Chocolate Soft Centers

These are yummy, rich, chocolaty cookies that comprise of a light soft dough encasing a morsel of chocolate. When still warm from the oven, the chocolate in the centre is molten, gooey and gorgeous. After cooling, the chocolate turns truffly rather than returning to its solid state, meaning you have a wonderfully indulgent cookie whatever state they are eaten.

I decided to make these for the Monday Munchers at work as it had been a while since I had given them anything chocolaty. They were very much enjoyed, especially when they discovered that the chocolate returned to molten gooeyness when heated gently in the microwave for a few seconds.

You can make them with either white, milk or dark chocolate, although I personally think that dark or milk chocolate works best. I have also used a small blob of marzipan in the centers before, which give a fantastic chocolate almond flavour. However, although the centers were soft, they were not quite as indulgent as chocolate.

Chocolate Soft Centers
Ingredients
200g butter
200g light soft brown sugar
1 egg
350g plain flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
100g block milk or dark chocolate, between 35% - 60% depending on your taste.

Method
Preheat the oven to 190C and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper and set to one side.
Put the butter and sugar into a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and beat well until incorporated.
Sift over the flour and cocoa powder and mix together using a spatula until the mixture begins to form a dough. Then use your hands to form a ball.
Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 20-30minutes to firm up.
Divide the dough roughly in half, making one half slightly bigger than the other.
Dust a work surface with flour and roll out the smaller half of the dough until 4mm thick and cut out 4cm rounds.
Place the rounds on the prepared baking sheets.
Cut the dark chocolate into small pieces and place a piece of chocolate onto the top of each dough circle.
Roll out the larger half of the dough and cut out 5cm rounds. Place the bigger dough circles on top of the chocolate bottoms and press the edges together to form a mould encasing the chocolate.
Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until slightly crackled and firm.
Allow to cool on the baking trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool.
Eat whilst still warm for a rich melting gooey chocolate center or allow to cool for a more truffly center.
Makes around 30 cookies

Daring Bakers October Challenge – Bostini Cream Pies

It’s that special time of the month again, time to post about this months Daring Bakers Challenge. This month’s recipe was chosen by Mary from Alpineberry and when I first saw the recipe that was exactly what I though – challenge!

Bostini Cream Pies were Mary’s recipe of choice and these are miniature versions of a traditional Boston Cream Pie with a few subtle differences. I Boston Pie is a Chiffon Cake split in half and filled with a thick fresh custard and topped with a chocolate glaze. A Bostini Cream Pie is miniature Chiffon Cakes on top of set fresh custard and drizzled with chocolate sauce.
I have never tasted or even seen a real Boston Cream Pie and so I was instantly feeling a little nervous about how it should look and taste – challenge no.1. As I read through the recipe I discovered that it involved making a Chiffon Cake (a cake made with mainly whisked egg whites) and although I have made one of these before, it didn’t turn out well – challenge no.2. Then I read that a rich fresh egg custard was also required – challenge no.3 as the last time I attempted one it spilt into a horrible mess. By the time I had read through the recipe a few times I was feeling quite nervous about attempting to make this creation. I did a bit of internet browsing and found out what the pie was supposed to look and taste like and I gradually started to feel more at ease and decided to go ahead and give the little pies by best shot.

The recipe calls to bake the cakes in ‘custard cups’ which I took to mean ramekins. However I don’t own enough of these for the recipe but I did have a silicone muffin tin that was shaped into individual hearts and so I used this instead.

Preparing the cake itself was not as daunting as I had thought. Separating the eggs and whisking the egg whites was the thing which took the most time but it was quite enjoyable. After making the batter I poured it into my little heart moulds and baked them until puffy and lightly golden. Thanks to the joys of silicone they came out of the moulds easily.

Next I prepared the custard. I weighed all the ingredients, mixed them together and put them on the heat before realizing that the recipe suggested heating the milk and cream first before adding the egg yolks – opps! There was no way I was going to throw away my custard mixture containing 9 egg yolks and over half a pint of cream and so I decided to go with it, heat it gently and just hope for the best. I stirred it constantly for about 5 minutes and when I dipped my finger into the liquid it was barely warm and so I (stupidly) thought “I’ll just fill the sink with water to soak the utensils in, the custard will be fine for a moment.” When I returned to my custard barely a minute later, the surface looked like it had developed a slight skin and I picked up my spoon it give it a stir only to find the beginnings of a thick stodge, resembling instant potatoes. ARRGGG how did that happen so fast?! I whipped it off the heat and stirred like a maniac and thankfully it hadn’t split and was still smooth. A small word of advice, never leave your custard. I spooned some of the custard into the same heat shaped moulds I had used to bake the cakes and left it to cool down on the side before covering and placing in the fridge overnight.

The next day I prepared the chocolate glaze which was very quick and easy to do. I then nervously un-moulded by set custards from the heart moulds and amazingly 5 out of 6 of them came out perfectly. I topped each custard base with a little cake and drizzled over the shiny chocolate glaze. They looked so cute and elegant that I almost didn’t want to eat it but my curiosity got the better of me. The verdict? Rich, smooth, creamy, satisfying, sweet, chocolaty, indulgent and utterly moorish. The cake is slightly dense in texture and yet springy and light to taste and works perfectly with the very rich and creamy custard. The dark chocolate glaze adds a bitter sweet note that brings everything together perfectly.

A work of warning though these are very very rich from all the eggs and cream. They may look small but I don’t think I would want them any bigger. I had lots of cake batter and custard left over the first day and so I baked a deep 6inch cake, cut it in half and then froze it along with a container of custard ready for when I next need a cake or dessert at short notice.

I was very happy with how the Bostini Cream Pies turned out and now thanks to Mary I have got over my fear of Chiffon Cakes, although maybe my custard making skills still need a little practice.

I converted the recipe below into grams, but if you would prefer it in cups then head over to Mary at Alpineberry for the original.

Bostini Cream Pies
For the custard
135ml whole milk
2¾ tbsp cornflour
1 whole egg
9 egg yolks
550ml whipping cream
Seeds from ½ vanilla bean
95g caster sugar

For the Chiffon Cake
210g plain flour
115g caster sugar
11/3 baking powder
1/3 tsp salt
55ml sunflower oil
3 egg yolks
140ml fresh orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 egg whites
1 tsp cream if tartar

For the chocolate glaze
225g dark chocolate
225g unsalted butter

To prepare the custard:
Combine the milk and cornstarch in a bowl; blend until smooth. Whisk in the whole egg and yolks, beating until smooth. Combine the cream, vanilla bean and sugar in a saucepan and carefully bring to a boil. When the mixture just boils, whisk a ladleful into the egg mixture to temper it, then whisk this back into the cream mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain the custard and pour into 8 large custard cups. Refrigerate to chill.

To prepare the chiffon cakes:

Preheat the oven to 325°. Spray 8 molds with nonstick cooking spray. You may use 7-ounce custard cups, ovenproof wide mugs or even large foil cups. Whatever you use should be the same size as the custard cups.Sift the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the oil, egg yolks, orange juice, zest and vanilla. Stir until smooth, but do not overbeat.Beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold the beaten whites into the orange batter. Fill the sprayed molds nearly to the top with the batter.Bake approximately 25 minutes, until the cakes bounce back when lightly pressed with your fingertip. Do not overbake. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. When completely cool, remove the cakes from the molds. Cover the cakes to keep them moist.

To prepare the glaze:

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Place the butter in a saucepan and heat until it is just about to bubble. Remove from the heat; add the chocolate and stir to melt. Pour through a strainer and keep warm.

To assemble:

Cut a thin slice from the top of each cake to create a flat surface. Place a cake flat-side down on top of each custard. Cover the tops with warm chocolate glaze. Serve immediately.

(I made 6 mini Bostini Cream Pies and 1 deep 6inch cake)

Spiced Pumpkin Cake

It’s that time of year again, when the leaves start turning a red golden brown and falling off the trees and squashes and pumpkins appear in the shops. I adore the warm, smooth and comforting taste and texture of squashes and love to eat them simply roasted, in risottos, with pasta, on pizza or in soups. However, I had never eaten or tired a pumpkin pie or cake before. After reading many posts from fellow bloggers about these sweet delights I decided it was high time I too sampled these autumnal treats.

I chose to make a pumpkin cake from an old copy of Good Housekeeping Magazine. The recipe called for roasting and then pureeing your own pumpkin rather than using a can, which was just what I was looking for as I have never seen tinned pumpkin puree here in the UK. When preparing the cake batter it reminded me strongly of carrot cake, as it used oil instead of butter and soft brown sugar instead of caster.

Roasting and then pureeing the pumpkin turned it a wonderful shade of orange and added a great colour to the batter once combined. A lovely array of warming spices were stirred in and I could tell the cake would be good from tasting the batter even before it was cooked.

I chose to decorate the cake with a simple chocolate icing as I wanted something to offset the sweetness of the cake whilst still allowing the pumpkin flavour to shine through. (I turned up cake upside down to ice it, as this always gives you a flat surface to work with).

The cake was incredibly moist and all the pumpkin flavour was really enhanced by the spices and added a silky richness to the cake. I took it into work for the Monday Munchers where it was greatly enjoyed. I was pleased to find that not many people had tasted pumpkin cake before either so it was the subject of much discussion.

If I made the cake again I would like to try adding some raisins, or maybe cranberries into the batter along with some chopped pecans as I think these would be a great addition. Either way I’m glad I’ve finally tried a pumpkin cake and more importantly, that I liked it!

Spiced Pumpkin Cake
For the cake
550g raw pumpkin
250ml sunflower oil
200g light soft brown sugar
3 eggs
225g self raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1tsp cinnamon
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

For the chocolate icing
100g dark chocolate
45g butter
2 tbsp milk or cream
75g icing sugar

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Chop the pumpkin into small chunks, place on a baking tray and bake for 30-35 minutes until softened and lightly golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Reduce the oven temperature to 170C.
Grease an 8inch loose bottomed tin and set to one side.
Put the oil and sugar into a large bowl and whisk together until the sugar crystals have dissolved. Then add the egg one at a time, beating well between each one.
Add the flour, bicarb and spices and fold in using a spatula.
Puree the roasted pumpkin using a hand blender or processor until smooth. Fold into the batter.
Pour the cake mix into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.
Allow to stand until warm before un-moulding.

To make the icing, break the chocolate into pieces and add to a pan along with the butter and milk/cream.
Heat gently until all melted, stirring occasionally.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before sifting in the icing sugar and beating with a spatula until smooth and thickened.
If of a good spreadable consistency then ice the cake, if not then allow to cool for a little longer until firmer.

Makes 1 8inch/20cm cake.

Flourless Chocolate Espresso Mud Cake

This cake is not much to look at but its taste and texture is sublime. I have adapted it from another recipe so that it is completely flourless apart from 3 tsp of cornflour, which I don’t count the same as standard wheat based flours. This also means that this cake is gluten free which means it is suitable for people on a wheat and gluten free diet – ideal for a colleague in my office who has just been advised to cut wheat from his diet. I felt sorry him and didn’t want him to miss out on the Monday Munchies and was the reason for developing this cake.

It has a thick chewy outer crust which hides an airy mousse like and incredibly rich cakey layer inside. You know the very centre of a good squishy brownie, well the whole inside of this cake is just like that – mmmm! It involves 200g of good dark chocolate along with a hit of strong coffee which produces an intensely chocolaty deeply rich flavoured and moist cake with an unbelievable aroma. Small slices are enough for an instant mood enhancing boost.

I replaced the flour with ground almonds and added a little cornflour and gluten free baking powder to help stabilize the cake. It puffs up when baking and then sinks ever so slightly on cooling. It’s best to let it cool completely in the tin as it’s quite fragile when warm.

It was devoured at work (I only got a little taste) and it would also make a wonderful dessert for a dinner party, dressed up with some drizzles of white chocolate, lightly whipped cream and plump raspberries.

I’m afraid I don’t have a picture of the inside, I thought it would be rude to cut into it before delivering it to work.

Flourless Chocolate Espresso Mud Cake
Ingredients
200g butter
200g dark chocolate 65% plus

30g cocoa powder

2 tbsp instant coffee powder

60ml water

1 tsp vanilla essence

180g caster sugar

3 eggs

100g ground almonds
3 tsp cornflour
1 tsp baking powder

Method

Grease an 8inch/20cm loose bottomed cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 160C.
Place the butter, chocolate, cocoa, coffee powder, water and vanilla essence in a medium saucepan.
Place over a low heat and melt gently until smooth, whisking every so often to make sure it all combines together smoothly.
Then set to one side to cool slightly.
Beat the sugar and eggs together using an electric mixer until thick, creamy and pale in colour.
Keep whisking and slowly add the melted chocolate mix until all incorporated.
Scatter the ground almonds, baking powder and cornflour over the surface of the batter and beat again to combine.
Pour the mix into the cake tin (it will be very liquid) and bake for 50-55 minutes until it looks puffed up and slightly cracked on top and s skewer inserted into the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it, but no wet batter.
Leave to cool in the tin before un-moulding and devouring.It can be left at room temperature, but if you keep it in the fridge it will become denser and be more like a giant truffle.

So this is what Brownies are supposed to taste like!

I have never been that fussed with brownies, having rarely eaten one that I didn’t find either too soft and gooey or too cake like, even when I baked them myself. I knew they were adored by many people but I never fully understood the attraction… that was until I baked these brownies. After biting into one of these soft, moist, sticky, sweet, chocolately squares I was in heaven, not to mention amazed. So this is what a good brownie is supposed to taste like! I can’t believe what I’ve been missing! They were not oozing undercooked batter or tasting like fluffy sponge, instead, they were slightly dense with a sticky moist crumb that disintegrated and coated your entire mouth as you ate them.

These brownies were this weeks offering to works Monday Munchers. What, you may wonder, made me decide to bake brownies when I have never been that impressed with them? Well, I had originally planned to bake cookies this week but then I remembered that we had a new colleague joining our small NPD team at work and I wasn’t sure what they would like. As I was browsing my bookshelf, Leith’s Baking Bible caught my eye I decided to select a recipe from there. I came across a whole section dedicated to brownies and decided these would be perfect as not only do most people love brownies but they are also full of chocolate, something which never fails to please. I added in white chocolate chunks to make them even more chocolately and because I think it makes them look pretty. They were a huge success at work and people were fighting over the last piece. I must confess that three pieces didn’t make it into work, but in my defense they were the corner pieces.

So now thanks to Prue Leith, I am a brownie convert. Want to cheer someone up? Give someone a present? Need to ask someone for forgiveness and want to sweeten the deal? Then these brownies are the answer. I urge you, drop what you are doing and go and bake some.

Ultimate Brownies
Recipe adapted from Leith’s Baking Bible.
Ingredients
140g butter
200g dark chocolate – around 55-60%
180g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 large eggs
85g plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
80 white chocolate

Method
Preheat the oven to 175C. Grease and line the base and sides of a deep 8inch/20cm square tin and set to one side.
Break the dark chocolate into pieces and place into a large bowl along with the butter. Melt gently over a pan of simmering water until smooth. (The water should not touch the base of the bowl)
Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the vanilla and the sugar. The mixture will be slightly grainy at this stage.
Beat the eggs in one at a time until thick and glossy.
Sift over the flour and baking powder and beat until no flour streaks remain.
Chop the white chocolate into small chunks and fold in the brownie batter.
Pour the batter into the tin and bake in the oven for 30 – 35 minutes until slightly risen and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out with crumbs, rather than wet batter, sticking to it.
Allow to cool almost completely in the tin. The brownie will loose its puffed up look and become level.
Remove from the tin and cut into 12 squares.
Store in an airtight container lined with greaseproof for up to three days.

Daring Bakers August Challenge - Milk Chocolate & Caramel Tart

For the past few months I have kept an eye on what challenge the group known as ‘The Daring Bakers’ had been set that month. I loved the concept of it. A group of baking fanatics all given the same recipe, baking it and posting about it on the same day and discussing the results. I found it amazing the way the same recipe and different peoples interpretations of it could produce such varied results. Some had failures while others had roaring successes, either way they had a great time and were brave enough to take up the challenge.

Recently I found myself longing more and more to be a part of this group, to become a Daring Baker. It was seeing the results of the last two challenges, bagels and a strawberry mirror cake that spurred me into action. I emailed the founders, Lis and Ivonne, asking permission to join and after sitting with crossed fingers I was accepted and sent my first recipe challenge. I have never felt so excited. I was dancing round my room and the fact we had to keep it secret until the posting day made it even more exciting. This months challenge was chosen by Patricia and Veronica and they selected a Milk Chocolate & Caramel Tart.

My first thought upon seeing the tart was ‘oh yum, that looks divine.’ Reading through the ingredients I realised there were quite a few but nothing I wouldn’t be able to get hold of. Upon reading the recipe I realised it was going to take some planning but feeling confidently excited I set to work.

The first task was to make the chocolate hazelnut pastry, as this needed time in the fridge overnight before rolling out. I decided to go ahead and make the whole batch even though only 1/3 of it is needed for the tart, as the rest would keep in the freezer (who wouldn’t want a lovely batch of hazelnut pastry in the freezer?) My first mini challenge was finding the hazelnuts. The recipe stated using ground hazelnuts, which I found impossible to get hold of. Instead I bought some fresh nibbed hazelnuts and decided to grind them down in the food processor. This worked well and I ended up with some small, almost paste like hazelnuts and some still in small chunks which I was quite pleased with as I thought this would add a nice texture. I prepared the rest of the pastry following the recipe to the letter whereupon I was struck by my first bought of doubt. The pastry was a lovely chocolaty brown colour, smelt amazing and tasted pretty good too, but was it supposed to be the texture of thick buttercream? I doubled checked the recipe, no I hadn’t left anything out. How was that supposed to be rolled out? Feeling a little apprehensive I squished it into a log shape, wrapped it in clingfilm and placed it in the fridge.

The next morning I apprehensively opened the fridge door. My pastry looked the same as before. I tentively gave it a poke, and… success! It was now very firm and more pastry like. Hooray! Feeling elated I cut off the required amount and proceeded to roll it out using lots of icing sugar to dust the counter. As I rolled, it became softer, but I managed to form a large enough circle for my tart case. I decided to line the base of my tart case, even though it was a loose bottomed one, as I know from past experience that they can still sometimes be hard to get out. I decided to use a round fluted tart tin, one because it’s a little more decorative and two, because I didn’t have a straight edged one. After doing this I returned to my pastry only to find it had now gone very soft and stuck itself firmly to the counter. Oh nuts. I managed to unstick it and lifted it into my tart case. The base got there in one piece, but most of the sides just fell away. Feeling undaunted I tore little bits of pastry into segments and moulded it into the tin as I have previously done with other pastries. This worked well and I soon had an evenly lined pastry tin. I blind baked it, complete with baking beans and a layer of tin foil for easy removal. Once the allotted time was up, the pastry sides had puffed up slightly but not shrunk at all. Smiling happily I scrunched up the foil and removed the baking beans. The smile promptly fell from my face as the top layer of pastry base came away with the foil. What?! Nooooo! I hastily discarded the baking beans and scraped the pastry off the foil and arranged it back into the base of the tin (thankfully it was a little undercooked). I then put it back into the oven for a couple of minutes to firm up. This worked and I now had a fully baked pastry case. Hahha you silly pastry, you will not beat me!

As it cooled I set to work preparing the caramel filling. I wasn’t feeling too worried about this as I have made caramel once before and the instructions seemed pretty straightforward.

I slowly melted the sugar in a dry pan and swirled it until it turned a lovely golden brown. It then said to add the cream and butter to it, and as I hadn’t remembered to remove them from the fridge beforehand I thought that adding very cold cream to very hot sugar was a bad idea and that it would probably set instantly. So instead I heated it very gently in the microwave until it just felt a little cool rather than cold. I added them to the caramel and stirred, only for it to do exactly as I feared and set into solid lumps. I put the whole lot back on a very low heat and stirred slowly and ‘oh joy’ it all melted and blended back together with only a few small stubborn caramel lumps. I then had to add a flour and egg mixture and as I was by this point feeling a little frazzled I mixed the flour and then the added the eggs on top in a small bowl with the result that it formed a few stubborn flour lumps. Stupid girl, you should had slowly added the eggs to the flour to make a paste not just plonked the whole lot in together. I added it to the caramel anyway and then hit upon the idea of sieving the caramel into the pastry case, like when making a custard tart. This worked perfectly and meant I ended up with a silky smooth glossy caramel. (I would advise using a metal sieve as I suspect a plastic one might melt from the heat of the caramel). I placed it into the oven to bake and licked the sticky caramel remains from the saucepan with my fingers. It tasted amazing, so creamy and rich and it reminded me strongly of something from my childhood. I tasted some more and realised it tasted exactly like Werther’s Original, those set butterscotch, oval shaped sweets that always feature a grandfather and grandson in the adverts. Only this was even better, as this was soft and gooey. It came out of the oven with a lightly set sugary top, looking a bit like a treacle tart and it took a lot of restraint to prevent diving in with a fork there and then.

After it had cooled I prepared the chocolate moussey topping. This was so quick and easy compared to the rest of the tart. The recipe stated to smooth it into an even layer over the top of the caramel, but I wanted something more decorative than this. I had worked very hard over my tart and I wanted it to look more impressive. Instead I filled a piping bag and swirled the mousse over the top and decorated the edges with rosettes. I was thrilled with the outcome. It was now the afternoon and so I put the whole lot into the fridge to firm up before we feasted on it after dinner.

I had tasted the individual components along the way, but eating the whole thing together as one was amazing. All the flavours worked so well. There was the nutty cinnamony pastry which complemented the caramel and chocolate top so well. The pastry turned out crumbly and full of flavour. The caramel was heavenly. Sweet, soft and creamy, yet still firm enough to hold its shape when cut. On its own it was a little too sticky but the light creamy chocolate mousse helped to cleanse your pallet and free your tastebuds, ready for the next mouthful. I had some mousse left over and so I serve some extra with each portion. It tasted SO good and I was so proud of my efforts. I had overcome the little hurdles and set backs that the tart had thrown at me, but this only made the achievement feel all the better. If the recipe had gone too smoothly it wouldn’t have felt like a challenge and I wouldn’t have enjoyed it so much. This way, I now truly feel like a Daring Baker and can’t wait to see what new challenge we will be presented with next month.

Would I make the tart again? Definitely, especially now I know the little snags and problems to watch out for and how to overcome them. I made this while I was at home for the weekend, as I wanted to have people to share it with. My dad ate three pieces in one sitting and even my brother polished off his plate and he doesn’t usually like ‘fancy’ desserts. I think if I made it again I would probably use dark chocolate for the mousse topping rather than milk, as I love dark chocolate and I think this would help prevent it from becoming too sickly sweet (meaning you could have a bigger slice!).

Thank you so much Patricia and Veronica for selecting this tart for our challenge. It is not one I would probably have chosen to make myself, but I had such a brilliant time making it and an even better time demolishing it. YUM!

P.S. we had the option of making some brittle caramel shards to sprinkle over the top of the tart, but I decided to leave these off as I am not a fan of brittle caramel. Plus, I thought the tart would probably be sweet enough as it was.

Here’s the recipe. It’s originally from Sweet and Savoury Tarts by Eric Kayser.

Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart

Makes One 9-inch(24-cm) square tart or one 10-inch (26-cm) round tart.

Chocolate Shortbread Pastry
Refrigeration: overnight
Yields: enough for 3 tarts - 9 ½ inches (24 cm) square or 10 inches (26 cm round)

A day ahead

Ingredients

1 cup (250g ) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (150 g) confectioners’ sugar

½ cup (50 g) ground hazelnuts

2 level teaspoons (5 g) ground cinnamon

2 eggs

4 ½ cups (400 g) cake flour

2 ½ teaspoons (10 g) baking powder

1 ½ tablespoons (10 g) cocoa powder

Method

1. In a mixing bowl of a food processor, cream the butter.

2. Add the confectioners’ sugar, the ground hazelnuts, and the cinnamon, and mix together

3. Add the eggs, one by one, mixing constantly

4. Sift in the flour, the baking powder, and the cocoa powder, and mix well.

5. Form a ball with the dough, cover in plastic wrap, and chill overnight.

The following day
Ingredients

½ lb (250 g) chocolate shortbread pastry (see recipe below)

1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar

1 cup (250 g) heavy cream (30-40 percent butterfat) or crème fraiche

¼ cup (50 g) butter

2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

2 ½ tablespoons (15 g) flour

1 ¼ cups (300 g) whipping cream

½ lb (250 g) milk chocolate

Method

1. Preheat oven to 325 °F (160 °C).

2. Line the baking pan with the chocolate shortbread pastry and bake blind for 15 minutes.

3. In a saucepan, caramelize 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar using the dry method until it turns a golden caramel colour. Incorporate the heavy cream or crème fraiche and then add butter. Mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool.

4. In a mixing bowl, beat the whole eggs with the extra egg yolk, then incorporate the flour.

5. Pour this into the cream-caramel mixture and mix thoroughly.6. Spread it out in the tart shell and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Milk chocolate mousse:
7. Beat the whipping cream until stiff. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave or in a bain-marie, and fold it gently into the whipped cream.

8. Pour the chocolate mousse over the cooled caramel mixture, smoothing it with a spatula. Chill for one hour in the refrigerator.

For the caramel decoration (optional):
Melt ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar in a saucepan until it reaches an amber colour. Pour it onto waxed paper laid out on a flat surface. Leave to cool. Break it into small fragments and stick them lightly into the top of the tart.

Serves 6 – 12 (will-power dependant)

Bagels

Thanks to some noisy neighbours I didn’t have a very good nights sleep on Saturday. They were playing thumping music to how knows what time. There were even one person when kept going ‘wahooo!’ which I found a bit odd. Also, they kept playing the same piece of music over and over. It would stop and I would think ‘Oh good its stopped’ and then it would start up again.

Either way I was feeling rather grumpy on Sunday morning. I don’t know about you, but one thing is almost guaranteed to put me in a good mood, and that is baking.

I decided to try my hand at making Bagels, something I have been longing to do ever since a group known as The Daring Bakers attempted them a couple of months ago. There is something quite therapeutic and satisfying about making bread. Watching the dough rise, the yeasty smell as it proves (which always reminds me of pouring hot milk over Weetabix in the winter months) and then the baking, which transforms it from a sticky pale dough to yummy golden brown bread.

I was very curious to see what effect pouching the dough in water prior to baking would have on the bagels. I have never done this to any yeasted product before. I thought the dough would be in danger of dissolving and breaking down but quite the contrary happened and it actually plumped up and became firm.

When The Daring Bakers made the bagels they left the dough plain and only used savory toppings which I am informed is traditional. However, I do like sweet bagels and flavoured dough bagels and while feeling in the creative mood I decided to experiment with a whole assortment of flavours and toppings. I ended up making 12 bagels, 6 sweet, 6 savoury, that were each unique in flavour. The flavours were as follows:
Apple & Cinnamon
Raisin & Mixed Spice
Fresh Blueberry
Dark Chocolate Marble
Cranberry & White Chocolate Chunks
Dark Chocolate, White Chocolate Chunks, Apple & Mixed Spice (it was a case of using up the leftover ingredients.
Plain Bagel topped with Cheese
Pumpkin & Sunflower Seed
Linseed
Thyme
Sun Dried Tomato
Last but not least, a traditional Plain Bagel

My bagels turned out quite large and were not all uniformly round, but this made have a very home made look to them. They had a great thin crispy golden crust with a dense but soft dough inside. They tasted so much better than those long life bagels that are available in supermarkets. I may have to keep making my bagels from now on. Thankfully they freeze well. The recipe states to use dried yeast but I used 45g of fresh yeast as it was all I had and seemed to work fine. The morning of bagel making cheered me up no end and I don’t care what anyone says, flavoured bagels taste good.

Below is the recipe that I used and that I have taken from Meeta’s blog ‘what’s for lunch honey.’

Bagels
Ingredients

600-800g (6-8 cups) bread (high-gluten) flour

30g (4 tablespoons) dry baking yeast

130g (6 tablespoons) light honey or granulated white sugar

2 teaspoons salt

3 cups hot water

Vegetable oil

Water to boil the bagel in

3-5 tablespoons malt syrup or sugar

A couple handfuls of cornmeal

Method

Step 1- Proof Yeast:

Pour three cups of hot water into the mixing bowl. The water should be hot, but not so hot that you can't bear to put your fingers in it for several seconds at a time. Add the sugar or honey and stir it with your fingers or with a wire whisk to dissolve. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface of the water, and stir to dissolve.Wait about ten minutes for the yeast to begin to revive and grow.

Step 2- Make Dough:

At this point, add about three cups of flour as well as the 2 tsp of salt to the water and yeast and begin mixing it in. Use your hands for this as you really get the perfect feel for the consistency of the dough. If you are not keen on using your hands then a wooden spoon will also work.When you have incorporated the first three cups of flour, the dough should begin to become thickish. Add more flour, a half-cup or so at a time, and mix each addition thoroughly before adding more flour. As the dough gets thicker, add less and less flour at a time.

Step 3- Knead Dough:

Knead the dough on a clean, dry, flat counter top. Sprinkle your work surface with a handful of flour, put your dough on top, and start kneading. Add bits of flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking to your hands, or counter top. Keep kneading until the dough is nice and stiff. This may take 8 to 10 minutes. It will be quite elastic, but heavy and stiffer than a normal bread dough. It should not be too dry, however, it should still give and stretch easily without tearing.

Step 4- Let Dough Rise:
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with a clean and damp kitchen towel. Swish the dough around in the bowl to coat the whole ball of dough with a very thin film of oil. This will keep it from drying out.Place the bowl with the dough in it in a dry, warm (but not hot) place, free from drafts. Allow it to rise until doubled in volume. Some people try to accelerate rising by putting the dough in the oven, where the pilot lights keeps the temperature slightly elevated. If you choose to do this, remember to leave the oven door open or it may become too hot and begin to kill the yeast and cook the dough. An ambient temperature of about 25 degrees C (80F) is ideal for rising dough.

Step 5- Prepare Water for Bagels:

While the dough is rising, fill the stockpot with water and set it on the heat to boil. When it reaches a rolling boil, add the sugar (or malt syrup) and reduce the heat so that the water just barely simmers; the surface of the water should hardly move.

Step 6- Form Bagels:

Once the dough has risen, turn it onto the work surface, punch it down, and divide immediately into as many chunks as you want to make bagels. With this recipe, I got 12 bagels. You can not flavour the the dough or incorporate added ingreidnets or leave plain and add toppings later for more traditional bagels. Begin forming the bagels. There are two schools of thought on this. One method of bagel formation involves shaping the dough into a rough sphere, then poking a hole through the middle with a finger and then pulling at the dough around the hole to make the bagel. This is the hole-centric method. I used this method, as the dough is so easy to work with and allows you to shape and punch holes into the balls very easily. What I did was punch my thumb through the center of each roll and then rotated the dough, working it so that the bagel is as even in width as possible. I also dusted my fingers and then the middle of the hole to prevent it from closing.

The dough-centric method involves making a long cylindrical "snake" of dough and wrapping it around your hand into a loop and mashing the ends together. This method seems to be a little trickier as care must be taken that the ends do not come undone when boiling the rolls so, that you have bagel loafs instead of rolls. Do not worry if the bagels are not perfectly shaped or symmetrical. This is normal. The diversity adds to the rustic look of the bagels and each bagel is unique.

Step 7- Pre-heat Oven:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (400F).

Step 8- Half Proof and Boil Bagels:

Once the bagels are formed, let them rest for about 10 minutes. They will begin to rise slightly. Ideally, they will rise by about one-fourth volume. This technique is called "half-proofing" the dough. At the end of the half-proofing, drop two or three bagels into the simmering water, making sure not to overcrowd them in the pot.The bagels should sink first, then gracefully float to the top of the simmering water. Mine did not sink, they floated but it didn’t seem to effect the bagel.Let the bagel simmer for about three minutes, then turn them over with a skimmer or a slotted spoon. Simmer another three minutes, and then lift the bagels out of the water and set them on a clean kitchen towel that has been spread on the counter top to drain. The bagels should be puffed up and shiny, thanks to the malt syrup or sugar in the boiling water.

Step 9- Bake Bagels:

Once all the bagels have been boiled, prepare a baking sheet by sprinkling it liberally with cornmeal. You can not top the bagels with cheese, seeds or herbs before baking. Top with seeds etc then arrange the bagels on the prepared baking sheet and put them in the oven. (I did mine in two batches). Let them bake for about 25 minutes, then remove from the oven, turn them over and put them back in the oven to finish baking for about 5 minutes more. This will help to prevent flat-bottomed bagels.Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks. Do not attempt to cut them until they are cool. Hot bagels slice abominably and you'll end up with a wadded mass of bagel pulp. Don't do it.

Makes 12-15 bagels.

Black and White Blondies

To give them a proper name they are really Black Cherry and White Chocolate Amaretto Blondies. When Myriam of ‘Once Upon A Tart’ announced another Brownie Babe event my first thought was unsurprisingly brownies. However, I decided I wanted to do something a little different this time (having participated in event no.1) and as blondies are also allowed I decided to create my own recipe based on them instead.

I decided to make the blondies extra blonde by melting in some white chocolate and to use whole black cherries which I hoped would provide a great colour contrast. During the making of the blondies I hit upon the idea of creating a brownie base layer before adding the cherries and the blondie batter, to give them a sort of baseline. As I was in an experimental mood I also added some amaretto to the blondie batter, in the hope it would complement the cherries.

The blondies are quite dense, fudgey and gooey when cooked with a slightly crisp/crackly surface and a velvety smooth texture with a slight chew. Due to the white chocolate, and their general nature, the blondies are quite sweet, but biting into a chunk of juicy cherry helps to cleanse the pallet and prevents them from being too rich or sweet. I was really pleased with how the cherries looked against the background of the blondie and I had arranged them so that there was a whole cherry included inside each square. To my annoyance I forgot to remove the stones from the cherries and didn’t realise until after they were in the oven. However, I think this helped them to retain their shape when cooked. I took these into work for the Monday Munchers and people didn’t seem to mind the stones. I think they rather liked spitting them out or nibbling around the outsides. I was a little disappointed at how the base brownie layer turned out very thin. It didn’t have quite the effect I was hoping for but its still there as a sort of outline. Next time I will use more of the batter for a thicker brownie layer.

Overall these are really tasty little treats and the flavours all worked together well. I think they actually taste better the next day, after sitting in the fridge which allows them to become even fudgeier and allows the flavours of the cherries and amaretto to develop more.

You have until 17th of August to submit your brownies or blondies to Myriam’s Brownie Babe event.

Black Cherry and White Chocolate Amaretto Blondies
Ingredients
100g butter
80g white chocolate
150g caster sugar
2 eggs
75g plain flour
16 black cherries, fresh or tinned.
2 tsp Amaretto
2 heaped tsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp hot water
1 tbsp additional plain flour

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Line the base and sides of a 20cm/8 inch tin with greaseproof paper.
Melt the butter and white chocolate together in a small bowl, either in the microwave or over a pan of boiling water.
Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl until thick, creamy and paler in colour.
Stir in the melted chocolate mixture before sifting over the flour and folding in gently.
In a separate smaller bowl, dissolved the cocoa powder in the hot water until smooth. Transfer around ¼ of the white chocolate mixture into the smaller bowl containing the cocoa powder. Mix until well incorporated and add the additional tbsp of flour to thicken slightly.
Pour the dark chocolate batter evenly over the base of the prepared tin.
Arrange the cherries at regular intervals over the surface of the dark chocolate mixture.
Beat the Amaretto into the white chocolate batter and pour over the top of the cherries, ensuring they all get evenly covered.
Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes until golden brown on top and a skewer inserted comes out relatively clean. (You may want to cover the tin with foil for the last 10 minutes of baking if it’s browning too much).
Allow to cool in the tin before removing and placing in the fridge for 30 minutes before slicing into squares.
Makes 16 squares.

Baby Banana Cakes with Chocolate Fudge Swirls

It was Sunday afternoon and I had spent most of the previous week planning what to make to take to work for the Monday Munchers. I decided to make mini banana muffins and to top them with a chocolate icing. Only it didn’t go quite as planned and I had to have a quick rethink. I didn’t have any mini muffin cases but I had looked at Asda’s online shopping page and found that they sold them. Perfect, I thought, I can go there Sunday morning and buy some. So off I went, only to find that not only did they not have any, but they don’t even stock them in that store, despite it being a big one. It seems not everything listed online is available in the shops. Grrr. I walked home again and even called in an a little Co-op in the hope they might have them, but no such luck.

Upon arriving home I decided I would just have to make something else instead. But after flicking through a few recipe books nothing else appealed. I had had my heart set on the mini banana muffins. I had even bought a banana and let it go brown and mushy specially. I decided to improvise and to make the banana cake recipe anyway but to cook it in a swiss roll tin and then stamp out circles of cake and sandwich them together using the icing I had planned as a topping. I wasn’t sure how it would work out and I didn’t have the right sized tin. I spread the batter out to a reasonable thickness that just covered ¾ of the tin and hoped for the best. (I used a 30x40cm tin but only used about a 30x30cm surface).

It cooked surprisingly evenly and remained lovely and moist. I was able to stamp out a good number of cake circles using a biscuit cutter and sandwiched them together with my favourite chocolate icing. It’s a recipe by Nigella Lawson that I have adapted slightly. It produces a really rich, chocolaty icing that remains soft and fudgey in texture.

These baby banana cakes are very cute and absolutely delicious. Moist, light and flavoursome with the rich, fudgey, intensely chocolaty icing complementing the banana flavour wonderfully. Being so small they are easy to hold and only about two bites big, meaning that even people on a diet feel they can have one and that people not on a diet can eat two or three without feeling guilty. They’re only small afterall! I think these turned out looking better than the mini muffins would have done. They were joyfully received at work and were pronounced “the best yet.” The little diamond shaped ones you can see in the photo are the off cuts from stamping out the circles, I used them too as I thought they were equally attractive.

If you have any of the icing leftover it’s wonderful for cakes, spreading on bread instead of Nutella or melting and pouring over ice cream, pancakes or waffles. If you double the recipe, you will have enough to fill and completely cover an 8inch/20cm layer cake.

Baby Banana Cakes with Chocolate Fudge Swirls

For the cake
1 large overripe banana
75g butter or margarine
60g soft brown sugar
150g self raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
1 egg
40ml vegetable oil

For the chocolate icing
35g butter
75g dark chocolate
½ tbsp runny honey
140g icing sugar
50ml double cream
½ tsp vanilla

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Get a dry, non stick swiss roll tin ready.
Peel the banana and mash with a fork until very soft and mushy.
Put the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and cream together until light and fluffy. Beat in the banana mush, followed by the egg and vanilla until just combined.
Sift in the flour, cinnamon and baking powder and work everything together in a folding motion. I find a spatula works best.
Finally add the oil and beat until well incorporated.
Pour the cake mixture into the tin, and smooth out into an even layer.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown and springy when pressed.
Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling wrack.

Meanwhile, prepare the icing.
Brake the chocolate into pieces and add to a pan along with the butter and honey.
Melt gently over a low heat, stirring when it all starts melting. Remove from the heat when a few lumps still remain and allow to cool slightly while finishing melting.
Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl and stir in the vanilla.
Sift a few tablespoons of icing into the chocolate and beat/stir together until all the sugar has been incorporated. Repeat until all the sugar has been used up. The icing will be quite thick at this point.
Then pour over the double cream and beat until all combined and glossy.
Leave to cool and thicken while preparing the rest of the cake.

Take the cooled cake and place on a clean work surface.
Stamp out small discs of cake using a 4cm cutter. Try to get as many circles out of the cake as you can.
Match the cake discs into pairs and place back on the cooling wrack.
Once the icing has cooled to room temperature, place into a piping bag complete with a small star nozzle.
Pipe a swirl of icing onto the underside of one of the discs in each pair. Top with the second cake circle so that it faces top side up.
Pipe another swirl of chocolate icing on top of the sandwiched cakes. Repeat with rest of the cakes.
Makes 14 baby sandwiched cakes or 28 discs.

Big Bunch of Bananas, Banana Choc Chip Cake

This last week I have been attempting to eat the entire contents of my freezer. I finish university today and will be leaving my accommodation tomorrow and moving up to Leeds where I will start a year long work placement as part of my course. I was aware that I had a few frozen bananas lurking in the freezer from when I picked up a bag of around 20 small very overripe bananas for a few pence. I thought I had eaten my way through most of them but after a short rummage I had unearthed nine bananas. Nine!

I couldn’t bear to throw them away and so I decided to make my favourite recipe for banana choc chip cake, and throwing caution to the wind, I decided to use all the bananas and to reduce the oil and butter content to compensate for the extra moistness. I also reduced the sugar as I thought the bananas would add a lot of natural sweetness themselves.

The batter turned out well and I eagerly placed the cake in the oven. The aroma as it baked was unbelievable. Really intensely bananary (hardly surprising really). Once baked I waited impatiently for it to cool down before slicing into it. The cake was incredibly soft, light and fluffy with a good scattering of dark chocolate chips. The flavour of the bananas is really intense and makes the cake very moist. The mixed spice really helps to bring out the flavour and adds a subtle spicy overtone. It’s not too sweet as biting into the occasional bitter dark chocolate morsel helps to balance it out. If you like bananas, this is the cake for you.

Bountiful Banana Choc Chip Cake
Ingredients
9 small or 4 – 5 large overripe bananas
50g softened butter
125g soft brown sugar
80g dark chocolate
300g self raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
2 eggs
70ml vegetable oil

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Butter and line a deep 8inch square tin with baking paper.
Peel the bananas, place into a bowl and mash with a fork until very soft and mushy.
Put the butter and sugar into a separate mixing bowl and cream them together until light and fluffy.
Chop the chocolate into small chunks and beat into the butter and sugar mixture along with the banana mush.
Sift in the flour, mixed spice and baking powder.
Gently work the flour into the mix using a spatula, it will become quick thick.
Finally stir in the oil until well incorporated.
Pour the cake mixture into the tin and bake for 45-50 minutes until well-risen and golden brown.
The middle should spring back when pressed and a skewer should come out clean, when inserted into the thickest part of the cake.
Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

Immediately after baking the cake can be a little greasy but it seems to become reincorporated into the cake after a few hours.

I love this cake eaten just as it is. It’s so full of flavour that I don’t think it needs an icing. However, for a really indulgent treat its great gently heated and served with custard or even chocolate or caramel sauce. Replacing the chocolate with pecans or walnuts also works well.

3D Cupcakes

No I have not lost my marbles. Even though these cupcakes are in 3 dimension, that’s not what the 3D stands for. It really stands for the name I have given to these cupcakes – Dark and Delicious Devil’s food cupcakes. You see, it makes sense really!

At the moment I am on exam leave, preparing for my exams later on this month. I have spent the last 5 days practically glued to my desk, preparing my revision cards for my first exam, Food Technology. Yesterday I finally finished making the cards - all 81 of them! Now it’s just a matter of learning them, but it felt such a relief to be able to move away from my desk, at least I can take the cards and go and revise out in the sunshine now. In order to celebrate I allocated this morning to baking a Devil’s Food Cake that I have been meaning to try out for some time. I found a very yummy looking recipe on Martha Stewart’s website. Her cake involved 3 large layers, which I thought was a bit much just for myself (and no doubt Chris) to eat and so I halved the recipe and turned them into cupcakes instead.

I have never made a Devil’s Food Cake before and was quite amazed at the amount of liquid which went into the batter. The recipe, although fairly straightforward does involves a few bowls and a very precise way of mixing the ingredients together, but this just added to the fun of making them.

Once baked the cakes had lovely even surfaces and were a very deep chocolaty brown colour. On lifting the cakes out of the tin, they felt a little heavy and dense but I need not have been concerned. The cakes do have quite a close texture but they are in no way heavy. They had a very moist, damp, almost silky texture to them that was simply delicious. I topped them with a rich glossy icing of my own creation which worked very well. I think I can safely say this cake recipe has become my new favourite chocolate cake. I intend to try out the whole three layered cake as soon as a suitable opportunity arises.

Dark and Delicious Devil’s Food Cupcakes
(Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart)
For the cakes
150g butter
35g cocoa powder
60ml boiling water
100ml milk
170g plain flour
¾ tsp baking powder
100g caster sugar
25g dark soft brown sugar
2 eggs

For the icing
100ml milk
110g dark chocolate (I used 70%)
10g butter
1½ tbsp icing sugar

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a muffin tin with 12 paper cases.
Measure the boiling water into a jug and whisk in the cocoa powder until no lumps remain. Then stir in the milk and set to one side.
Weigh out the flour and baking powder into a small bowl and set to one side.
In a large bowl, cream the butter with an electric whisk until pale and smooth. Then beat in the two sugars until fluffy.
Beat the eggs into the butter mixture one at a time. Don’t worry of the mixture looks a little curdled, it will come together when you add the flour. Add one third of the flour mixture to the batter and whisk until well incorporated. Then add a third of the cocoa liquid.
Repeat this process until all the flour and cocoa has been used. The batter should be smooth, glossy and fairly runny.
Divide between the 12 paper cases, you can add more batter to each case then you might normally as they do not rise that much.
Bake for 20 minutes, they should spring back when gently pressed.
Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool.
Makes 12 cakes.

To make the icing, add the milk, butter and chocolate to a small saucepan.
Stir over a low heat until everything is melted and glossy looking. Then bring the mixture to a gentle boil and whisk using a small hand whisk until thickened.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool for half an hour.
When still slightly warm, beat in the icing sugar until thick and glossy.
Place the icing into a piping bag and swirl over the tops of the cooled cakes.

Thank You Brownies

As you may be aware it was my birthday a few days ago and I received lots of lovely gifts including an amazing 9 cookery books! One of them was Green & Blacks book of Chocolate Recipes, a truly indulgent book that was given to me by Chris. Chris is a complete chocoholic and he said he would be more than happy to taste test anything I made from it. Hint, hint.

So as a thank you, I made him some chocolate brownies and took them round to him the following evening. He was very happy and ate not one but four, yes FOUR within the hour! That must have resulted in a serious sugar rush, but he said they were too good to resist.

These brownies are the sweet, gooey-chewy kind rather than the light spongy kind, which in my option make for a more decedent brownie. They are light, very moist with a crisp surface coating and a gooey chocolate interior. The recipe I used wasn’t actually from the Green & Blacks book as I originally intended as their brownies used mashed cherries and I wasn’t sure what to replace them with as Chris doesn’t like anything with his chocolate, expect perhaps more chocolate. So instead I adapted a recipe by Sarah Beeny from an old episode of the F-Word. The original can be viewed here.

These brownies are also my contribution to ‘Brownie Babe’ event hosted by Myriam from Once Upon A Tart. They may not look anything special, but they taste yummy and I have found that keeping things simple can give the best results.

Gooey-Chewy Choc Chip Brownies

Ingredients
115g butter
25g dark chocolate
115g plain flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 eggs
40g white chocolate
230g caster sugar

Method
Preheat the oven to 170C. Line the base and sides of an 8inch/20cm square tin with foil. Do this by cutting a big piece and carefully pushing it into the tin and up the sides. Then brush the base with a little oil to prevent the batter from sticking.
Break the dark chocolate into pieces and add to a large bowl along with the butter. Heat in the microwave until the butter has melted, stir until the chocolate has all melted in.
Add the flour, cocoa powder and sugar to the warm butter mixture and beat until smooth and thick.
Then beat the eggs in, one at a time. Chop the white chocolate into little chunks and fold into the batter.
Pour into the lines tin and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until a crust has formed but the middle is still very soft.
Allow to cool for 15 minutes in the tin before lifting onto a chopping board with the help from the foil.
Cut into 12 segments whilst still warm and lift the whole lot onto a cooling wrack. Serve warm or allow to cool completely before storing.
Makes 12

Update: The complete round-up of everyones enteries can be viewed here.

Crackly Topped Chocolate Meringue Cookies

I went hunting for a recipe to use up 4 leftover egg whites and happened upon a recipe for chocolate meringue cookies on another bloggers site, which amazingly required 4 egg whites. I happily set to work, tweaking the recipe to incorporate the ingredients I had available to me.

The result is one of the most intriguing and yet addictive cookies I have ever made. When cooked, they have a very cracked sugary surface, which yields a dense, fudgey chocolate brownie like center, with the sticky chew of soft centered meringues. The little pockets of dark chocolate and nutty pecans add to the whole texture/flavour eating experience. If you have some egg whites left over, I strongly suggest you make these! Plus, they contain no flour making them gluten free.

Crackly Topped Chocolate Meringue Cookies
(Recipe adapted from ‘Anne’s Food’ Blog)

Ingredients
60g cocoa powder
300g icing sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large egg whites
50g pecans
35g dark chocolate

Method
Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 175C.
Sieve the cocoa powder and icing sugar together into a small bowl.
Chop the pecans and dark chocolate into small pieces and set to one side.
Put the egg whites into a large bowl along with the salt and vanilla.
Whisk the egg whites until just before they start to form stiff peaks.
Then, whilst still whisking, add the cocoa powder, icing sugar mix a spoonful at a time until a glossy, thick batter has been achieved.
Stir through the pecans and chocolate.
Dollop smallish tablespoonfuls of batter onto the baking trays, allowing lots of room for them to spread during cooking. I only fitted 5 on each sheet and had to cook the cookies in two batches.
Bake for 12 minutes until they have a shiny appearance and a crazily cracked surface.
Drag the cookies, still on their greaseproof paper, onto cooling wracks and allow to completely cool before removing from the paper.
Makes around 17 fairly large cookies.

Easter Bars

I decided to make a few chocolate cakes to give to Chris for Easter. He is a complete chocoholic and so I wanted to make these bars as chocolaty as possible. I made a basic chocolate sponge mixture and then added some white chocolate that I had chopped into tiny pieces. I decided to bake the cakes in small silicone bar moulds that a friend has lent me. They make great single serving cakes, which are easy to hold and bite into. Plus, it means you are free to experiment with the toppings compared to if you had make one large standard cake. If you do not have bar moulds I am sure that fairy cakes or muffins would work just as well.

After baking the bars, I made two different toppings with which to ice them. One was a chocolate fudge and the other was melted mint chocolate with an icing feather effect. I was really pleased with how the cakes turned out, light and fluffy and very easy to release from the mould thanks to the flexibility of the silicone.

White Choc Chip Chocolate Bars

Ingredients
90g self raising flour
20g cocoa powder
110g caster sugar
110g butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
½ tbsp milk
35g white chocolate

Method
Preheat the oven to 165C. Place two silicone bar moulds onto a baking tray and set to one side.
Place all of the ingredients (except the milk and white chocolate) into a mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk until combined.
Add the milk and beat until light and fluffy.
Chop up the white chocolate into little pieces and gently fold into the cake batter.
Using a teaspoon, drop two spoonfuls of mixture into each cavity of the mould and gently smooth out. You want the mixture to fill just over half of each cavity.
Bake them in the oven for 20 minutes until risen and firm when pressed in the centre.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes before releasing from the moulds and allowing to cool on a cooling wrack.
Decorate with chosen toppings and eat!
Makes 16 cake bars.

Chocolate Fudge Topping
This topping is a thick, sticky chocolaty mixture that is very addictive.
Ingredients
50g dark chocolate
20g butter
1 tbsp milk
2 tbsp icing sugar

Method
Break the chocolate into pieces and place it into a small microwavable bowl along with the butter and milk.
Heat in the microwave until melted and smooth.
Sieve in the icing sugar and beat with a spatula until thick and glossy.
Spread thickly over the cakes whist still warm and allow to set before eating.
Makes enough icing to cover 8-9 cakes.


Mint Chocolate and Feather Effect Topping
The addition of mint to this topping adds an interesting twist to the cakes but is not so strong as to overpower the taste of the chocolate. Adding an icing feather effect on top makes them that little bit more attractive but it is rather fiddly and they would taste just as good without it. I used a few squares of left over lindt mint chocolate that I had in the cupboard but I am sure adding a few drops of peppermint extract to plain chocolate would work just as well.
Ingredients
40g mint chocolate
½ tbsp water
3 tbsp icing sugar

Method
Mix the icing sugar and water together until smooth and fairy thick. You may need to add a little extra water or icing sugar to get the right consistency.
Pour the icing into a piping bag complete with a small round nozzle.
Melt the chocolate in a small microwavable bowl until molten.
Spread the melted chocolate over the cakes and immediately pipe thin lines of icing going horizontally across the cakes.
Using a cocktail stick or thin skewer drag the tip vertically through the chocolate and icing.
Make three drags for each cake, alternating the direction of ‘up’ or ‘down’ to create the feather effect. Leave to dry.Makes enough icing to cover 8 cakes.