Chocolate Brownies

Last night I needed brownies. Yes, there are some nights, especially around this time of year and with an impending wedding, that baked goods need to be frozen for a later date, but there are some nights when brownies are needed! And last night was one of those nights. I realised just how much I needed them when I was walking home from the supermarket and found myself praying - yes, actually asking the Lord himself - that the recipe wouldn't call for softened butter as I just simply couldn't wait that long.

And it didn't!! Aaahhh, melted butter, you are my saviour on cold winter nights when butter just won't come to room temperature fast enough and the microwave's exploded so I can't speed the process along...

I discovered David Lebovitz via the fabulous blogosphere and I love his blogs. I have to say his recipes are some of the most dependable around - always delicious! These were absolutely no excpetion to that rule. Brownies can be a tricky thing to master. Having read this article on what makes the perfect brownie, I was very pleased with the results but they lost out on speed and ease of baking. These, on the other hand, are wonderful. Moist, deeply chocolatey and just about as supernatural as a baked good can get! For the recipe, pop on over here and enjoy - although I'm sure it's VERY bad for my health that I have such a quick brownie recipe to hand...

Rosy xx

Ps the recipe actually says to leave the brownies overnight. Of course, I simply couldn't do that (who on earth has that kind of restraint?!) and they were great warm out of the oven with a dollop of cream... Ahem, please excuse the bite mark!

Perfect Pound Cake

I went into this week's Sweet Melissa Sunday's swearing that I wouldn't modify the recipe. I really did, I promise!! But then it kind of went like this... We got home from Italy and I remembered that I'd totally forgotten to pick up more vanilla essence, so subbed in vanilla paste. And I didn't get around to buying the right sized tin (which I've been intending to get for ages). So with the first attempt I used a small loaf tin and, upon discovering some rogue blueberries in the back of the fridge I mixed them into the left over mix and popped it into my trusty mini springform tins - thus far only really used for left over mix but oh so cute!

I have to say the result was everything the title promised that it would be. Absolutely perfect. The crumb was light but not fluffy like a sponge cake - more dense and moist. Just delicious! In fact, it was so good I immediately dashed out to pick up the correct sized tin to make it again!

I did manage to have a little batter left over as yes, I didn't buy a large enough tin, but it was closer! Not doing very well today... I also popped some raspberries into the little cake and more blueberries into the loaf, just because I loved it so much!

Just soooooo good. I've now eaten way too much cake... Oops...

This has to be my fave recipe from the book so far, not just because it's perfect as it is, but it's also such a great base for experimenting! Thank you so much to the lovely Michelle of Veggie num nums and don't forget to check out the other bakers here! I'm not not off to eat more cake...

Rosy xx

PS In my haste to post, I totaly forgot one significant alteration that I made to the recipe (honestly, I don't know what's happened to my brain at the moment!). We don't have cake flour in the UK due to some stuff about bleaching agents. Anyway, I used a conversion thingy I found online and (having discovered that the weight of flour required was 220g) I used 190g all purpose (plain) flour and 30g cornflour (cornstarch). Worked a treat!

And JJ informs me this cake is awesome dipped in clotted cream. Yes, he dunked a chunk of cake in a pot of cream. Not just regular cream - clotted cream. Honestly! All my pretty china is totally wasted on him. Does anyone want to come over for tea so that it can get an outing??!

SMS - Fallen Chocolate Souffle Cake

My love affair with chocolate goes back as long as I can remember. I put it down to my Belgian routes... So many of my great food memories revolve around chocolate - eating Fauchon chocolate cake on the corner of a Parisian street, discovering Pierre Marcolini chocolates in Belgium (they stock them in London as well - AMAZING!!!!!), eating the largest piece of chocolate cake ever in Gail's in Hampstead with JJ after a long walk over the Heath... Oh how I love chocolate! And so of course I was utterly delighted when this week's Sweet Melissa Sunday, chosen by Sarah from Blue Ridge Baker, turned out to be a chocolate cake. And not just a simple chocolate: a fallen chocolate souffle cake! So I had high hopes for this baby. And I was so not disappointed - the best thing about this gorgeous cakey dessert how light it is. The photos make the centre look incredibly rich but in fact its light, smooth and just delicious. I didn't use good enough quality chocolate and that's something that I would change next time. I also didn't use the orange flavourings as I totally forgot to pick up an orange, but I switched it for a tablespoon of espresso which worked a treat. I only used a tablespoon of powder, dilluted with a tablespoon of boiling water, and I'm going to up that next time as they coffee didn't really come through enough for my liking. But seriously, a definite winner. Also worth noting that it's gluten free for those who are intolerant.

Do grab yourself a cup of tea and check out the other bakers' posts!

Rosy xx

SMS - Fresh Peach Muffins

I managed it this week! A Sweet Melissa Sundays post on a Sunday – yaaaayyy! Wonders will never cease…

So this Sunday it’s Fresh Peach Muffins and it’s hosted by Mrs G of The Givens Chronicles. Do spend some time looking at all the other awesome posts on the blogroll.

I was so excited when she chose this recipe – this is just the kind of recipe which makes me so pleased I joined SMS. It’s not something that I would normally pick to bake from a cookbook – don’t get me wrong, I love peaches but it’s the muffin part. I’ve just never had that much success with them. I guess I put it down to the UK flour (we can’t get cake flour over here. After much research, it turns out there’s something in the bleaching agents used that means it can’t be sold in the UK. Boooo!) or the inconsistencies associated with cup measurements*, but I always ended up with large, dense cupcakes rather than light, fluffy muffins with the characteristic muffin tops.

But not here! I did fear for their success at one point as the one thing you shouldn’t do with cakes is overmix and I gather that’s especially true of muffins. Of course, I did these at 9pm and so messed up the method entirely – I totally forgot to add the fruit to the flour mix, something which stops the fruit from all sinking to the bottom, and I had started filling the cases before I remembered they needed cinnamon. So the small amount of mixing went out the window and these were fairly thoroughly mixed!

While I wouldn’t recommend overmixing (and I certainly wouldn’t recommend late night baking in a rush) they turned out perfectly! A touch too much orange zest for my liking so I’m going to ease up on that next time, or maybe use lemon or use orange juice instead of milk. Just needs a slightly more subtle orange flavour in my opinion but maybe my zesting was a little too zealous! Although all my testers disagree with me on that one and thought the orange added a freshness to the muffin so I might be wrong...

The one thing that’s a unanimous yes is the addition of raspberries – something I just had to add as soon as I’d seen this week’s recipe. Is there a more perfect pairing than peaches and raspberries? I used the 1 cup of chopped peaches specified in the recipe (2 regular sized peaches, peeled** and chopped) but also threw in a cup or so of raspberries. The raspberries add a gorgeous tartness as well as pretty pink streaks to the muffins.

All in all, a definite addition to my recipe collection! Perfect for a lazy breakfast. Next week it’s fallen chocolate soufflé cake. I’m dreaming about it already…



Rosy x

*so much so that I actually never measure anything but liquid in cups. I normally go though a recipe and convert everything to grams first using this website – it’s the scientist in me! I crave precise measures! Seriously, it nearly killed me measuring out a cup of chopped peaches but there’s no conversion for that. Although now I know! 2 peaches.

**I find that the easiest way to peel a peach is using the tomato method – slice a cross in the skin on the bottom of the fruit without cutting too deep. Then cover in boiling water until you see the cuts expand down the fruit (normally a minute or so). Plunge into cold water and the skins should peel away like a dream!

Sweet Melissa Sundays - Mom's Banana Apple Bread

Ok, so this is technically a Sunday post but due to a rather busy weekend I only got around to making the recipe last night - I shall do better next weekend, I promise!!

This is my first SMS posts which is rather exciting! And I'm really pleased to be involved in such a fun group. The idea is that a group of food bloggers all bake the same recipe (modifications allowed) from the 'Sweet Melissa' recipe book. This Sunday Joy from Hot Oven, Warm Heart chose Mom's Banana Apple Bread. Check out the other bakers on the blogroll!

I'm a huge fan of banana bread - not a huge fan of bananas, but when turned into a tea loaf they create a luscious, sweet, dense cakey bread. This was no exception. Not being in possession of a large loaf tin, I made a small loaf and 4 little cakes with my super cute individual springform cake tins. The loaf was exactly as per the recipe. In two of the small cakes, I threw in some sultanas...In the last two, I placed a layer of sliced caramelised apples on the bottom. Just for kicks. I'm that kinda gal. That, and who doesn't like a layer of caramelised apples?

I did love the plain loaf but felt I'd gone to so much extra effort caramelising the apples that leaving it plain was just a waste, so on the little plain cakes, I iced them with a simple cream cheese icing.

And that was good! Of all the modifications I messed around with, the addition of the icing was the best. It's actually the same icing I use on my go-to banana bread and so I guess it's no surprise that it worked like a charm on this one. And there's the only issue I have with this recipe - it's just too fiddly.

Banana breads for me are a quick bake - something I can whip up with some left over almost dead bananas, a cake that keeps well and goes perfectly with a cup of tea. This recipe called for dicing and caramelising apples which, whilst helping the texture, added a chunk of time onto the prep. So yes, this is undoubtedly delicious and I'm thinking of incorporating the spice mix into my banana bread recipe, but I'm still on the fence as to whether the frying of the apples is necessary... I might try it again but not actually cook the apples first - I'll keep you posted!

Rosy x

Chocolate Triple Layer Mousse Cake (aka heaven in chocolate moussey form)

Phew! Just had such an exhausting but lovely weekend – JJ and I were away at a friend’s wedding. So beautiful! I’m a little on the tired (ahem, hungover…) side, so I’m just going to launch right in to the recipes from Rachel’s tea. The tea went well – everything was ready on time and I was pleased with the results, although I changed my mind at the last minute and changed the biscuity things for raspberry buttermilk cake (absolutely yummy! One of my favourites) as I had a lot of excess raspberries from the individual pavlovas. These are the little cubes of cake you can see in this photo with the meringues.

The one item I was particularly chuffed with was the chocolate mousse cakes. So pretty! They are a time consuming, but trust me, so worth it! Incredible. And looked so impressive, don’t you think??

So to make these, I first made a chocolate cake base. The first version was a flourless chocolate cake, but yummy though it was, it proved wholely unsuitable as it crumbled when I attempted to transfer it to the pan I wanted to mould the mousse in. This did nothing for my stress levels as you can imagine!!

After having a cup of tea and pondering the problem, I decided that a chocolate roulade recipe would work as these are about the right depth for what I was after and, as they’re supposed to be rolled, would be able to withstand the transfer. And it worked beautifully! Once I’d made the base and allowed it to cool (under a tea towel as per the recipe – unusual but worked like a treat!) I lined a loose bottomed tin with cling film, with a large overhang so that it was easy to remove. I cut the cake to fit snugly into the bottom of the pan, filled with the dark chocolate mousse and chilled until the mousse was set.

I then made the white chocolate mousse and poured this on top of the dark chocolate mousse layer, carefully smoothing the top. After this was thoroughly chilled and well set, I made a simple chocolate ganache and poured a thin layer onto the top of the cake. Et voila! A highly luxurious, deeply chocolaty chocolate mousse layer cake. The only thing I didn’t quite master was cutting beautifully equal squares… Ah well, I shall have to practice!! I’m sure JJ won’t mind – he happily sat there scoffing the left overs!

Rosy xx

Chocolate Roulade
175g/6oz plain chocolate, broken into pieces

175g/6oz caster sugar

6 eggs, separated

2 level tbsp cocoa, sieved

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Lightly grease a Swiss roll tin and line with non-stick baking parchment, pushing it into the corners. Melt the chocolate slowly in a bowl over a pan of hot water. Allow to cool slightly.

Place the sugar and egg yolks in a bowl and whisk with an electric whisk on a high speed until light and creamy. Add the cooled chocolate and stir until evenly blended.Whisk the egg whites in a large mixing bowl until stiff but not dry. Stir a large spoonful of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, mix gently and then fold in the remaining egg whites, then the cocoa. Pour into the prepared tin and gently level the surface. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes until firm to the touch.

Remove the roulade from the oven, leave in the tin and place a cooling rack over the top of the cake, being careful not to touch the cake. Place a clean damp tea towel on top of the rack, and leave for several hours or overnight in a cool place - don't worry, it will sink slightly. (If the tea towel dries out, simply re-dampen it.)

Pate a bombe
180g Caster sugar
120ml water
6 egg yolks

Dissolve the sugar in the water in a pan. Bring to the boil. Boil until a sugar thermometer reads 120C or the liquid gets syrupy and the bubbles bigger. You could drop a teaspoonful of thickened syrup into a glass of ice-cold water; if it forms a small, soft ball it is ready. This should take approx 5-7 minutes of boiling.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with an electric mixer until creamy. Once the sugar syrup reaches temperature, remove from the heat at once. Turn the mixer onto slow and drizzle the sugar syrup into the yolks. Beat on full speed for 3-5 mins until you have a firm yellow foam. Remove and cool, whisking occasionally.

This freezes well and you can flavour the syrup by adding whatever you fancy (lemongrass, vanilla, cardamom) to the sugar and just removing before adding to the yolks.

Dark Chocolate Mousse
4 oz (110g) Pate a bombe
3 sheets gelatine
6 oz (165g) chocolate (70%), melted and cooled
16 oz (440g) double cream, whipped into soft peaks

Soften the gelatine in ice water for 5 minutes. Squeeze out excess water and mix with 2 Tbs of the heavy cream (it's ok if it's already whipped to soft peaks). Melt them together in the microwave for about 7 seconds. Add this mixture to the soft peak whipped cream and whisk together until mixed. But be careful not to overmix. Add the cream to the pate a bombe and fold. Add the melted and cooled chocolate to the base and fold. You’re your chosen container with mousse and pop in the fridge to set.
For the white chocolate mousse, just repeat the above with white chocolate rather than dark.