Chocolate date cake

There’s nothing fancy about this cake, just a dark, dense, chocolate sponge with a hint of sticky toffee-ness about it, balanced by a not-too-sweet ganache.

One person did comment that he wasn’t sure if it was sweet enough, but the pony and I both agreed it was just right.

This cake also kept really well, possibly even improving with age – the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon cup of coffee, but equally at home as an after dinner desert – I would seriously recommend you all go and make this cake!

Chocolate date cake (adapted from Under the High Chair):

Makes up to 16 small slices

• 300g dates
• 300 ml strong hot coffee
• 165g butter
• 100g caster sugar
• 50g dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 120g self raising flour
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 40g cocoa powder
• 100g dark chocolate
• 100ml double cream

Soak the dates in the coffee for about 10 minutes, while you prepare a 9″ round cake tin by lining and greasing and start making the sponge. Beat together the butter and both sugars until light and creamy, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and fold until just combined. Puree the date and coffee mixture in a food processor, then fold that into the mix as well. Pour into the tin, then bake at 175 degrees for an hour, or until the cake is springy and pulling away from the sides of the tin.

While the cake is cooling, make the ganache by heating the cream in a saucepan until just boiling, then pouring on top of the chopped chocolate, and stirring until smooth. When the ganache and cake have both cooled, spread the ganache on top of the cake then leave to set. Cut into small slices and serve!

Black bean brownies

This month’s We Should Cocoa challenge, set by Chele of Chocolate Teapot, was to make something health conscious to start the new year.

I wasn’t immediately struck with inspiration, as my line of thinking is that chocolate is always unhealthy, but everything in moderation is ok – not that I always manage to stick to the moderation part!

As luck would have it, a few weeks ago Madison at Espresso and Cream posted these black bean brownies, at a very health conscious 130 calories each – and brownies with beans in just sounded too weird not to try!

Thanks to a few tweaks (adding chocolate chips and cutting into 12 squares instead of 16) meant that these brownies are actually more like 215 calories each – but that’s still kind of ok for a brownie!

You can’t taste the black beans, and the pony liked them, but they were a bit too cakey for me – I like brownies to be thick and gooey! They were interesting to try though, and I as a vegetarian I can even kid myself I NEED to eat one to get my daily protein fix…

Black bean brownies (adapted from Espresso and Cream):

Makes 12 squares

• 3/4 cup tinned black beans
• 1/2 cup sunflower oil
• 2 eggs
• 20g cocoa powder
• 100g caster sugar
• 1tsp instant coffee granules
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 50g dark chocolate, melted
• 40g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 100g milk chocolate chips

Blend the drained black beans in a food processor with the oil, eggs, cocoa powder and sugar for about a minute, until completely blended with no bits. Add in the rest of the ingredients, apart from the chocolate chips, and blend again to combine. Stir in the chocolate chips, then pour into an 8×8 square tin, lined with foil. Bake at 175 degrees for 20 minutes, then leave to cool before cutting into squares and serving.

Butterfly cakes

Before cupcakes became so popular, it was all about fairy cakes – and I think butterfly cakes are the ultimate version of the fairy cake.

Light sponge, just a little buttercream, and ‘wings’ proudly poking out the top, I think I’d take one of these bitesize treats over a sugar overloaded cupcake any day.

Butterfly cakes (sponge recipe from The Great British Bake Off book, icing my own)

Makes 12

For the cakes:

• 125g butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 175g self raising flour
• 3 tbsp milk

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Fold in 1/3 flour, then half the milk and repeat, finishing with flour. Divide between 12 cupcake cases and bake at 180 degrees for approximately 20 minutes, or until risen and golden.

For icing and filling:

• 85g butter
• 210g icing sugar
• 1tbsp milk
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1tsp lemon juice
• 12 tsp jam, curd or marmalade

Beat the butter and half the icing sugar until well combined, then add in the milk, vanilla and lemon. Beat again, then add the remaining icing sugar and keep beating for 3-5 minutes until really light and fluffy.

To assemble the butterfly cakes, first cut the tops off of each cake with a knife. Don’t throw the tops away, as they will make the wings.

Spoon a small amount of jam or curd on top of each cake (I used blackcurrant jam, raspberry rose jam and orange curd).

Pipe a swirl of icing on top to cover the jam, starting from the outside and working inwards so the jam doesn’t ooze out of the sides.

Cut the cake tops in half, and the place back on top to resemble the butterfly’s wings.

Super cute! Enjoy as an afternoon treat with a cup of tea or coffee.

New York Times chocolate chip cookies

I defy anyone to not like a proper, American style chocolate chip cookie.

Crisp around the edges, chewy in the middle, delicious chocolate chunks – and the smell when they’re baking! Amazing.

In the search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie, I found a lot of reviews claiming that a recipe published in the New York Times was the one.

 

After a bit of searching, I found another blogger who had made them and handily converted some of the quantities from cups to grams – cup measurements are enough to stop me attempting a recipe, so thanks Made with Pink!

I made a few of my own tweaks, making half the dough, using a bit less chocolate and simplifying the measurements – and I can report that they really are the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever made!

I’d definitely make them again, and I’d also use the dough as a base recipe for other cookies – it’s worth the 36 hour wait between making the dough and baking the cookies, trust me!

New York Times chocolate chip cookies (adapted from Made With Pink)

Makes 11 cookies

• 105g plain flour
• 15g cornflour
• 105g bread flour or strong white flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 140g butter
• 125g light brown sugar
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 medium egg
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 250g dark chocolate, broken into squares

Cream together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg and vanilla. Sift in the rest of the dry ingredients and fold to combine, then stir in the squares of chocolate. Wrap the ball of dough in cling film and refrigerate for 36 hours (no idea why, but do it!)

When it’s time to bake, take the dough out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Divide the mixture into balls weighing 75g each, then place on a baking sheet. I put 3 on each sheet to be cautious, and they spread quite a bit so unless you have a really large baking sheet I wouldn’t try to fit more.

Bake for 12 minutes, or until golden around the edges and puffy in the middle. Leave to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely (if you can wait that long!)

Curried naan breads – a random recipe

This is my first time entering Dom from Belleau Kitchen’s Random Recipes challenge – and I have to admit, I nearly cheated…

The challenge for January was to pick a recipe at random from your newest cookbook, which for me was 100 Great Breads by Paul Hollywood (thanks friendly pony!)

I excitedly flipped open the book, ready to make whatever bread I landed on to go with the evenings dinner of asparagus risotto – and ended up with a choice of naans or curried naans. Not really the ideal accompaniment…

But instead of choosing another recipe and breaking the rules on my first go, I waited until I was making a more suitable meal then gave the curried naans a go.

They turned out ok, although I wasn’t really a fan of Paul’s frying method for cooking them – oven baked versions I’ve made previously have turned out better and probably been a bit less unhealthy!

But still, I tried – fingers crossed Random Recipes will treat me more kindly in February!

Curried naan breads (adapted from Paul Hollywood’s 100 Great Breads)

• 250g strong white flour
• 1tsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 10g curry powder
• 7g dried yeast
• 150ml water
• 50g sultanas
• 1 1/2 tbsp mango chutney
• 10g desiccated coconut

Mix the flour, salt, oil, curry powder, yeast and water in a large bowl, stirring for a couple of minutes, then tip out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Leave to rise for 30 minutes, then mix in the sultanas, chutney and coconut, then divide into 3 equal pieces and leave on a baking tray to rise for another hour.

Once the dough has risen, roll out each piece to a vaguely round thin disc, then heat a little oil in a frying pan. Fry the naans for about 2-3 minutes on each side, or until golden, then leave to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Chocolate chip cinnamon cake

Want to know how good this cake is?

I made it twice in three days. That’s right, the pony and I ate 12 squares between us in two days, then I made another to take into work which was devoured in one day.

I’ve been having a bit of a love affair with cinnamon recently – it never hugely appealed before but these apple and cinnamon cupcakes totally changed my mind.

This cake is really moist (some would say undercooked, I would say ok – more for me) with a delicious crisp sugary topping, with delicious chocolate chips in every mouthful. Seriously, what’s not to like?

Chocolate chip cinnamon cake (adapted from Bites out of Life)

Makes 12 squares

• 60g butter
• 150g caster sugar
• 2 eggs, separated
• 220g vanilla yoghurt
• 180g plain flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 150g chopped chocolate, I used a mix of milk, dark and white
• 50g caster sugar
• 1tsp cinnamon

Grease and line an 8×8″ square cake tin. Beat together the butter and 150g sugar until light and fluffy, then add in the egg yolks one at a time. Fold in the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the yoghurt (dry mix, yoghurt, dry mix, yoghurt, dry mix). Whisk the egg whites until they hold their shape, then fold into the cake batter.

Spread half of the cake mix into the prepared tin. Mix the 50g sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle half of it over the cake. Sprinkle half of the chocolate chips on top of that, then dollop on the rest of the cake mix, using a spatula to spread it into an even layer. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar and chocolate chips on top, then bake at 180 degrees for approximately 35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Leave to cool, then cut into squares and serve.

Baked berry sponge pudding

After all the rich, chocolatey excess of Christmas, I was desperately craving something fruity.

I also had some small foil pudding basins that I never quite got around to using for Christmas pudding, so I decided a fruity steamed pudding was the way to go.

I’ve never attempted a steamed pudding before, and I was quite looking forward to the challenge, but as luck would have it the recipe I decided to use as a base called for oven baking anyway – maybe next time!

I made two small (1lb or 500ml) puddings from this recipe, and they turned out really moist and flavourful, a perfect fruity winter pudding!

Baked berry puddings (adapted from BBC Good Food)

• 200g mixed berries (I used frozen)
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 85g butter
• 50g caster sugar
• 50g light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1tbsp orange curd (zest of an orange would be fine)
• 140g plain flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder

Put 25g of the berries in the bottom of each pudding basin, and sprinkle 1 tbsp caster sugar over each.

Beat together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, then add in the eggs one at a time. Fold in half the flour and baking powder followed by half of the milk and orange curd, then fold in the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk.

Use about 2/3 of the mixture to divide between the two puddings, spreading on top of the berries. Sprinkle the rest of the berries on top, then cover with the rest of the cake mix. Bake for an hour at 180 degrees, or until a skewer comes out clean. Mine rose rather well, making them a bit hard to turn upside down!

Serve warm with custard, cream or ice cream.

Chocolate orange cheesecake

I was forced to choose, I’d probably say cheesecake is my favourite dessert (with ice cream a very close second).

Chocolate cheesecake though, not a fan at all. I’m not sure why, but I’ve always preferred plain cheesecake with a fruity topping – chocolate cheesecake just never seems to be as good.

Unlike me, the friendly pony likes everything better if there’s chocolate involved, which is how I ended up making this chocolate orange cheesecake.

As chocolate cheesecakes go, it was probably the best I’ve had – the texture was certainly spot on, and it was good enough for me to have several slices!

The recipe could also be easily adapted to other flavours – the original recipe suggests coffee, I think a mint version could work well too… So this will definitely be my go-to chocolate cheesecake recipe in the future.

Chocolate orange cheesecake (adapted from Lindt):

• 250g chocolate digestives
• 100g butter, melted
• 575g cream cheese
• 60g double cream
• 200g orange flavoured chocolate (I used a Terry’s chocolate orange and made up the rest of the weight with dark chocolate)
• 130g caster sugar
• 100ml orange juice
• 4 eggs

Blend the digestives in a food processor until they turn into crumbs, then gradually pour the butter in while the mixer is running until the mixture comes together.  Press down into the base of a 9″ round springform tin, then leave to chill in the fridge while you make the filling.

Melt the chocolate in a saucepan with the orange juice over a low heat, then set aside to cool. Beat together the cream cheese and sugar until no lumps remain, then add in the cream and eggs. Fold in the chocolate orange mixture, then pour into the prepared tin and bake at 120 degrees for about an hour and a half, or until the cheesecake is set but still has a wobble.

I put a tray filled with water in the bottom of the oven to create steam while the cheesecake is cooking, and leave it to cool in the oven for at least 2 hours before turning out of the tin. Chill overnight before serving.

 

EDIT – I’ve kindly been asked by Lisa of Sweet as Sugar Cookies to link this to Sweets for a Saturday – an awesome round up of delicious looking cakes and bakes – perfect for ruining the new year’s diet!

Marzipan chocolate cupcakes

I made these to take into work on the last day before Christmas, along with the orange shortbread thumbprints I blogged a while ago.

The original recipe was for a loaf cake, but after spooning the cake mix into my ginormous loaf tin, I realised I’d end up with a rather sad flat looking loaf if I carried on, so I decided to turn it into cupcakes instead.

When they came out of the oven I loved how they looked – little eruptions of marzipan oozing out of the top – but I’d already decided that chocolate cupcakes with marzipan and chocolate chips wasn’t QUITE decadent enough, so I added a thick ganache to finish them off.

I was a bit concerned by how heave they were that the cake would be too hard and dense, but i think it must have just been the amount of marzipan and chocolate chips weighing them down – they tasted great and went down a treat at work and with the pony.

Marzipan chocolate cupcakes (recipe adapted from The Chocolate and Coffee Bible):

Makes 12 cupcakes

• 115g butter
• 150g light muscovado sugar
• 2 eggs
• 150g self raising flour
• 3tbsp cocoa powder
• 130g marzipan, chopped
• 100g dark chocolate, chopped

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder, and fold in with the marzipan and chocolate chips. Divide the mixture between 12 cupcake cases and bake at 180 degrees for approximately 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool, then remove from the cases.

For the ganache:

• 100g dark chocolate, chopped
• 75ml double cream

Heat the cream in a saucepan until almost boiling. Pour over the chocolate, then stir until the chocolate has completely melted. Leave to cool, then spread on top of the cupcakes.

Goat’s cheese and poppy seed crackers

Apologies for posting yet another Christmas gift recipe in January, but I baked too much and didn’t have enough time for blogging in December!

These crackers are great if you have a slightly weird person in your family who doesn’t like sweet things – I teamed them with a cranberry and pear chutney and a few other bits and my mum seemed fairly pleased!

The recipe is adapted from The Pink Whisk (a bit of a Goddess when it comes to Christmas treats) but with the parmesan swapped for a vegetarian hard English goat’s cheese – even though they were going to be a gift I still wanted to be able to try them!

Goat’s cheese and poppy seed crackers (recipe adapted from The Pink Whisk)

Makes 12-15 small crackers

• 150g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 60g butter
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 65ml water
• 20g hard goat’s cheese, grated

Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a food processor, then add the butter and pulse until the mixture forms fine breadcrumbs. Add the poppy seeds, then with the mixer running pour in the oil and then the water (pour the water slowly as you might not need all of it). The mixture should come together into a soft ball.

Chill in the fridge for half an hour, then roll out onto a floured surface, to about 3/4mm thick, depending if you want thick or thin crackers. Use a biscuit cutter to cut rounds – mine were about an inch and a half diameter, but they can be as big or as small as you want.

Place the crackers on a baking sheet, leaving a bit of a gap for them to spread, and prick with a fork. Chill again for half an hour. Sprinkle a little of the goats cheese on top of each, then bake at 190 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until crisp and golden, underneath as well as on top.