Chocolate – The Pudding Queen

Double White Chocolate Raspberry Cake

January 28, 2023January 28, 2023 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

Birthday time again, so I was looking around for a new cake recipe. I don’t know why I bother, really, as the birthday boy would be quite happy with the ultimate chocolate cake, every time (see The Ultimate-Chocolate Cake). Still, I like to try something new and I thought that a lighter cake would be a good idea since it would be served up after a substantial birthday dinner! I came across this recipe on line, which seemed to be a form of angel food cake (a very light sponge) but with added white chocolate. I’ve never made an angel food cake before so it was the excuse to indulge in buying a new piece of kit-an Angel Food Cake pan!

The central pillar is to ensure that the centre of the cake cooks through, too.

Angel food cake is supposed to be made in an ungreased pan, since the cake, sort of, crawls up the side of the pan during baking. It is cooled in the pan, balanced upside down, perched on supports-the central tube is actually higher than the rim of the pan, to facilitate this cooling. My recipe said to grease and flour the pan before using, which maybe should have set off alarm bells. What should I do-follow the perceived wisdom for angel food, or follow the recipe? In the end I followed the recipe, considering that the addition of the chocolate might have affected the process.

Pan greased with butter, then dusted with flour and excess tapped out

Cake

1 cup/250 g/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp (plus extra to grease the pan)

3½ cups/440 g all-purpose (plain) flour, plus extra for the tin

2½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

½ tsp salt

125 g/4 oz white chocolate, chopped

½ cup just-boiled water

1½ cups/375 g granulated sugar

6 large egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

1½ cups/375 ml buttermilk, at room temperature*

*due to absence of buttermilk, this was prepared by adding whole milk to lemon juice (1 tbsp lemon to 1 cup milk) and leaving to stand.

Heat the oven to 300˚F/150˚C/Gas 1-2

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Use a balloon whisk to ensure it is well-mixed. Set aside.

Place the chocolate into a small bowl. Add the just-boiled water and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Set aside.

Place the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. I used my temperamental stand mixer for this, as it was easier when I wanted to add ingredients, and it is quite a long process of mixing. I just had to be careful to keep scraping down the sides of my bowl to ensure good mixing.

Reduce the mixer speed to medium and then add egg whites, one at a time, beating to ensure each is fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Reduce the mixer speed once more. Add the flour, in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk. Mix until just incorporated. Mix in the white chocolate/water mixture.

Flour, buttermilk and white chocolate mix added

Transfer to the prepared tin. Bake until a skewer comes out clean (75-80 minutes). Remove from oven and leave to cool, in the tin on a rack, for 10 minutes, then invert onto the rack to cool completely.

The recipe stated that the cake would take 75-80 minutes, but mine was still sticky at that point. I reckon it was 90 minutes-plus before my wooden skewer tester came out clean. The greasing of the pan seems to have been necessary, I lost a patch of cake from the top when I released it from the tin. Oh well, one slice will have extra-deep frosting!

I have to admit that at this stage I was not at all sure about this cake and was hunting out my recipe for Blackout Cake as a backup (see Bit of a Mash-Up-Blackout Fudge Cake). The sponge in this cake is very easy to make and is a lovely dark moist chocolate cake which would work with all sorts of frosting. In the end I decided to stick with the cake I’d made and cross fingers…

Cream cheese frosting

100 g/3.5 g white chocolate, chopped

½ cup/125 g/1 stick unsalted butter, softened.

8 oz/250 g/1 block cream cheese, softened

1 cup/155 g icing (powdered/confectioners) sugar

½ cup/125 ml whipping (heavy/double) cream

Melt the chocolate, in a bain-marie or in the microwave. the recipe suggests the microwave, but I’ve always thought that white chocolate is particularly easy to overheat, so I went with the bain-marie. Set aside.

Incidentally, I think that the quality of the chocolate for this cake does matter a lot. Normally I buy Lindt white chocolate, but this can be difficult to find occasionally, and so it proved this time. I managed to get one bar, but needed more, and ended up with a budget ‘store’s own’ alternative. This did not melt well at all. I’m glad that I saved the Lindt bar for the frosting and used the other for the cake.

Beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the icing sugar and mix to combine, then add the melted chocolate and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the cake.

When ready, beat the cream until it forms stiff peaks. Stir a spoonful into the cream cheese mixture, then fold in the remaining cream.

To assemble

Cut the cake in half, through the equator. Place the base on a cake board or serving plate.

I recently also acquired a cake turntable, along with some icing equipment, offset spatulas and that sort of thing. I always say that I’m no great shakes at icing, so maybe I could improve. Anyway, the cake didn’t look bad when cut in half, although it maybe had a slightly ‘bready’ texture. I glued the bottom down onto a cake board and placed this on the turntable, ready for the next stage.

Add ½ cup/125 ml seedless raspberry jam to the base and spread evenly.

Add ¾ cup of the cream cheese frosting over the jam layer. Place the top half of the cake on top.

I decided to try a ‘crumb coat’ for the frosting. This is a thin layer of frosting that covers the outside the cake and is then left to ‘set’ in the fridge. The idea is that any crumbs from the cake surface are trapped in this layer and then the top coat will be pristine and crumb-free. Well, I gave it a go:

I popped the cake (on the turntable!) into the fridge for 15 minutes, but it didn’t seem to set over much. Maybe this is not the best frosting to achieve the smooth surface? Anyhow, I also realised (later) that I’d neglected to do another stage, which was to wrap each layer in plastic film and place them into the freezer for 15 minutes, to help stabilize the layers.

So I ended up with some sort of frosting-definitely not perfect, though- and I had a bit of a go with piping, too. I think my career making wedding cakes had better go on the back burner.

As for the cake? Well, I think it was a bit bready in texture, and it really wasn’t the airy cake I was expecting. I don’t know if that was a function of the cheaper chocolate, or the fact that it took quite a lot longer to bake than expected. It really needs to come out of the fridge for a couple of hours in advance of serving, too, but the cream cheese in the frosting means that it has to be stored refrigerated. On the plus side, its a big cake and will provide 16 servings with no problems. I don’t think I’d make it again, though, but you live and learn.

Chocolate-chip Banana Bread

January 25, 2023January 22, 2023 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

So Mark is putting up with the fruit loaves but he did ask if I could find one with chocolate in it. No sooner said than done! Chocolate and bananas are good bedfellows, anyway, so it should be good. I found a recipe, on line-another of those UK recipes in grams only (I really recommend an electric scale, they are quite cheap really), using self-raising flour and golden caster sugar. I’ve never seen golden caster sugar here, but I had some brilliant yellow sugar in the pantry and I thought that might work ok. We would see.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

140 g self-raising flour

140 g brilliant yellow sugar*

140 g softened unsalted butter

1 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

3 ripe bananas, mashed

2 large eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

100 g chocolate chips**

*recipe states golden caster sugar

**I used milk chocolate chips

My butter was a bit hard, so I used an old trick to soften it. I filled a glass jug with boiling water, tipped it out again and then popped in my wrapped butter. It worked perfectly.

Preheat the oven to 350˚F/ 325 ˚F convection/180˚C/160 ˚C fan/Gas 4

Grease a suitable loaf tin -900g/2lb. Line with parchment, if preferred.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This was probably a bit harder to do as the sugar, although fine, wasn’t the superfine state of caster sugar. It did go well in the end, though.

Mix the vanilla with the eggs. Add the eggs to the butter mixture, in portions, beating after each addition.

Fold in the flour, baking powder, salt and bananas. Fold in most of the chocolate chips, reserving a handful. I found a silicone spatula to be the perfect tool for this.

Transfer to the prepared loaf tin. Smooth the top and sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips.

Bake, 50 minutes, or until well-risen and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Keep an eye on it as mine baked quite fast and was ready about 45 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

A tasty bread, with pieces of banana and the chocolate chips still discrete in the texture. Mark likes his buttered. It would also work well with semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips, for a more chocolatey hit. The brilliant yellow sugar seemed to have been a good alternative for golden caster sugar, providing a very slight molasses taste. Ordinary sugar would probably work, too, although the colour of the bread would be paler.

White Chocolate Mousse Pavlova

January 12, 2023 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

I love meringue, possibly it’s my favourite dessert type. Sweet but relatively light (well, a bit sugar-laden but very little fat!), I particularly like the crispy type rather than the one you get on top of lemon meringue pie. With a little care, they are easy to make, too. As for how to serve it, then the Pavlova-filled with whipped cream and fruit-is a great option.

There is another way. I’ve had this recipe in my files for over 20 years, and it is probably that long since I last made it, but I thought it would make a suitable dessert for New Year’s Eve. We do not do much for New Year, usually just staying home. In fact we are both out for the count well before midnight-it is again 20 years since we last saw in the New Year. Still, I like to make a bit of an effort with a nice dinner and dessert. This time, I thought, I’d resurrect the white chocolate mousse pavlova.

The original recipe, which I will give here, makes a big ‘party dessert’. For this occasion, I halved the meringue recipe and made only 1/3rd of the white chocolate mousse and it still turned out huge. It does, however, slip down very easily and will last to the next day, if kept refrigerated and if any remains!

Meringue

350 g (175 g)/ 12 oz (6 oz) caster sugar or fine granulated sugar*

6 (3) egg whites

2 tsp (1 tsp) cornstarch/cornflour

2 tsp (1 tsp) vinegar

*North American granulated sugar will work if no caster sugar is available

Note: figures in italics and in brackets in tables are what I used. Others are as per the original recipe.

To make meringue:

Preheat the oven to 300˚F/150˚C/Gas 2.

Separate the eggs, being sure to avoid any yolk remaining in the whites. Retain the yolks and set aside. Make sure that the bowl that will hold the egg whites is completely fat-free. Wipe out with a little lemon juice or vinegar on a paper towel if in any doubt.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff and standing in peaks. Add half of the sugar and whisk until glossy. Fold in the remaining sugar, the vinegar and the cornstarch/cornflour using a metal spoon. Note that the vinegar used can be any sort. I have used malt vinegar in the past but this time used white vinegar. I would not recommend red wine or balsamic.

Draw a circle on a piece of baking parchment on a baking tray. I made mine 8 inch (drawn around a tea plate) but a larger circle would be advisable if making the larger amount. Alternatively, grease and line the base of a sandwich cake tin or a springform cake tin. Pile the meringue into the circle, or the cake tin, using a metal spoon. Aim to have the rim slightly higher-piled than the centre. Note that using a cake tin will give you a slightly tidier-looking meringue.

Transfer to the middle shelf of the oven. Bake for 30-45 minutes, until the meringue starts to brown. Turn off the oven when the meringue has browned slightly, then leave the meringue in the cooling oven for as long as possible, or overnight.

*Baked meringue. Store in an air-tight container until ready to assemble.*

Mousse

300 g (100 g)/10.5 oz (3.5 oz) white chocolate, in pieces

65 g (22 g)/2.4 oz (0.8 oz)/ about 3 tbsp (1 tbsp) unsalted butter

4 (1.5) egg yolks

375 ml (125 ml)/12 fl oz (4 fl oz)/1½ cup (½ cup) whipping cream/double cream/heavy cream

3 tbsp (1 tbsp) caster/fine granulated sugar

Note: figures in italics and in brackets in tables are what I used. Others are as per the original recipe.

Take four (two) of the left-over egg yolks and beat lightly.

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. Beat in the butter, in pieces until mixed. Add the four (about 1.5 of the) lightly-beaten egg yolks and stir. Leave to one side to cool slightly.

Whip the cream with the sugar until it just holds its shape. Fold the cream into the chocolate mixture and transfer to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Chocolate Sauce

125 g/4 oz dark or milk chocolate, as preferred

30 g /1 oz butter

3 tbsp brandy (optional)

3 tbsp water (increase to ¼ cup, if not using brandy)

Whipping/double/heavy cream and sugar, to taste

This chocolate sauce makes a nice accompaniment to the pavlova, just in case there is not enough chocolate and cream already! I used some Belgian milk chocolate chips I had in my cupboard, no brandy and no additional sugar.

In a small, heavy-based saucepan, over a low heat, melt the chocolate, butter, brandy (if using) and water until completely melted and glossy. Allow to cool slightly, then mix in some cream to taste (plus sugar, if liked). Transfer to a jug and place in the refrigerator to cool completely.

To assemble:

Preferably assemble the pavlova on the day of serving. It can be kept in the refrigerator until required. Place the meringue on a suitable serving plate. Pile the white chocolate mousse into the centre of the meringue. Decorate as liked, e.g. chocolate curls, dusting with cocoa powder and icing sugar, additional whipped cream, Maltezers or other confectionery. Serve with the chocolate sauce.

I added sweetened whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder and icing sugar to mine.

*Served-it looks a mess but is delicious!*

No-Bake Chocolate Biscuit Cake

December 31, 2022 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

This sort of refrigerator cake has always seemed like a good idea to me, and a no-bake dessert felt like a good option for a Christmas dinner dessert, so I thought I’d have a go. It’s extremely rich so a little goes a very long way, indeed. You really have to like chocolate, and the use of 70% dark chocolate made for a very intense taste. It might actually be a bit lighter using a good quality milk chocolate, or half-and-half light and dark chocolates. I think I’d try that if I made it again.

It is a UK recipe and uses golden syrup, nearly impossible to find around here, so I substituted liquid honey. It seemed to work.

The recipe does not specify the exact fruits and nuts to use, so I chose a mixture of dried sweetened cranberries, chopped dried apricots, sultana raisins and halved glace cherries. I used pieces of pecan nuts for the nut element. I increased the fruit amount and decreased the biscuit weight-the original recipe called for 450 g of digestive biscuits (I believe that is the weight of a full packet of McVities’ Digestives-the best ones to use but, unfortunately, not to be found hereabouts at the moment). The Peek Freans ones I did use were 300 g in the packet.

340 g/12 oz/3 sticks butter

240 g/8.5 oz/¾ cup golden syrup or honey

120 g/4 oz dark chocolate

60 g/ 2 oz cocoa powder

300 g/9.5 oz digestive biscuits, crumbled

60 g/2 oz nuts (pecans, walnuts or pistachios)

1 tsp vanilla extract

200 g/6.5 oz mixed dried fruits (e.g. sultana raisins, dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots, halved glace cherries, dried figs)

300 g/11 oz dark chocolate

4 tbsp butter

Whipping cream

Grease and line an 8-inch springform pan

Crush the biscuits to bite-sized pieces, set aside. Chop nuts and fruit as needed. Set aside.

*Mixed sultanas and cranberries (bowl), pecans, glace cherries and apricots (board)*

Place the butter and syrup/honey into a heavy-based saucepan and heat gently until melted. Do not boil.

Remove from heat and add the cocoa powder, dark chocolate (in pieces) and vanilla extract. Stir until a smooth, glossy mixture.

Add the fruit, nuts and biscuits and mix well. Place the mixture into the prepared pan and press down. Leave to cool, then refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Remove from the fridge and release from the pan. Remove any parchment paper. Place the cake on a rack above a sheet of foil.

Melt the dark chocolate in a bowl over simmering water (a ‘bain-marie’, if you are feeling posh). When melted, pour the warm chocolate over the cake on the rack and cover the whole thing smoothly, allow to cool.

I hit an issue here, my melting chocolate started to granulate rather than melting smoothly. I probably had the temperature of the bain-marie too high. Now, you can save this sort of thing by removing from the heat and adding a few chunks of normal cold chocolate, which brings down the temperature enough to re-liquify the whole, but I’d used all of the chocolate I had left. So, I decided to make a sort of fudge icing by adding chunks of butter and beating well as the butter melted, then adding a small amount of whipping cream until I had a smooth, fudgy icing to apply to the cake. Allow to cool

Transfer the cake to a suitable plate. Decorate as liked, e.g. chocolate curls, chocolate sticks, maltezers, white chocolate drizzle, dusting with icing sugar, etc. I chose a drizzle of melted white chocolate, followed by a dusting with icing sugar.

*The completed cake-I never pretend to being good at cake decoration!*

It’s a substantial beast and you won’t want a huge piece, especially after Christmas dinner!

The cake will keep in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Best eaten after it has been allowed to rest at room temperature for a while. Good with a simple while chocolate sauce made by melting white chocolate and mixing in whipping cream to the required consistency, then cooling.

Dark and Moist-Chocolate Bundt Cake

November 22, 2022November 15, 2022 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

So, I had the urge to bake. It happens, in fact much more regularly than I allow-the problem being that we eat the results! Anyhow, I’d come across a recipe for a dark chocolate bundt cake. This appealed because I have a bundt tin that I scarcely use. Also, it’s a chocolate cake so, duh! I think it was uploaded by Bulk Barn but the twist was that it used something called Black Cocoa Powder-what is that?

I’ve come across Dutch-processed cocoa powder before, although not, of course, on our supermarket shelves. I’d never been sure what it meant and using just the standard cocoa powder seemed to work fine. Now there’s a whole new cocoa powder not to find! Anyhow, I looked into it and it seems that Dutch-processing is treating the cocoa with alkali to reduce the acidity, whilst the black cocoa is super-Dutch-processed. It is, apparently, very dark and provides the almost black colouration to things like Oreo cookies. Some say that it isn’t very chocolately (a bit of an own goal, there, I’d say) so most recipes seem to use a mixture of black and standard cocoa powders. Incidentally Hershey sell a ‘dark cocoa powder’, which seems to be part-way between black and Dutch-processed, so that might be a substitute and more widely available. I tend to avoid anything with Hershey written on it, since I think that their bar chocolate is frankly tasteless, though I suppose that even they can’t mess up cocoa powder!

One thing to be aware of, when using the black cocoa, is that it doesn’t work with baking soda; the reduction in acidity caused by the ultra-Dutch-processing means that soda won’t generate the raising needed when a good proportion of the dry materials in the cake are black cocoa. It needs baking powder. Something to keep in mind if ever using black cocoa in place of standard cocoa.

In my case, I had the other issue, no black cocoa, just the bog-standard stuff. Would that work? I had everything else needed (or at least could generate it-buttermilk!). I decided to give it a go.

313 g/2½ cups all-purpose (plain) flour, sifted

65 g/¾ cup cocoa powder, sifted *

1½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)**

½ tsp salt

250 g/1¼ cups light brown sugar, packed

100 g/½ cup fine white sugar (caster sugar)

1 cup/237 ml vegetable oil (I used Becel, a mix of canola and sunflower oil)

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature***

½ cup/125 ml hot coffee, made with 2 tsp espresso coffee powder in hot water****

*I used standard cocoa powder. Original recipe called for 43 g/½ cup black cocoa powder and 22 g/¼ cup standard cocoa powder

** if using the dark cocoa, reduce to ½ tsp soda

**buttermilk made by adding 1 tbsp lemon juice to 250 ml (1 cup) 2% milk and leaving to stand for 15 minutes

****original recipe called for hot brewed coffee, but I usually use espresso in chocolate recipes. It doesn’t taste of coffee but does intensify the chocolate flavor.

Preheat oven to 350˚F/180˚C /Gas 4

Grease the bunt pan, taking care to get in all the nooks and crannies. Add a little cocoa powder to the tin and tap it out, allowing the powder to cover the greased sides. If using the black cocoa powder, then use this here too.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Mix well-I like to use a balloon whisk to get a good mixture. Set aside.

In a stand mixer (if you have one), add the sugars and the oil. Beat well to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until thick and light in colour. Add the vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients, in two additions, beating on low until combined. Add the buttermilk, with beating and then the hot coffee. Mix on low until the batter is smooth. Keep the sides of the bowl scraped down and make sure that there is no material adhering to the bottom of the bowl.

Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Tap the pan on the counter to release any air bubbles, then place in the preheated oven.

Bake 50-55 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, on a rack, before turning out to cool completely.

It would work nicely with a buttercream-type frosting, a chocolate or caramel sauce, fruit coulis, whipped cream- lots of possibilities. I decided to make a simple chocolate glace icing to drizzle over. I make 50 ml of a cocoa/coffee mixture by dissolving 2 tsp cocoa and 1 tsp espresso powder in 50 ml hot water. I didn’t measure the icing sugar, just put some in a bowl and added the cocoa mix, mixing it with a balloon whisk until the consistency seemed right. I lined the counter under the cooling rack with a sheet of foil and then poured the icing over, allowing it to drizzle down both sides of the ring.

Well, it certainly worked well. The cake was dark, moist and tasty. The icing was chocolatey. I served it with a dollop of cream, but I suspect it would go nicely with ice cream or even custard, as a pudding. I expect it will get moister over the next couple of days, too-cakes made with oil do tend to get ‘stickier’ and even more luscious with time.

I wonder what it’s like with black cocoa? I shall have to see if I can find some!

Ooh la, la-French Chocolate Cake

March 20, 2022March 23, 2022 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

This dense chocolate cake, using very little flour, is apparently typical of a French home-made cake. Well, I don’t know about that, as I’ve never experienced a French home. However it is a very easy to make cake, very chocolate-ty and rich. A little goes a long way.

I basically knocked this up when I thought the other cake I was baking was a bit of a failure, and I didn’t want to disappoint guests. As it was, both worked out well in the end. I did happen to have a large bag of chocolate chips in the cupboard. I think using better quality dark chocolate would make it even more intense, though. It’s a very short ingredients list:

The Recipe:

150g/5 oz caster sugar

275 g/10 oz dark (plain) chocolate (semi-sweet, bittersweet, 70% etc.)

175 g/6 oz/1½ sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces

10 ml/2 tsp vanilla extract/essence

5 eggs, separated

40 g/1½ oz/¼ cup all-purpose (plain) flour, sifted

Pinch of salt

Icing sugar (powdered/confectioner’s sugar) for dusting

Preheat the oven to 325˚F/160˚C/Gas 3.

Butter a suitable cake tin and sprinkle with sugar (I used icing sugar), tap out the excess. The original recipe suggests a 9½ inch springform tin, which I don’t have, so I used one of my 8 inch loose-bottom sandwich tins. It will make a slightly thicker cake and need a slightly longer cooking time. The loose-bottom is important to get the cake our of the tin, I wouldn’t recommend a solid-bottomed tin for this.

Remove 3 tbsp sugar from the 150 g of sugar and set aside. Place the remainder of the sugar, the butter and the chocolate into a heavy-based saucepan and cook over a low heat until all the contents are melted. Mix together well.

*A note on the pan-either choose a fairly large pan since the cake will be mixed in it, later, or be prepared to transfer the chocolate mix to a larger bowl!*

Remove from the heat and allow to cool, slightly. Beat the egg yolks, one at a time, into the chocolate mix, then stir in the flour.

Beat the egg whites with the salt until soft peaks form. Add the reserved sugar then beat until stiff and glossy. Beat one third of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remainder. This is where you might have to transfer the mixture to a larger bowl-I did!

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, tap gently to remove any bubbles then place in the oven.

Bake 35-45 minutes until well-risen and the top springs back when lightly touched. Transfer to a wire rack. Remove the sides of the tin (I stood my tin on a tin of baked beans from the pantry and pushed the sides down very gently) and then leave the cake to cool on the base of the cake tin.

The cake will firm up as it cools, and the top will probably sink a little, this is normal. Once cool, remove the base of the tin and place on a serving plate. Dust the top with icing sugar.

It might look a little plain but it is an intensely chocolately cake and a little goes a long way. The inside is dense and a little gooey. It stored well in an airtight tin at room temperature for several days. It is lovely served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (or both, if you are feeling expansive!). A little chocolate or caramel sauce would work too, or even some fruit coulis.

Just for Fun-Chocolate Cupcakes

June 18, 2021June 11, 2021 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

Sometimes I just get the urge to make something, something of a ‘cakey’ nature. I didn’t want to go over the top, because we end up eating what I make, and it’s not doing the waistline any good at all. I thought that a little batch of cupcakes might hit the spot, not too many that we’d be overwhelmed, but enough of a challenge to be worth making.

I call it a challenge because I don’t make them often and I’ve had some issues in the past with sunken tops and dried out middles. Could I improve? Also, the only thing I had in for flavouring would be cocoa, would it be moist enough?

So I found a recipe offering super-moist cupcakes, using oil in place of butter or margarine. I’ve had lots of luck with full-sized ‘sticky’ chocolate cake using this method, so that was encouraging. It made only 14 cupcakes, so not over-facing. Sounded like a plan.

The recipe (makes 14 or so cup cakes):

¾ cup/94 g all-purpose (plain) flour spooned and flattened

½ cup/41 g unsweetened cocoa powder*

¾ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

¼ tsp salt

2 large eggs at room temperature

½ cup /100 g granulated sugar

½ cup /100 g packed light brown sugar

⅓ cup /80 ml vegetable, sunflower or canola oil**

2 tsp vanilla extract (essence)

½ cup/125 ml buttermilk *** at room temperature

* the recipe specifies not to use Dutch-process cocoa, a nice surprise as this seems to be the default cocoa in most North American recipes, although I have never seen it in our shops. I used Fry’s.
** I used sunflower oil
*** as usual, I don’t keep buttermilk in, but 1 tsp of lemon juice in a measuring jug, made up to half a cup with milk and left to stand after mixing did the trick. The recipe suggests whole milk but I used 2% (semi-skimmed) and it worked fine.

Preheat the oven to 350˚F/180˚C/Gas 4. Note that this has a very short baking time so I chose not to use convection (fan). Line muffin tins with cupcake liners and set aside.

Place the flour, cocoa, salt. baking powder and soda into a large bowl-it can help to sift the cocoa powder into the bowl. Whisk together to mix well.

In a second bowl, place the eggs, both sugars, oil and vanilla extract. whisk until combined.

Pour half of the egg mixture into the flour mixture. Add half of the buttercream. Whisk for a few seconds. It will be very thick.

Add the remainder of the egg mixture and the rest of the buttermilk. Whisk until just combined, but do not overstir. The batter will be quite runny.

Pour or spoon the batter into the liners. Only fill to half-way to prevent spilling over the sides, or the centres sinking. I found a ladle useful for this part.

Transfer the muffin trays to the oven for 18-21 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tins. Once the tins can be handled safely, remove the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing:

American cupcakes are usually presented with a mound of buttercream icing, piled as high as the depth of the cake. It looks nice but, I think, can be a little sickly. Certainly the cupcakes I remember from children’s parties back in my childhood never had so much icing. I remember the height of sophistication was the ‘butterfly cake’ or the ‘top hat’, where a small circle of cake was cut out of the top of the cupcake, the resulting hole filled with buttercream and the removed cake piece either plonked back on top of the icing (top hat) or cut into half and set like wings into the icing (butterfly). I actually considered doing this, but in the end opted for just putting it on top. I think I have mentioned that icing is not my strong point, and I don’t own any icing nozzles or a bag.

I chose therefore to make half the amount of icing suggested by the original recipe. It’s almost a diet cupcake!

½ cup/125 g/1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature

¼ cup/20 g unsweetened cocoa powder*

1¾ cup/272 g icing sugar (powdered sugar, confectioner’s sugar)

1½ tbsp milk or cream (or as required)

Pinch salt

1 tsp vanilla extract (essence)

* this time it can be either standard or Dutch-process cocoa

This called for the stand mixer and the hand mixer, as previously, unless you really don’t mind standing there for 5 minutes or more, mixing buttercream.

Beat the butter until soft and fluffy. In the meantime combine the sugar, cocoa and salt in a bowl.

Add the cocoa mixture, vanilla and milk to the butter and mix on low speed. Note that, as usual, I had to swap to the hand mixer for this part as it is very stiff. Add a little more milk if necessary.

Using the stand mixer, continue to beat on medium speed for 5 minutes or more. Occasionally scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure that everything is combined. This makes a very light buttercream. Note that if you want to do the ‘big’ frosting, using an icing bag, double the above recipe.

Ice the cupcakes. I did this by placing a blob of buttercream on each one and then spreading it using a palette knife. Decorate as liked (vermicelli, choc chips, a cherry, whatever takes your fancy or you have in).

The cake is certainly nice and moist, the buttercream is chocolately and light, and the amount, I think, is enough without being overfacing. A nice, simple recipe with a good result-can’t beat that!

Ooey Gooey-Raisin Brownies

March 13, 2021 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

The urge to bake came upon me, today, even though I expect to have quite a bit to do next week. I was looking through one of my baking books and came across a recipe that I quite fancied having a go at-Raisin Brownies. Chocolate-flavoured things are always popular round here, and I thought that the addition of a few raisins would make a nice change. The recipe also included chopped walnuts, which I think would be good, but I didn’t have any in. Instead I had in some semi-sweet chocolate chunks. I’d meant to buy chocolate chips, but was in a rush and picked up the wrong packet. Still, even bigger bits of chocolate, what’s not to like? I decided to sub in the chocolate for the walnuts.

The Recipe:

115 g/ 4 oz/ ½ cup butter or margarine **

50 g/2 oz/½ cocoa powder

2 eggs

225 g/8 oz/ generous 1 cup caster sugar ***

5 ml/1 tsp vanilla extract/essence

40 g/1½ oz/⅓ cup plain flour

75 g/3 oz/generous ½ cup raisins

100 g/4 oz chocolate chunks *

* replace with 75 g/3 oz/¾ chopped walnuts

** I used unsalted butter
*** I used standard granulated sugar (American)

Preheat the oven to 350˚F/180˚C/Gas 4. Grease and line a square baking tin with baking parchment. Ideally 8 x 8 inch, but I used a 9 x 9 inch tin.

Melt the butter gently, either in a saucepan or in a bowl in the microwave, at 30 second intervals. When melted stir in the cocoa powder and set aside.

Cocoa powder

Butter and cocoa mix

Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract into a bowl. Beat until light.

Eggs, sugar and vanilla

Beaten

Add the cocoa mixture to the egg mixture, stir to blend.

Sift over the flour and fold in. Add the raisins and chocolate chunks (or walnuts) and stir, then place the batter into the square tin, spread it out and place in the oven.

Sift over flour

folded in flour

ready to bake

Bake, in the centre of the oven, 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.

Baked

Cut into bars and remove from the tin. If liked, dust with icing sugar to serve. The brownies should be soft and moist. These ones were very soft and gooey, perhaps due to the chocolate chunks instead of the walnuts, but certainly tasted ok. I don’t think they would travel well, but then, they probably won’t last that long, here.

Celebration Time-Double Chocolate Devil’s Food Cake

January 30, 2021 Sandra Dennis2 Comments

Birthday time again. I think I’ve mentioned before how a birthday cake, in this house, usually means chocolate! Well, that was the request, but I wanted to try something new. So I went on an internet search for ‘birthday cake’, and came up with a modified Devil’s Food Cake recipe.

This intrigued me. ‘Devil’s Food Cake’ is such an evocative name and not one that I am used to, particularly coming from the UK. I wasn’t really sure what the difference would be, but I was keen to find out. Anyhow, a chocolate cake with buttercream icing would definitely fit the bill. The original recipe called for three different colours of buttercream icing; vanilla (white), chocolate, and strawberry (pink). I decided to stick with two, dark chocolate and white chocolate. Can’t overdo the chocolate in this house.

So, the cake required buttermilk. I’ve come across this before but have failed miserably to ever find such a thing in my local supermarket (if it’s there, I don’t know where to look!), so I’ve tended to shy away from recipes needing this. This time, I really wanted to make the cake, so I thought I’d see if there is a substitute. Well, it turns out that you can make a substitute by adding lemon juice, or white vinegar, to ordinary milk and letting it stand for a while-who knew? I suppose some people must have, but not me! That solved a big problem, anyway.

It also asked for Dutch-process cocoa. I don’t have that, either, and have never seen it in the baking section. It’s maybe a bit sophisticated for rural Nova Scotia. Reading up, it seems that standard cocoa powder (in my case, Fry’s) can be substituted, 1 for 1. It might taste slightly different, apparently, but being used to this type of cocoa, I doubted we would notice.

Finally, it needed dark brown sugar. I knew I had this in the pantry, but when I came to use it, I found it had hardened. I could regenerate it, but not in time for my baking. Instead I substituted some light brown sugar and some yellow sugar (I bought the later by mistake, meaning to replenish my light brown sugar supply!). The resulting cake might not be as dark as it could be, but it seemed to work. Amazingly, I found out later that I could have ‘made’ my own dark brown sugar, by mixing 1 cup of white sugar with two tablespoons of molasses, and mixing well in a food processor or blender. I was learning all sorts of new things with this bake.

Cake ingredients. Yes, it does include mayonnaise!

The Recipe:
Cake

170 g/ ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
460 g/ 2 cups packed dark brown sugar*
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs, at room temperature
220 g/ 1 ¾ cups plain (all-purpose) flour
90 g/ ¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder**
1 ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
360 ml/ 1 ½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature ***
59 ml/ ¼ cup mayonnaise

*I used a mixture of light soft brown sugar and yellow sugar, due to a dark brown sugar disaster.

**I used standard cocoa powder

*** I made my buttermilk by adding 1 tbsp lemon juice to 1 cup of 2% milk and letting it stand for 10 minutes or so. Apparently distilled white vinegar, the same volume, would also work.

Preheat the oven to 350F/325 F convection/180 C/160 C fan/ gas 4. Grease and line 3 x 8 inch cake tins.

Beat the brown sugar, butter and vanilla together for about 5 minutes, until lighter and slightly increased in volume. A stand mixer, if you have one, can be really helpful for this recipe, but be sure to keep the sides of the bowl well scraped down.

Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure each one is incorporated before adding the next.

1 egg added

3 eggs added

Sift all of the dry ingredients into a separate bowl. Whisk to mix well.

Add dry ingredients and buttermilk to the creamed mixture in alternate aliquots, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.

Fold the mayonnaise into the mixture using a whisk.

Divide equally between the three prepared tins, smooth the tops and place in the oven. Bake until a skewer comes out barely clean.

Time in oven should be around 30 minutes or so. If not using a convection (fan) oven, rotate the tins after about 20 minutes to ensure an even bake. When ready, remove from the oven and leave to cool, in the tins, for about 20 minutes.

Turn out of the tins, remove the baking parchment and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Well, the cakes looked pretty dark, despite not using the right sugar or the right cocoa powder. They smelled pretty good, too. Now for the icing.

I’d always thought that buttercream was buttercream, but apparently I was wrong. There are lots of different buttercreams, and this recipe was for a swiss meringue buttercream, apparently smoother and maybe a tad less sweet than the normal kind. It uses egg whites (hence meringue), but they are heated so it is pretty safe and keeps well. It would be a new experience. It also called for superfine (or caster) sugar, rather than granulated or icing sugar. Again, I was out of luck in the supermarket for this ingredient.

I’ve always said that North American granulated sugar is closer in texture to caster sugar than the sort of granulated sugar we used to get in the UK, but it isn’t quite there. Apparently, for this recipe, it is important to use the right sugar type, as it dissolves quicker than standard granulated, making a smoother icing. Oh well, back to the do-it-yourself! A couple of cups of standard granulated sugar in my blender, on the ‘grind’ setting, and 30 seconds later I had my superfine sugar.

Icing

5 large fresh egg whites
250 g/ 1 ¼ cup superfine (caster) sugar
340 g/1 ½ cups/3 sticks unsalted butter, softened, cut into cubes
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
200 g/ 7 oz good quality dark chocolate (70%)
100 g/ 3.5 oz good quality white chocolate

Wipe out the mixing bowl (use the one from your stand mixer, if you have one) with kitchen towel wetted with a little lemon juice, to remove any grease. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water (not boiling). Add the egg whites and sugar and whisk, constantly and gently, until the sugar completely dissolves and the egg whites are hot. If you have a thermometer, the temperature can reach 160 F/ 71 C.

Take the bowl from the heat and whip, using a whisk attachment to your hand mixer or stand mixer, until the meringue is thick, glossy and the bowl feels neutral to the touch. A stand mixer is best as this can take 10 minutes or longer.

Whipping the meringue

Swap to the beater attachments, set the mixer to low speed and start to add the cubed butter, a little at a time. Mix until fully incorporated and silky smooth in texture. If the mixture curdles, keep beating and it will become smooth. Add the vanilla and salt and keep beating until well combined.

Melt the two chocolates, separately, over simmering water. Allow to cool.

Separate the icing into 1/3 and 2/3. Add the cooled, melted white chocolate to the smaller portion and the dark chocolate to the larger portion, mix until fully combined.

Wrap the cake layers in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 15 minutes. When chilled, remove from the freezer, unwrap and place the bottom layer on a cake board or serving plate (n.b., the cake can be ‘stuck’ to the platter with a little dob of icing, if needed.) Spread a layer of dark chocolate icing over the cake and place the next layer on top. Cover this layer with all of the white chocolate icing. Top with the final cake layer.

Bottom layer

Middle layer

Top layer

Cover the sides and top with the remainder of the dark chocolate icing, smoothing to taste (I’m no fancy icer, as you can see by my effort!).

I placed my cake in the fridge to ensure it all set, but it will keep well at room temperature, in an air-tight container, for a few days. It sliced really well, too, keeping its form nicely. I can happily say, this one was a hit!

It’s a big cake, though. Good for a party (when we can have them again), big appetites or, in our case, slicing and freezing. It’s the best way to stop eating the whole lot at once!

The Ultimate-Chocolate Cake

November 3, 2020 Sandra Dennis3 Comments

This is my husband’s favourite cake, usually made for his birthday. It’s another of those old UK recipes, cut out of a magazine 30 years ago, and it can be a bit complicated; well, long-winded really. That’s because first you have to make the cake, then fill it, then ice and decorate. It’s not huge, but a little goes a very long way because it is very rich. It’s definitely a special occasion cake. Mark likens it to a ‘Thornton’s Continental’ chocolate truffle (UK readers will recognise the comparison), but on a much bigger scale!

I’ve made it successfully over here, but it does require a few tweaks. Firstly, there is the golden syrup problem, it’s not always available round here. Liquid honey made a suitable substitute. Next, double cream as a concept seems unknown here. The best I can do is 35% whipping cream, but it works. In the US, heavy cream would substitute. Then there is the chocolate thing. It needs both white chocolate and dark (plain) chocolate and I actually also like to incorporate some milk chocolate. For this to work well it should be proper dessert chocolate and not the baking stuff or Hershey. I usually use Lindt, Cadbury’s etc., or one of the supermarket’s own brand Belgian-style bars.

The Recipe:

The Cake
275 g/10 oz self-raising flour
45 ml/ 3 tbsp cocoa powder
5 ml/1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
175 g/ 6 oz caster sugar*
45 ml/ 3 tbsp golden syrup**
2 eggs, size 3***
200 ml/7 fl oz sunflower oil****
200 ml/7 fl oz milk
The Filling
175 g/ 6 oz white chocolate
150 ml/1/4 pt double cream, warmed*****
10 ml/2 tsp instant coffee granules, dissolved in 15 ml/1 tbsp water
50 g/2 oz milk or plain (dark) chocolate, chopped
The Icing
50 g/ 2 oz unsalted butter
75 g / 3 oz plain (dark) chocolate
175 g/6 oz icing (powdered or confectioner’s) sugar
45 ml/3 tbsp milk

* standard granulated sugar will work in North America
** use the same quantity of liquid honey if golden syrup is not available
*** I used 2 large eggs
**** I used Becel, a mix of sunflower and canola oils
***** 35% whipping cream or heavy cream can substitute.

Grease and line a cake tin with parchment or greaseproof paper. The recipe calls for a 6″ square tin, which I don’t have. I’ve always used my 7″ loose-bottomed round tin and it works well. Preheat the oven to 325 F/160 C/gas 3.

Sift all of the dry cake ingredients into a large bowl. Beat in the syrup, eggs, oil and milk, until well-mixed (about 2 minutes beating). Transfer to the lined tin and bake for 40-50 minutes. The cake is done when a skewer into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven, turn out of the tin and cool completely on a wire rack.

When cool, use a large serrated knife to cut, horizontally, a 1 inch thick layer of cake, and reserve. Use a small, sharp knife to cut out a square (for a square cake) or circle at about 1 1/2 inches from the edge of the cake. Don’t cut right down to the bottom. Use a spoon to remove the cake crumbs from the centre and discard*.

* can be used to make chocolate truffles or served as chocolate pudding, with custard!

Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. When melted, remove from the heat and beat in the cream and coffee. Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes. When cool, beat with a balloon whisk for at least 5 minutes, until the filling becomes thick and pale. Quickly stir in the chocolate pieces, then spoon the cream mixture into the hole in the centre of the cake. Replace the top layer of cake and chill the whole thing for an hour or so, or overnight.

For the icing, melt the butter and dark chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. When melted, remove from the heat and stir in the icing sugar and milk. Beat until smooth and glossy. If is seems too runny, allow it to cool, or chill it for a few minutes. Cover the cake completely with the chocolate frosting, swirling with a palette knife. Decorate as liked-I just used up remaining chocolate bits and white chocolate flakes on the top of mine. Serve in slices, after singing ‘Happy Birthday’ or other appropriate celebrations!

It will keep for a couple of days; I prefer to keep it refrigerated because of all the cream in the middle!