Posts tagged chocolate

chocolate oreo cupcakes

Self-saucing chocolate pudding cake

A childhood favorite that can never gets old. This recipe is my mother’s classic chocolate pudding cake. The cake used to be a weekly usual every Thursday when we had our family gathering. It brought us together and we all still have memories of my mother baking it and having to wait for it to finish baking to attack it and devour into its warm chocolaty goodness.

ingredients

10 oz flour

8 oz butter

8 oz sugar

4 eggs

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp cocoa powder 

for the sauce

about 2 cups of hot water that has been just boiled

3 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp sugar

method

preheat your oven to 180c

cream the butter add sugar whip until well combined

add the eggs one egg at a time making sure it getting well incorporated with the rest of the ingredients add the vanilla

sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder to get rid of any lumps or impurities

by hand fold in the flour mixture into the butter sugar eggs mix until well combined

normally we bake this cake in oval shaped medium sized oven safe glass Pyrex .. it also can be made into small individual portions

butter and flour your choice of bake ware spoon in the cake batter

for the sauce

mix the just boiled hot water with cocoa powder and sugar

pour the sauce over the cake / cakes use a spoon on top of the cake batter to prevent the sauce of poring too hard on the cake .. it will slow the pressure of the sauce and prevent the sauce from breaking into the cake batter

the sauce should be almost1 inch over the cake batter

if you are making the full cake in one Pyrex bake it for 45 minutes to an hour

if you are making it into individual portions bake them for 15-20 minutes

you can make extra sauce and serve it with the cake or serve it with chocolate syrup

you can also serve the cake with fresh fruits ice cream and whipped cream

best served warm

can be reheated

A very simple chocolate pudding recipe

it can be adjusted to your taste and made into other flavors

Chocolate rosewater pudding

Ingredients

1/3 cup corn starch

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

3 cups milk

1 tbsp rose water

1/3 chopped semi sweet chocolate

chopped pistachios for garnish

dried rose petals for garnish

Method

sift the cornstarch put in a bowl add sugar salt and milk and whisk

Make sure that the cornstarch has dissolved and is well combined with the rest of the ingredients

place the milk mix in a pot and heat on low heat

stir the mix for about 20 minutes or until its cooked

the pudding will be ready when it it thickens slightly and covers the back of a wooden spoon

this can burn easily so keep your eyes on it

now you have the basic milk pudding ready you can flavor it as you like

I used semi sweet chocoalate

stir in the chopped chocolate it will melt into the pudding

add 1 tbsp of rosewater and stir

pour into small serving cups / bowls

I used expresso shot glasses

garnish with pistachio and dried rose petals

individually cover each glass with cling film and place in a fridge .. covering the pudding with cling film prevents the formation of skin on top of the pudding

serve cold

recipe adapted from Bakersroyale

After many failed attempts at making macarons I’m finally figuring it out and slowly getting to know who to make them. Making these little french delights could be a real pain in the neck at first but after figuring them out they are really easy once you understand the science behind making them.

Here is a recipe by David Lebovitz I found / adapted from  Vanilla and Lace

Its really simple and straight to the point.

Ingredients :

Macaron batter:

-100 gr icing sugar

-50 gr almond powder or sliced almonds

-25 gr chocolate powder

-2 Large egg whites at room temperature 

-65 granulated sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160 C

Prepare two baking trays with baking wax paper

Prepare piping bag with a plain tip

- Grind the icing sugar + almond powder + cocoa powder in a food processor

-In standing mixer or using a hand mixer beat the egg whites until soft peak forms. (not to stiff and not to runny)

-Gradually add the granulated sugar to the egg whites beat for almost 2 minutes until the egg whites mix gets stiff.

-Fold in the almond sugar and cocoa mix to the egg whites until well incorporated

-Fill the piping bag with the macaron batter

-Pipe circles onto the trays keep one inch between each macaron

-Let the macarons stand before baking them for about 10 minutes

-Bake for about 10 minutes

-Let them cool completely before moving them

 White chocolate cream filing

White chocolate cream

-100 gr white chocolate

-200 gr whipping cream

-100 gr icing sugar

-over a double boiler melt the white chocolate

-when the chocolate is completely melted add the cream

-using a mixer beat the cream + chocolate mix and gradually add the icing sugar until you get the consistency you like

- pipe the white chocolate cream filing into a macron shell and sandwich it with another macron shell.

Tips and notes:

It took less time to bake in my oven the original recipe calls for 15-18 minutes of baking. With my oven it took almost 10 minutes .. its recommended to separate the egg whites before hand 24 hours before making the macarons. You can separate the egg white and keep them in the fridge. Take them out of the fridge an hour or two before starting making the macarons to bring them to room temperature.

When folding the egg whites with the almond be careful and gentle. Use rubber spatula or a metal wide spoon. 

The original recipe calls for the oven to be preheated on 180 degrees, but I thought that’s too high .. so I decreased it to 160 .. I guess it depends and varies from one oven to another.

Keep in an air tight container and keep them refrigerated until serving

Bonne chance and bon appetite