Showing posts with label Chocolate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chocolate. Show all posts

Tuesday, 19 August 2014

I was in chocolate heaven when I tried this BROWNIE PUDDING! SOoOoO gooey and chocolaty that are sure to make your eyeballs roll back into your head!!! Creepy?! Well I say that in a good sense. Its that good. Its such an easy recipe to follow and you can whip up the batter in just few mins. The pudding has a hard top that cracks when you break into it and a gooey gooey moist center. 


You Will Need:
3/4th Cup Unsweetened Coco Powder
1/2 Cup Plain Flour
2 Cups Sugar
4 Large Eggs, room temperature
Seeds form 1 Vanilla Bean
1 Cup Unsalted Butter

The Baking:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a 1.5l baking dish. Melt the butter and bring it to room temperature. 

Sift together flour and cocoa powder in bowl and set aside. In another bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until pale yellow for 5 - 10 mins. Then add the vanilla and coco flour mixture and mix until combined. Then pour in the melted butter and mix until just combined. 


Then pour the mixture into the prepared dish and place the dish into another baking tray and fill water half way. Bake in a preheated oven till cake tester comes out with wet crumbs and the top is hard. and its risen a little. Remove the baking dish from the baking pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature. 

Recipe Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker!
Happy Baking!
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Thursday, 24 July 2014

I have never been fully satisfied with the look of any of my cakes until I baked this one. Nigella's Quadruple CHOCOLATE LOAF CAKE, well it was supposed to be Quadruple but I guess its not since I stopped with the loaf. This cake had this beautiful deep crack right in the middle and it formed a lovely crust, such a beauty. The loaf alone was not overly sweet and am sure going to drench it with more chocolate next time I make it. And its such a simple cake I tell you. No techniques, no methodology to be followed. Just have all your ingredients at room temperature and you are good to go. Its one bowl, One mix and straight to the oven. 

Nigella made the cake over the top with mixing, drenching and covering the loaf cake with loads of chocolate. But I wanted to keep it a little simple (this time, only this time) and served warm slices of the cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Hey that does not mean I going to stop there. Quadruple, am coming for you pretty soon!!!

Makes 10 - 12 Slices approx. 

You Will Need:

200g Cups of Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
50g Cocoa Powder
275g Caster Sugar
175g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
80ml Sour Cream
125ml Boiling Water

The Baking:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 175c

Step 2: Line a 21cm x 11cm, 7.5 cm (mine was a little smaller than her's I guess) deep loaf tin with foil and slightly grease the inside of the tin. Leave a little foil hanging outside the loaf tin, so that it will be easy to lift the cake off the tin.

Step 3: Place all the ingredients except water in a large bowl and whisk everything together using a wooden spoon. Then pour in the recently boiled water (must be hot, not cool) and whisk till everything is combined. 

 Note: You can substitute sour cream with plain hung yogurt.

 OR

Place all the ingredients except water in a food processor and blitz till smooth. The pour in the boiling water and blitz once again. 

Step 4: Scrap down the batter into the loaf tin, it will be a little liquid batter. place it the preheated oven and bake for about an hour (mine was done somewhere between 30 - 40 mins). You will know when its done when you can smell cake in the air, a straight deep crack on top of the cake and when a cake tester inserted comes out with wet crumbs and NOT CLEAN. 

Step 5: Once done take out and place the cake on a cooling rack. DO NOT REMOVE the cake from the tin. Let the cake cool completely then remove the cake from the tin and slice as desired with a serrated knife.

Do check out my post on Tips For Cake Baking!

Happy Baking!
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Friday, 16 May 2014

One word....Sinful!!! Am not a fan of peanuts and I never liked anything made out of peanuts. This has been on my to bake list for way too long, ever since I saw Rachel Allen bake these on her show Rachel Allen Bake! They looked amazing. The only thing that held me back from baking this was Peanut Butter. This Blondie uses a lot of peanut butter. So am back home and as usual my dear bro was demanding I bake something for him. I wanted to bake something fast yet delish, and peanut butter is one of his favourites. So I decided to go on with this recipe but I had my doubts till the end. The moment it came out of the oven and went into my mouth.....I had no words. It was amazing amazing! Moist and nutty and my god I cursed myself for not trying these for long. 
My 2.5 years niece who is a picky eater loved the crust. I found couple of squares with no crust at all ;) And the white chocolate was a kick! I actually doubled this recipe and later regretted...I must have tripled it!!!

Recipe Source : Rachel Allen's Bake!
Makes 16 Squares (depends on the size you cut it)

You Will Need:

 125g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
100g Unsalted Butter, Room temperature
150g Crunchy Peanut Butter, Room Temperature
175g Caster Sugar
1 Large Egg
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
75g White Chocolate, Chopped
1/2 Cup Milk

 The Baking:

 Preheat oven at 180c.

 In a bowl sift together plain flour and baking powder. Keep aside.

 In a large bowl cream the butter and peanut butter together till smooth and fluffy. 

 Note: I strongly recommend crunchy peanut butter. You will get an amazing crust from it. You can also use smooth peanut butter, but not so good crust.

 Since its first time I tasted peanut butter it was salty and my batter was salty. But when baked the sweet was just perfect. So don't be alarmed if the batter tastes salty. 

 Add the sugar gradually and beat till incorporated. Break in an egg and add the vanilla extract. Beat well.

 Gradually fold in the flour mixture alternating with milk. The batter will be thick. Finally mix in the chopped chocolate.

 Grease an 8 x 8 inch baking tin and spread the batter evenly. Bake for 25 - 30 mins or until the top is nice golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let it cool in the pan before taking it out and cutting it. 

Note: Once cooled, cling wrap the uncut Blondie and store till next day. This will make the cake firm and less crumbs. I know its hard to wait but you have to. 

To make need squares, use a serrated knife. Saw through the crust and cut straight down into the cake. Wipe the blade clean before slicing the next one.

Serve hot with a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream drizzled with caramel or serve them on their own at room temperature. 
Happy Baking!

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Friday, 8 November 2013

MONSTER CHOCOLATE COOKIES...these were my Diwali treat to my family this year, they just loved it :) These cookies were monstrous I tell you, chewy and sooooooooo chocolaty!!! There is no way you can have two in a row, unless you are the Chocolate whisperer. These are just plain ones but of course you can add loads of chocolate chips, white or dark. It's a very easy cookies dough recipe which can be made in no time. 




The secret to a THICK COOKIE is COLD DOUGH. You need to chill this dough for at least 2 hrs and that's mandatory. Moreover this dough is really sticky. Its going to stick to your hands and you can't even think about multitasking. I kept the unbaked batch chilled throughout baking, so that they don't spread too much. So make balls of dough and place it on a lined baking tray and let it chill before you pop it into the oven. If the dough is too soft and sticky to work with then just chill for 30 mins.  And never place the cookie dough too close when baking. They are sure to spread and merge with each other. Give an inch & a half space when placing them and bake in a preheated oven, never cold. 


I actually used demerara sugar, yup in cookies and my cookies were a little crunchy because of the demerara sugar and chewy too. So the type of sugar you use gives different texture to the cookies. Demerara making it crunchy and brown sugar making it soft. The size and thickness of the cookie is also your choice, make them in any size you want.  


Make 16 Large Cookies

You Will Need:

1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter at Room Temperature
1/2 Cup Caster Sugar
1/2 Cup Light / Dark Brown Sugar
1 Whole Egg
1/2 Cup + 2 tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
A Cup of Plain Flour
A tsp of Baking Soda
A tsp of Vanilla Extract
2 tbsp Milk
Pinch of Salt

The Baking:

Cream the butter and both the sugar together until soft and fluffy for about 5 mins. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for another 2 mins. 

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Now add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients tbsp at a time you don't want a flour storm around you ;) Beat well until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated. It is a very thick dough hence the milk to loosen it up a bit. So pour in the milk and beat one last time before covering it with a cling film and chill for AT-LEAST 2 hrs or overnight. 

Now preheat the oven at 180c. Meanwhile line a baking tray with parchment paper or foil (Shiny Side Up). With an ice cream scoop or with a tbsp, take 2 tbsp of dough and roll it into a ball and place them on the baking tray an inch & a half apart. 

Bake for 12 - 15 mins, it may look undone and very soft but remember it will harden a little once cooled. 
Cool over a wire rack and store them in tight containers and they will stay fresh upto a week. 

Recipe Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction 

Also check out my old post on Martha Stewart's Tips on Baking Cookies, for tips on for baking No - Fail cookie.  
Happy Baking!


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Tuesday, 22 October 2013

MOLTEN CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE...or simply "Half Baked Cake" like how my husband calls it ;) I don't even have to tell you about this sinful dessert. They are just yum eaten hot or at room temperature, with dollop of cream and berries or like how I prefer it just plain on its own with little dusting of powdered sugar. 

There is really nothing much technique in baking these babies. Just "half bake" your cake and its a lava cake.... :p So the baking time actually varies on how gooey you want the center to be. The first cake I attempted was way too gooey for me. I baked it for 15 mins exactly and it was too runny for me. Then the second one went a little longer and it was just perfect. Now coming to the chocolate that's best for this recipe is any chocolate you like to eat. It need not be expensive dark chocolate, any good quality chocolate will do. I used Cadbury Dairy Milk Roasted Almonds for this. So any chocolate you love to eat, but remember the taste, colour and flavour will differ from what chocolate goes in. 

The recipe is for 3 lava cakes and this recipe can be easily doubled or tripled. 




Makes 3 Lava Cakes



You Will Need:

200g of Dark Chocolate, Broken
100g of Unsalted Butter, Cubed
65g of Powdered Sugar
50g of Plain Floura
2 Whole Eggs
2 Egg Yolks
Tsp of Vanilla Extract

The Cooking:

Place the chocolates and butter in a heat proof bowl and melt in a microwave or over a double boiler / water bath. Give it a good whisk once and add the powdered / icing sugar. You don't really need a whisk or a mixer to do this just with a spatula stir the sugar till well incorporated.

Now before adding the eggs let the mixture cool for a few mins, just in case the eggs scramble if the mixture is too hot. Then add the vanilla and one egg at a time whisking well to ensure the eggs get well incorporated. Now fold in the flour and transfer them to a greased ramekin.

Place them in a preheated oven at 180c and bake for 15 - 20 mins, that's depending on how gooey you want them to be. Let the cake rest for few mins before being inverted on to a plate. 

IMPORTANT POINTERS:

  • For a cheat's version, fill the ramekin halfway and place a chocolate square in the center and top off with batter. The chocolate melts when baking promising a runny center every time. 
  • Check the blog post Tips On Baking for pointers on cake baking.
Happy Baking!
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Monday, 6 May 2013

The two brownie squares in the picture are the last two left from the whole lot. I had my family visiting me and I made these to celebrate my father-in-law’s birthday and these just flew away in no time. COOKIE DOUGH BROWNIE…Deliciously chewy brownie topped with lusciously creamy sweet cookie dough. What more can be done to these additive desert.

My husband and I always prefer plain cakes or cakes with less frosting, never the one with too much frosting. Hence I have topped the brownie with a thin layer of cookie dough. Cookie dough is really sweet and the brownie is rich on its own, so I would recommend a thin layer of cookie dough. But if you want it super rich then I have mentioned another cookie dough recipe which will make a thick thick layer of cookie dough*** Also the cookie dough is egg-less  so you don’t have to worry about eating raw eggs. Brownies always tastes better the next day, so bake it a day before and It is difficult to resist but do wait for a day. Brownies eaten immediately after its baked and brownie eaten the next day varies so much in taste.

Recipe Adapted from Recipegirl.com




You Will Need:

For the Brownie:

4 Oz or 113g of Dark Chocolate or Any of your Favourite Chocolate ( I use Cadbury all the time)
230g or A Cup of Unsalted Butter
2 Cups of Packed Demerara Sugar / Light Brown Sugar
4 Large Eggs
A Cup of Plain Flour
2 tsp of vanilla Extract
Pinch of Salt

For the Cookie Dough (Egg-less):

170g or 3/4 Cup of Unsalted Butter
1 1/2 Cups of Plain Flour
3/4 Cup of Loosely Demerara Sugar / Light Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup of Caster Sugar
3 tbsp of Milk
1 1/2 tsp of Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Salt
1 1/2 Cups of Mini Chocolate Chips (Optional, I didn't use it)

Richer Version of Cookie Dough***

A cup of Unsalted Butter
A cup of Light Brown Sugar
A Cup of Caster Sugar
1/4 Cup of Milk
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 3/4 Cup + 2 tbsp Plain Flour
2 Cups of Mini Chocolate Chips

The Baking:

Brownie:

Melt together the butter and chocolate on a double boiler. Make sure the simmering water don’t touch the bottom of the chocolate bowl, if it does then the chocolate will curdle.

Preheat oven at 160 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 inch baking tray. I usually line the baking tray with foil and brush a little butter in the bottom and sides of the lined baking tray. This makes it easy to lift the brownie out of the baking tray and easy cleaning too.

Remove the bowl carefully from the double boiler once the chocolate and butter has melted, and let it cool down.

In a bowl, crack the eggs and whisk well with the sugar and salt. Add the vanilla and beat again. Once the chocolate is completely cooled, pour it gently into the egg batter and mix slowly until well combined. Sift in the flour and fold until well combined. If the batter is too thick, thin it our with a tbsp of milk.

Pour this into the baking tray and bake for 30 –35 mins or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out with few wet crumbs.

The brownie needs to cool well before you spread the cookie dough on top, warm brownie will make the cookie dough to melt. Let it to cool in its tray for an hour or 2.

Cookie Dough:

In a bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer for a min. Now beat in both the sugar, vanilla and milk. Beat until everything is well combines and fluffy.

Now beat in the flour and salt (sifted) until just combined and finally stir in the chocolate chips.

Now spread the cookie dough evenly over the cooled brownie and refrigerate until set. This makes the brownie to firm up more making it less crumbly.

Cut into neat squares and serve with melted chocolate drizzled on top or any other way you like them.

IMPORTANT POINTERS:
  • The melted chocolate and butter must be allowed to cool completely, if you add it hot to the eggs then the eggs will scramble.
  • Read my Tips on Cake Baking post for more tips and pointers on baking.
  • And also my Tips For Perfect Brownies post for more tips and pointers on baking brownie.
  • I also have a post Do the Math, which will help you to easily convert cups to grams to ounces.

Happy Baking!
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Thursday, 14 February 2013

CHOCOLATE FUDGE BROWNIES...This is melt in your mouth moment. Its so chocolaty and so dense that it give such a sugar rush. Brownies are very easy to bake. All you need to care is the selection of the chocolate that goes in. Make sure the chocolate is of good quality. Select a chocolate which you like to eat as it is. Its going to be chocolate all the way in your brownie so its wise to chose a chocolate that you like. 

Brownies are of three types. FUDGE BROWNIES are so dense, very moist and intensely chocolaty. CHEWY BROWNIES are moist but not as gooey as the fudge ones. And CAKEY BROWNIES are moist crumbed and slightly fluffy in texture like a cake. My pick is always the fudge.

You Will Need:

1/2 Cup (113g) Unsalted Butter
1/2 Cup (115g) Semi Sweet Dark Chocolate
4 Large Eggs
200g of Super Fine Sugar
50g of Demerara Sugar
100g Roughly Chopped Walnuts 
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
85g of Plain Flour
Pinch of Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt

The Baking

Double Boiler (Stock Image)


On a double boiler melt the butter and chocolate. Take off heat and let it come to room temperature. In a bowl whisk together eggs and sugar till the sugar has dissolved. Now add the vanilla and melted chocolate. Once they are well incorporated sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and fold the batter till there are no lumps. Line a baking pan with foil and evenly pour in the batter. Preheat the oven at 170c and bake for 15 - 20min or till a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 


Important Pointers:
  • Line the baking tray with aluminium foil leaving extra over the sides of the tray so that you can easily lift the brownie out of the tray. Or line with a parchment paper.
  • For the double boiler simmer boiling water in a pot and place a bowl over it. Make sure the bowl does not touch the simmering water. The chocolate will curdle if the water touches the bowl of chocolate. 
  • The melted chocolate and butter mixture should be cooled before adding to the eggs. If hot there are chances the eggs will scramble. 
  • Demerara sugar is optional, white sugar is fine. 
  • Refer Baking Tips for tips on perfect brownies. 
Happy Baking!


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Friday, 11 January 2013

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES originated in the United States of America. It gets its name from the semi sweet chocolate chips, the distinguishing ingredient used in the cookie dough. The chocolate chip cookies were developed by Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1930 at the Toll House in Whitman, Massachusetts. Wakefield is said to have been baking chocolate cookies when the baking chocolate ran out. So she substituted broken pieces of semi - sweet chocolate in the dough thinking it would melt and mix while baking.  But they did not and chocolate chip cookies were born. And it has become an all time favorite among all age groups. 

To me cookies are quick bakes. Simple ingredients nothing fancy, easy to follow steps and less baking time too. More importantly the first batch of cookies you bake are always there to munch on while you get on with the next batch ;) This recipe will make two dozen cookies. Of course, it may differ with the size and thickness you want them to be. The first time I baked these I made them a little thin. The second time I made those they were bigger and fatter, I got only 18 from the same quantity of dough. So, its totally up to you.




You Will Need:

Unsalted Butter - 113gms
Flour - 150gms
Caster Sugar - 70gms
Brown Sugar - 85gms
Eggs - 2
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Vanilla Extract - 1 1/2 tsp
Pinch of salt
Semi - Sweet Chocolate Chips - 100gms (More or less its your choice)

The Baking:

First make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. In a large bowl, beat the butter till its soft and fluffy. Then add the sugar and beat until its all well combined. Crack the egg and beat them well one at a time. Make sure all the eggs are completely beaten into the batter. Add the vanilla extract and mix well. At this stage the sugar would have completely dissolved into the batter. Sift in the flour two or three spoons at a time and gently fold in. Make sure there are no lumps or flour left unmixed. All the chocolate chips and mix one last time. 

 Line a baking try with parchment paper or gently butter the surface of the tray. Make lemon sized balls out of the dough and place them on the tray slightly flattening the top with spoon or your fingers. Bake in a preheated oven at 190c for 10 - 15 mins. Once they are done and come off the baking tray, let them cool on a wire rack. It can be stored in an airtight container for a week.

Important Pointers:
  • Salted butter can also be used, but its always better to have the salt amount in our control.
  • This recipe uses a combination of white and brown sugar. If white sugar is more in proportion then the cookies will be crisp. If the brown sugar is more in proportion then cookie will be soft chewy. Adjust this proportion according to your likes.
  • The amount of chocolate chips you add to the cookie is your choice. You can add more if you want lots of chips in it or even less. 
  • Chill the dough for 30 mins so that it will be easy to work with. 
  • The baking time will vary with the size and thickness of your cookie. So make sure all are equal sized. 

Happy Baking!
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