them come through to lead full and happy lives - how can we resist putting our hands in our pockets for such a worthy cause.  My mother has had two battles with breast cancer, and while it was not an easy time, it is just a memory now - and how much better is it to have memories of a cancer battle rather than memories of a loved one?

When I gathered all of my magazine cuttings and scribbled recipes in order to choose this months Belleau Kitchen Random Recipe Challenge I was feeling all enthusiastic - for once I was guarenteed a recipe that I'd just love - I wouldn't have cut out the recipes otherwise - right?????  Well actually I had forgotten that mid diet I often cut out recipes that promise fantastic flavours with hardly any fat/sugar, but which usually are all promise and no delivery!  Well, of course it was one of these pages that emerged from my stash - but as you know I am an honest person (!) so that is what I baked.  And I have to say "Thanks Dom" because there is no way I would have baked these little cupcakes other than because I was challenged to do so, and they are lovely - moist texture and tasty (although next time I'll add extra cocoa powder).

The light cupcakes were the perfect opportunity to use the sweet little silicone cupcake holders which come in the Avon kit (along with a pink ribbon and a heart shaped cookie cutter), and then it occured to me that I could send off a half batch of the cakes to my friends sister, who is currently undergoing chemo for breast cancer.  How perfectly whole and fitting is that?  I know that when Mum was going through her treatment she found it very difficult to be enthusiastic about food, but sometimes a little something sweet would be enough to get her through - so I hope that the cupcakes I sent over were of some small help.  Vanessa over at Prepped (she has just published a cook book - it's at the top of my wish list, looks fantastic) has decided to continue with her wonderful, heartwarming challenge Random Bakes of Kindness and these little confections are my offering - I hope it's not too cheeky to submit one lot of baking to two challenges!!!!

If you are watching the scales, I would recommend these cupcakes - they aren't huge, but they are full of flavour and I think one (or maybe two!) would be enough to keep you on the straight and narrow! 

Raspberry and Chocolate Cupcakes
from a Slimming World recipe

2              eggs
6 tbsp       caster sugar
1oz/28g    low fat margarine* (I used LowLow)
2oz/57g    self raising flour - sifted
1.5 tbsp    cocoa powder - sifted
1 tsp         vanilla extract
32            fresh raspberries **

Preheat oven to 180 C
Prepare 8 cupcake cases

Whisk the eggs, sugar and margarine* until pale and creamy.
Add the vanilla extract.
Fold in the flour and cocoa powder gently.
Place 3 raspberries** in the base of each paper/silicone cupcake holder.
Divide the cake mixture over the raspberries.
Bake 15-20 minutes until firm and springy to the touch.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Enjoy!!

* This is the first time that I've used margarine in baking and it was fine - if you don't have any in the house I'm sure butter would work just as well and at only 28g it couldn't do too much harm to the diet!!

** I used frozen raspberries and while the cupcakes were delicious I think they would be even better had I used fresh.

BROWNIES 19

Here in blogland we have a very significant event approaching, Chele's and Choclette's baby has reached the ripe old age of ONE! Yes, the wonderful We Should Cocoa has come of age - not bad when they have to decide on different ingredients to challenge us to team up with chocolate every month - some have been more difficult than others (you know what they were Choclette!!!!!). 

This month Chele has asked us to bake something for the birthday celebration, and what could Brownieville Girl bake but some brownies - these were my maiden voyage in my new oven - and I probably underestimated the amount of  time they needed - the center was maybe a teeny weeny bit too squidgy - but that said they were just delicious.

Walnut Brownies
adapted from Rachel Allen's BAKE

175g               70% Cocoa Chocolate
175g               Butter cubed
25g                 Good Cocoa Powder sifted
3                     large eggs
1 tsp               vanilla extract
225g               light brown sugar
100g               plain flour, sifted
50g                 walnuts - to place on each brownie

Preheat oven to 180 C
Line a 20cm x 20cm tin with parchment paper

Melt the chocolate, butter and cocoa powder together in a bowl over simmering water.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
In a separate large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract for at least 2 minutes, while still whipping add the chocolate mixture and continue to whisk until combined.
Add the flour and fold through with a metal spoon.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and place the walnuts on top.
Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until dry on top but still slightly fudgy in the middle.
Remove from the tin and allow to cool in the tin.
When cool cut into squares and serve.

Enjoy.

A CAKE TO DIG INTO!

For the final bake from Lauren Chattman's "Cake keeper Cakes"  The Cake Slice Bakers have decided to each bake a cake that we have been drooling over during the past year of baking from the book.  I have to admit that I'm not too sorry to be moving onto another book - although there were some gems in there (particularly the Cranberry Cake) but I actually think that every cake in a recipe book should be delicious, and more importantly (because we all have different tastes) well tested - in different types of ovens by different people - I think that that's what you are paying for when you buy a book, testing, testing and then some more testing.

O.K. I'll get off my high horse now and tell you which cake I decided to go with, there were a number in contention - Espresso-Hazelnut Bundt Cake, Mississippi Mud Cake with Espresso-Bourbon Glaze and Peanut Butter and Jelly Crumb Cake to name a few - but I went with Nutella Swirl Pound Cake (with a bit of encouragement from my Nutella mad son!!!).

This cake has good and bad points - the bad point became very obvious when I took out a knife to cut it - the knife went so far and no further - I had to take out the big guns (!) to make it the whole way thought.  The Nutella had sunk towards the bottom (as it does in the photo in the book) and hardened - really hardened!  I know that I'm still on a learning curve with my new oven but I don't know what I could have done to prevent this happening - I wonder if I used about half the quantity of Nutella and put tiny amounts through the batter?

As for the good points - this cake is delicious, worth the risk to your dentistry!!! The texture of the cake part is perfect and it tastes buttery and scrumptious - well worth playing around with.

Nutella Swirl Pound Cake

4                  large eggs
2 tsp            vanilla extract
1.5 cups       plain flour
3/4 tsp         baking powder
1/4 tsp         salt
1 cup (8oz)  softened butter
1 400g jar     Nutella

Preheat oven to 180 C
Line a 9"x5" loaf tin with parchment paper

Combine the eggs and vanilla and beat lightly.
In a separate bowl sift in the flour baking powder and salt.
In another bowl beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy, remembering to scrape down the sides regularly.
Add the egg slowly whilst the beater is running at medium-slow speed.
Turn the beater down to slow and add the flour slowly a 1/2 cup at a time.
Scrape 1/3 of the mixture into your prepared tin, then 1/2 the Nutella, followed by another 1/3 of the cake mixture then the other 1/2 of the Nutella and finally the remaining 1/3 of the mixture. Run a knife blade through the batter to create marbling.
Bake the cake until golden and a skewer comes out clean - about 1 hour 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes.
After this time all it to cool completely on a wire rack.
Slice (with a good knife!!) and serve.

Enjoy.

If you are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers have a look at Katie at Apple and Spice for all the details.

I would like to thank you all for your beautiful and kind comments on my last post - I cannot tell you how much I appreciate them.

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME

This month's We Should Cocoa challenge was to create something lovely using both rose and chocolate. Choclette really does like to keep us on our toes!!

My first thoughts were to team the rose with some white chocolate - there is something so delicate about a rose (and rose water) that I immediately thought to pair it with the subtle vanilla sweetness of some good white chocolate.  White billowy meringues, perhaps?  But then life got in the way (as it does), I was getting short on time and I needed a kid friendly, throw it all together type bake.

The kids are not great fans of white chocolate - milk chocolate gets the vote every time!  So I decided to play around with one of my stock recipes - add some rose water and see what happens!!

I had a hit and a miss - the cake was very popular, the hint of rose being very subtle, gave an extra dimension (just a little something that stopped you wolfing down a slice and encouraged you to nibble it thoughtfully), it married very well with the milk chocolate, one flavour not overpowering the other.  The icing on the other hand was not popular (even with me!!) Firstly the cake was sweet enough and did not need the extra sweet injection of the icing.  Secondly the rose and orange flavours (which I thought would be fantastic together) just didn't jell, and thirdly it was all just too much when combined.  Luckily I only iced a small section of the cake - so there was plenty of happy munching!!


Chocolate Rose Cake

200g               butter
200g               caster sugar
200g               milk chocolate
250g               self raising flour
1.5 tsp            rose water
3                    eggs, beaten.


Prepare a 24x33cm (13x10inch) tin by lining with baking parchment paper
Preheat oven to 180 C

Melt the butter and 75g of the chocolate.
Add the sugar and combine.
Gently stir in the flour.
Chop up the remaining 125g of chocolate and add to the batter.
Add the eggs, stirring gently.
Pour into the shallow tin.
Bake for 20 - 30 minutes.

Icing (though I wouldn't bother!)

100g     icing sugar, sieved
1 tsp     rosewater
orange juice to get to correct texture.

Combine.

Enjoy!

MESSED UP MUFFINS

I haven't blogged in ages, and now I have to come back with an unmitigated failure!  These apricot and chocolate muffins were just nasty, the actual muffins were rubbery and the apricots therein had an unpleasant jammy texture.

When I read Chele's challenge for this month's We Should Cocoa, I feared that I would be unable to source any fresh apricots, but as luck would have it there were some delicious specimens in the shop the very next day.  Murphy's law being what it is, everyone who visited over the next couple of days, spotted them, and said "you never see fresh apricots, may I take one?" and the punnet disappeared in no time!!!!  Fortunately I managed to get the last of the apricots the next time I went shopping, and even more fortunately (or not when you consider the way the muffins turned out!!) I managed to hide three of them to use for the challenge. 

I won't bother giving you the recipe* - why would I when this recipe is a million times better.  As for the apricots - they are just so nice when fresh and ripe (and so hard to locate) that I will stick to dried or tinned for my baking in future.  I have a lovely recipe for an apricot tart which uses tinned apricots - I must bake and blog it soon.

As I tell the kids, your mistakes are just as important as your successes, so I'll put this one down to furthering my culinary education!  They did look nice though!!

*All I'll say is that Ms Smith isn't totally infallible.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER?

The wonderful Chele over at The Chocolate Teapot challenged us to come up with our best roulade recipe (containing chocolate of course!) for last month's We Should Cocoa - the (wonderful) round up is on Choclette's blog (well worth a visit).

My late sister was the queen of roulades (my son once ate an entire one of her roulades in minutes flat - they were that good!! (luckily she had made quite a few on that occasion!)), as I could never compete (as if I would want to!!)  I thought that I would go down the meringue roulade route for a change.

I had made the Strawberry meringue roulade from the Avoca Cafe Cookbook some time ago and decided that with a bit of tweaking it would be just the thing.  I pretty much followed their recipe, but added grated white chocolate (going from fine in the cream to very coarse in the meringue) and it worked a treat. I was conscious that the chocolate could take a sweet dessert over the edge, so added an additional egg white, and I think it did the trick.  The white chocolate element wasn't too powerful, but it did add a wonderful deep vanilla hit - a perfect summer dessert!



When the meringue came out of the oven I wondered if I would be able to roll it!!



I was tempted to serve it as a (flat) pavlova!!



Raspberry and White Chocolate Meringue Roulade

5                large egg whites

225g          caster sugar (I think golden is best)

250ml        whipped cream

200g          white chocolate

2                punnets raspberries

Line a 30x20cm  swiss roll tin with parchment paper

Preheat oven to 150 C

Grate half the chocolate with a fine grater, the other half with a coarse one.

Beat the egg whites and half the sugar to snowy peaks (electric beater and clean bowl essential!)

Gradually add the remaining sugar, continuing to whisk for 10 minutes, until it forms stiff peaks.

Fold in the coarsely grated white chocolate carefully.

Spread the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin.

Turn out onto a fresh sheet of baking parchment (or a clean tea towel) and carefully peel of the lining paper.

Spread over the cream (which you have whipped and folded in the finely grated chocolate to) and scatter the raspberries all over.

Roll up as best you can - doesn't really matter how good you are at this, it tastes so good you will be forgiven!!!

Enjoy!

CUPCAKES FOR A PRINCESS!

Really and truly this should be the best written, wittiest and most informative blog on the blogsphere ......  well if the amount of time I spend planning posts were anything to go by anyway!!!!  When I can't sleep at night, I lay there and plan all sorts of wonderfulness to amuse and entertain you all - then life gets in the way and I don't even cook!!

Brownieville Princess was anxious to bake the other day (one of the many "I'm bored" moments - all new to me, a particular female trait I gather!!)  Anyway with Dom's challenge in mind, I let her loose in the "cook book room" (I don't actually have a "cook book room", but I do have a room full of cook books!) to source a sweet treat - she lighted upon "Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery", and chose the Chocolate Cupcakes.  These cupcakes would be great for icing as they remain nice and flat to accept whatever topping you wish .... unfortunately our impatience didn't allow the cupcakes to cool enough to ice ..... they were demolished in no time... at least I got to take a photo!!

Although they went down well with the children, I felt that they was a bit too much faffing about for what were very ordinary buns, nice but not really worth the effort - that said, the raw mixture was absolutely delicious!!

Chocolate Cupcakes

115g             dark chocolate
85g                butter
175g              soft brown sugar
2                    large eggs - separated
185g              plain flour, sifted
3/4 tsp           baking powder
3/4 tsp           bread (bicarbonate of) soda
250g              milk - room temp
1 tsp              vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 C/375 F
Line 16 cupcake holders

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale and smooth.
In another bowl, beat the egg yolks with clean beaters, and when you have done this for several minutes add the yolk to the butter and sugar and beat well.
Add the melted chocolate to this mixture and beat well.
In another bowl (see what I mean about the faffing!!) combine the flour, baking powder and bread soda.
Add the vanilla extract to the milk.
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and beat well.
Pour in 1/3 of the milk and beat again .... repeat these steps until everything combined.
In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture carefully, keeping as much air in there as you can.
Fill the prepared cupcake cases to 2/3 full and bake for about 20 minutes (depends on the size of your bun tray)
Insert a skewer to see if cooked through.
Allow to cool in their tin for 10 minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack.

The book says that they keep well .... I wouldn't know!!

BROWNIES 18

I think it's time to introduce you to the new members of the Brownieville world.  You already know me, my other half (Brownieville Man) my taste testers supreme Brownieville Boys #1 and #2 (although brownieville boy #2 would prefer to be referred to as "the talented one" or "the brilliant one" or even "the handsome one"!!! ) The new members of the team are Brownieville Brother-in-Law (BVBIL), Brownieville Boy #3 (not very interested in anything other than football!!) Brownieville Boy #4 (another fantastic taste tester) and Brownieville Princess (who will keep me baking or else!!!!!).*

Dom over at Belleau Kitchen has challenged us to bake a random recipe from our first ever cook book - well my first ever cook book was "Look I Can Cook" (the orange omelet being a particular favourite!) but that book has gone the same way as my youth and disappeared forever!!!!!  I imagine that I share Delia's "Complete Illustrated Cookery Course" with many others as my first cookbook that I still possess, so cheating a little I asked Brownieville Princess to choose a recipe for us to bake - she wasn't impressed that there were no cupcakes or muffins, and compromised with Delia's "American Brownies"..

I have to say that BVP chose well - these are good brownies, rich, chocolaty and squidgy.  These little treats head straight to near the top of the list, I'm thinking second or third place - I made a double quantity and they lasted about 10 minutes (I am cooking for alot of people these days) not bad going!!

*Brownieville Sister #2, Brownieville BIL #2, and Brownieville Boys #5 and  #6, and Brownieville Baby should also be mentioned!



American Brownies

110g             Butter
50g               Plain Chocolate (I used 80%)
2                   Eggs, beaten
225g             Granulated Sugar
50g               Sifted Flour
1 tsp             Baking Powder
110g            Chopped Nuts (I left these out BVP is not a fan)

Preheat oven to 180 C
Line a 7 x 11 tin with baking paper

Melt the butter and chocolate over a double boiler.
Stir the other ingredients into the butter and chocolate mixture.
Mix well and then pour into the prepared tin spreading out evenly.
Bake for 30 minutes (mine took 45!) until the mixture shows signs of shrinking away from the sides and the centre feels springy.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then divide into small pieces (it's rich!) and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.


Doubles well ..... Enjoy!

CHOCOLATE TEA BRACK

You know the way that sometimes a recipe just comes to you - you wonder if x and y would be a good combination, throw a recipe together and bing bang boosh - perfection, it just works like magic, the work of the cake fairies.  Well this recipe wasn't like that at all !!!!!!!!!!!  It took a number of attempts to get it right, although all edible (Brownieville Man enjoyed the judging process) they just weren't wonderful, not blog worthy.  I think that the main problem was that two of the ingredients (tea and dried fruit) are two of the few foods/drinks that I don't really like.  But I battled on, and have been assured that this is a good one - and nice and easy too.

Choclette over at Chocolate Log Blog asked us to come up with something delicious which contains both chocolate and tea for this month's We Should Cocoa challenge.  Originally I thought I might use a fruit tea (which I love) but then thought that might be cheating (and that would never do!) so I decided that I would go with ordinary everyday tea (I use Barry's tea because my Mother told me that it was the best in the world (!) and I've bought it ever since!).

This is a tea brack (tea bread) with a pleasant chocolaty back taste, using the cocoa almost as a spice rather than a full on flavour (one of the mistakes of an earlier edition) and is perfect for an after dinner treat with a nice cup of tea, or an afternoon tea, or a morning coffee .... versatile cake!

It is worthwhile soaking the fruit for 24 hours, and if you have any dried fruit lurking in your cupboards from Christmas, this brack would be a perfect way to use it, as the long soak will revive it to plump moistness.  The choice of fruit is totally up to you, I have used sultanas, raisins, figs, and cranberries all to good effect.

Tea Brack with Cocoa


150g           soft brown sugar
300 ml        strong hot tea
400g           dried fruit (I recommend a combination of sultanas, raisins and cranberries)
50 ml          orange liqueur (or brandy) or use extra tea.
150g           wholemeal flour
75g             white flour
2 tbsp          cocoa powder, sifted
1.5 tsp        baking powder
1                 large egg

                                                                                                 
the day before

Add the sugar to the hot tea and stir until dissolved.    
Add the fruit and alcohol and leave to soak for about 24 hours.

when ready to bake

Preheat oven to 170 C
Line a large loaf tin with parchment paper

Add the flours, sifted cocoa, baking powder and the beaten egg to the fruit mixture, and mix well.
Pour this mixture into the prepared tin.
Bake for about 1 hour, test before this time with a skewer, it should come out clean.
Allow to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes.
Then remove to cool totally on a wire rack.

The publishers of a new foodie magazine Baked and Delicious have contacted me to ask if I would let you know about their new publication - looks good to me!

CAKE NIRVANA

I have an admission to make, I adore coffee cake so when the Cake Slice Bakers selected the Coffee-Heath Bar Crunch Cake from Cake Keeper Cakes by Laura Chattman, (after I initially read it as Coffee Health Cake and jumped for joy!!!!), I despaired for my healthy eating plan!!  I knew that I would have to play around with the recipe or,  as the only coffee cake lover in the house, every time I walked into the kitchen I would be tempted by the delicious cake in the corner, seductively calling  "eat me, eat me, you know you want to"!!!!!!

I didn't make many alterations, I just reduced the coffee from 1 tbsp to 1 scant tsp, and then added a heaped tbsp of cocoa, added chopped dark chocolate to the batter and replaced the plain flour in the topping for whole meal - and I have to say that this cake is just magic.  The melted toffee bars on top have alternating textures, from soft and chewy to light and crunchy - so very, very moreish.  Luckily so, as it was polished off in no time (before I had a chance to add more inches to my hips!!).

Chocolate and Coffee-Curly Wurly Bar Crunch Cake

For the strusel topping

4              Curly Wurly Bars (my replacement for the Heath Bars) from the fridge.
1.5 tbsp    packed light brown sugar
2 tbsp      wholemeal flour
1 tbsp      softened butter

For the cake

1.5 cups    plain flour
1 tsp         instant espresso coffee powder
1.5 tbsp    cocoa powder - Green and Black is good
1.5 tsp      baking powder
4 oz          softened butter
1 cup        packed light brown sugar
1              large egg
1              large egg yolk
1.5 tsp     vanilla extract
1 cup        milk
2oz           dark chocolate - chopped finely

Preheat the oven to 180 C
Grease and line the bottom of a 9" round springform tin.

To make the topping

Chop up the toffee and chocolate bars.
Place the butter, flour and sugar in a bowl and combine with your fingers to resemble crumble topping,
Add the bars and leave in the fridge until the cake is ready.

To make the cake

Combine the flour, coffee powder, sifted cocoa and baking powder in a mixing bowl.
In another bowl combine the butter and sugar and cream until light and fluffy.
Slowly mix in the eggs and vanilla.
Keeping the mixer on low speed add 1/3 of the flour mixture and the 1/2 the milk, repeat until everything is combined being sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl regularly.
Add the chopped chocolate pieces and combine.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out.
Scatter the topping evenly over the cake.
Bake until the cake is golden and a skewer comes out clean - about 45 - 55 min
Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
Then remove to the wire rack to cool completely.
Serve on it's own or with your favourite accompaniment.

Enjoy.

HAPPY ST. VALENTINE'S DAY

Shakespeare might think that music is the food of love, but I must be very pedestrian because my motto is "If food be the food of love, eat on"!!!!!

I associate chocolate and Champagne with romance - probably because I love both, and any excuse!!  This year I wanted to make a nod to the day that's in it - despite my ongoing efforts to shed a few pounds.  To this end I searched out Ellie Krieger's book The Food You Crave - Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life (I bought it late last year and then forgot all about it - anyone else ever do that?!).  She had a lovely sounding recipe for Triple Chocolate Cookies and I thought that they would do the trick - we'd get the chocolate hit and my poor hips wouldn't become an increasing target!!

They are delicious - darkly chocolaty with an interesting (in a good way) texture, which is helped rather than hindered by the whole wheat flour.  My only problem was that Ellie said that the recipe made 24 cookies - I could only etch out 14!!  I know that I am probably failing on the "portion size" module of my diet education - but dividing the mixture into 24  would have made TINY cookies, anyway these morsels are not quite as low in calories as I might wish (!) but they have it all taste wise.  I have (of course) played around with the recipe, and this is how I made them:



Triple Chocolate Cookies

1/2 stick (2oz)        butter, softened
1/2 cup                   packed brown sugar
1/4 cup                   flavourless oil (I used sunflower)
1 large                    egg
1 tsp                      vanilla extract
1/2 cup                  whole wheat flour
1/4 cup                  cocoa powder
1 oz                       dark chocolate (about 70%) - chopped*
1 oz                       milk chocolate - chopped*


Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

Mash the butter and sugars together until well combined.
Add the oil and the egg and beat until creamy.
Add the vanilla and combine.
Sift the flour and cocoa into the butter mixture (just add in any flour that doesn't go through the sieve)
Mix until fully combined.
Add the chocolate and mix well.
Place teaspoons of the mixture on the baking sheet, leaving space between the cookies. (I made mine in two batches)
Bake until they are set - about 12 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack.
When cool, hide away in a tin - they are way too tempting to leave sitting around!

* I just used 2oz dark chocolate (which actually only makes these Double Choc - oops!!)

Enjoy.

LAZY BAKERS TREAT

Sometimes you need something sweet and tasty, but really don't fancy the whole rigmarole of taking out mixers and beaters and whisks - let me be honest here - sometimes I want to have my cake and eat it, without having put much work into the process!!!

This cake is just what the doctor (that very strange doctor that lives in my imagination and tells me to eat all the chocolate I wish!!!!) ordered.  Like Nigella's Guinness Cake this is a "one pot wonder", all you need is a scales, a large pot a baking tin and you're in business.

It started life out as the Birthday Cake in Nigella Lawson's "How to Eat", and although I still  make the original, the one I make more often is this evolved version below.  I have reduced the fat, by using a light condensed milk and by omitting the ganache (or sometimes just using 1/4 of the specified amount) - then I have replaced some of that fat (!) by adding chocolate chunks (and sometimes roasted hazelnuts).  I no longer faff about with splitting the cake in half and sandwiching with ganache - not really in the spirit of my lazy inner self!!

Although I usually make the plain, uniced version - for special occasions I whip out the icing!  This cake was made for a very special occasion -  my sister's significant birthday!!  Her little angel (he was so good he was given a "star stamp" at play school .... awwwwww!) helped me to decorate it with a delightful crater pattern, even going so far as to eat all the removed ganache - that's dedication!!

I don't usually need much help in the creating craters dept!!

Dress Up or Downable Chocolate Cake

225g      self-raising flour
40g        cocoa
200g      caster sugar
100g      butter
100ml    just boiled water
200g      light condensed milk
200g      dark chocolate (about 70% cocoa) - broken into pieces
50g        chopped roasted hazelnuts (optional)
2            large eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 180 C
Prepare a 20cm springform tin by buttering it and lining the bottom with parchment paper.

Put the sugar,  butter, boiled water, condensed milk and 100g of chocolate into a large pot and put on a medium heat until melted, stir until glossy and smooth.
Remove from the heat and stir in the sieved flour and cocoa.
Finally add the eggs and mix well.  (Do not forget this part - if you do the result is disastrous!!!!)
Add the remaining 100g chocolate chunks and the nuts (if using).
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 45 minutes.
This cake needs to cook like a brownie - firm on top but still slightly gooey in the center.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes.
After this time remove from the tin and cool completely on a wire rack.

If you wish to make a ganache for the top just heat 100ml double cream and then add 100g chopped chocolate, stir until amalgamated and pour over the cooled cake.

This is my contribution to Forever Nigella # 2 - seduced by chocolate over at Maison Cupcake.

IS IT A CAKE, IS IT A BAR?

It's  The Cake Slice Bakers post time again - seems to have rolled around really quickly this month for some reason.  I actually made this "cake" during the Christmas holidays - and brought it down to my sister's house.  I can't actually remember the exact occasion now (old age hitting?!!) but I do remember that I had to grab a corner as I was leaving so I could report on the taste to you guys - you can thank me in flowers!!!!!!!!

The reason I write "cake" is that the finished article while delicious, was nearer a traybake type bar than a cake - to be blunt, it was  flat - not quite as flat as a pancake (!) but far too flat for a cake.  If I make it again (and I think I will) I intend to make double the cake mixture in the same size tin - should result in a more worthwhile eating experience!

I thought that the cake was delicious, and the fact that it used ground digestive biscuits (graham crackers in the States) in place of most of the flour (only .25 cup of flour in the recipe) made it really interesting.  The cake had a lovely grainy texture and wasn't too sweet - which was a good job because the frosting certainly made up for that!  The chocolate chips married well with the biscuity flavour of the cake, with a bit of fiddling this could be great.

Once again my stockpiling trips to Harvey Nicks paid dividends, as Marshmallow Fluff was called for in the frosting, and I haven't seen it anywhere else here in Ireland.  I made a half quantity of the frosting (I always find that there is too much icing/frosting in recipes - must be the fact that I don't have a sweet tooth!!!!!) and this was plenty.  I chose to ice my cake with the frosting rather than dollop it on each slice as stipulated in the recipe, this made it easier to transport and I just prefer it that way!

Here's the recipe (as I made it) it's worth a try!

Chocolate Chip Snacking Cake
adapted from Lauren Chattman's "Cake Keeper Cakes"



CAKE

1 cup            ground digestive biscuits
.25 cup         plain flour
1 tsp             baking powder
.25 tsp          salt
6 tbsp/3oz     butter
.25 cup         sugar
1                   large egg
1                   large egg yolk
1 tsp             vanilla extract
.25 cup         milk
.5 cup           chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chopped up)


FROSTING

.25 cup/1 oz butter
.25 cup         icing sugar
.25 cup         Marshmallow Fluff
.5 tsp            vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F
Grease an 8"/20cm cake tin and dust with flour.

Combine the biscuit crumbs, flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl.
Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy and light (about 3 minutes), remember to scrape down the sides as you go.
Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla with the mixer turned down to low - beat until smooth.
Keeping the mixer on low add  1/3 the flour mixture then 1/2 the milk, repeat, ending with the flour until well combined - again remember to scrape down the sides as you go.
Stir in the chocolate chips/pieces with a spoon.
Spoon the batter into the cake tin and smooth out.
Bake until a skewer comes out clean - about 35 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.
Cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the frosting -
Beat the butter until creamy and smooth.
Add the sugar slowly with the mixer on low (otherwise you will be breathing in a sugar cloud!!).
Stir in the vanilla and Marshmallow Fluff and beat until smooth.

When completely cooled spread the frosting on the cake and serve.

Enjoy.

BROWNIES 17

I'm feeling very grateful towards Chele this month, she nominated leftovers as this month's ingredient for the We Should Cocoa challenge - this really made me put my thinking cap on! (and helped with my resolution to waste less food!!).

There were plenty of options available to me - copious amounts of sprouts (!), about a tonne of strawberry "Roses", scraps of pastry, a half can of chestnut puree and half a pack of vacuum packed chestnuts (from Christmas dinner's sprouts, chestnuts and pancetta), to name a few - I decided to go with the chestnuts, and then for some reason grated them before I looked up any recipes (go figure!!!).

Of course any recipes I read used whole chestnuts (typical!), so I had to improvise and  decided to use the grated chestnuts as a flour substitute.  I hadn't made brownies for a while,  so brownies it was - I played around with my favourite brownie recipes and this is the result.

Even if I say it myself - they were gorgeous!  Moist with a fudgy centre, deeply chocolaty with a lovely nutty back note, lovely crispy top - these lads are going to the top of the brownie league table. 

Chestnut Brownies

375g        caster sugar
4              eggs
100g        cocoa (good quality)
200g        butter
1 tsp        vanilla extract
100g       grated (cooked) chestnuts
1 tbsp      self raising flour
1 tsp        baking powder

Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F
Prepare a 9"/23cm brownie tin (I line mine with parchment paper)

Beat eggs and sugar together until light, fluffy and doubled in volume.
Melt the butter and then add the sieved cocoa - make sure there are no lumps.
Add the butter and cocoa to the eggs and sugar, stir well. 
Add the vanilla.
Add the grated chestnuts, flour and baking powder, combine well.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin.
Bake for 40 - 50 minutes.
Remove from the oven when it is cooked at the edges but still nice and slightly wobbly in the centre.
Allow to cool for 20 minutes in the tin, then remove to a wire rack.