Chocolate Chip Cake

This recipe is my adaptation of one from an American cookery book called ' Mom's 100 Best Cakes' by Annette Bley. To be honest, most of the cakes in the book don't appeal to me as they're too fussy and complicated, but I've made this one a few times, usually in a plain springform tin; but my lovely dil gave me a tin which had a tube insert a while ago, so I thought I'd try it out.
There seems to be a lot of ingredients, but it's not difficult to make, tho' it is a bit more effort than a chocolate sponge. The original recipe was of course in cups, hence the strange amounts.
It's quite a big cake, so one to make for an occasion [and not if you're on a diet!].


Preheat oven 160C/gas3
Grease a 23cm/9" springform tin or tube pan, and line the base with baking paper. Dust inside of tin with flour and shake out excess.


2 tspn instant coffee granules
2 tsps vanilla extract
1/4 tspn hot water
330g plain flour
30g sr flour
40g + 1 tbspn cocoa powder
1/4 tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn bicarbonate of soda
1 tspn salt
320g dark chocolate chips [ if they're large, chop them up]
220g butter
300g granulated sugar
100g light brown sugar
5 eggs
250ml sour cream
2tbspn double cream



Stir the coffee, vanilla and hot water together.
In a large bowl, sift the plain flour, sr flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarb and salt together.
In another bowl mix the chocolate chips with 1 tbspn of the flour mixture.
In a mixer, or with an electric hand beater cream the butter; scrape the sides then add the granulated sugar a bit at a time. Add the brown sugar and beat together.
Add the eggs one at a time and mix in the coffee mixture.
Then add the flour mixture carefully, alternating it with some sour cream, scraping the sides to make sure it's all mixed in. Add the double cream, and finally mix in the chocolate chips using a wooden spoon or spatula.
Spoon into the tin.

Bake for about 70 mins till the cake is coming away from the sides.

Cool in the tin for 15 mins then invert onto a wire rack; take the paper off, then invert it right side up and leave to cool.

You can leave the cake as it is or make a simple chocolate ganache with 300ml double cream and 200g dark chocolate.

Put the chocolate in a bowl, then warm the cream - but don't let it boil.
Pour the cream over the chocolate, leave for a minute then gently stir together.
Let the ganache cool to room temperature then pour it over the cake.

This is a very rich, decadent cake, but lovely for a birthday or other special occasion. If you made it without the tube, you could cut it in half and make a filling of your choice. Oh, one thing to be careful of, when you're pouring the ganache over the cake, make sure that you have a tray or something underneath or it goes everywhere! I learnt that the hard way!

Chocolate Biscuit Squares

My grandsons popped in to see us yesterday with their Dad, and I wanted something for them to munch, as they're always hungry! I'd been looking through Mum's old recipe notebook and found this. It brought back lots of happy childhood memories - these were a staple for family picnics, carried carefully in their special tin. The boys enjoyed them too, and asked if I'd tell their Mum how to make them. Praise indeed!
Mum's recipe was in ounces, so I've converted it to metric.
It's a 'melt in the saucepan and add everything else' sort of recipe, quick and easy to do, and it doesn't need cooking.

175g plain chocolate [or milk if you prefer] broken into pieces
60g butter
250g digestive biscuits (crushed)
grated orange peel
125g sultanas
60g chopped glace cherries

Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat then add the chocolate. Stir in the crushed biscuits, chopped cherries, sultanas and grated orange peel and mix till everything is covered in chocolate. 
Pour the mixture into an oblong tin with a sheet of grease proof or parchment paper on the bottom and leave it in the fridge to set. Cut into squares.
They have a good chocolate flavour, a nice crunch and soft pieces of fruit. You could vary the dried fruit and use cranberries or chopped apricots. They were just as I remembered them, and are very moreish.

 

Chocolate Cake with Meringue

I wanted to make something special for my friend's birthday. She's a great fan of chocolate cakes, so I decided to combine another of her loves, meringue, with a chocolate cake. I looked through my cookery books and online for ideas, and there were plenty of them. Too many were very complicated and had lots of layers. I wanted a much simpler cake, but with a twist. So I decided on  a sandwich cake with a meringue layer on top and in the middle, and there's also some lime curd in the middle to give the cake an extra bit of zing. I bought a jar of this curd from a farmer's market recently, and don't know what to do with it! It's not a very green colour, so really it doesn't look very different from a lemon curd. The flavour seems to me to be a bit sharper.

For the cake  - beat 115g of butter with 115g of caster sugar till nice and fluffy. Add 3 egg yolks one at a time,  then add 100g sr flour which has been mixed with 55g cocoa powder. Pour in 50ml of milk and stir till smooth.
Grease 2 x 20cm sandwich tins and preheat oven 170C/gas3.
Spoon half the batter into each tin and smooth the tops.

For the meringue - whisk the 3 egg whites with a pinch of salt and 1/4 tspn of cream of tartar till you have soft peaks, then gradually add 140g of caster sugar and carry on whisking till the mixture is thick and shiny.

Spoon half of the meringue over each cake and bake for about 20 mins till the meringue is a golden colour. Leave in the tins to cool.

When cool, take out of the tins and put one cake, meringue side up on a plate, spoon on 2 tbpsn of lime curd and smooth is evenly over the cake. Put the other cake on top, meringue side up.

You can't keep this cake for long, so put it in the fridge or use it within a few hours.

It's an unusual cake and was very popular with my friends. The lemon curd is most unexpected, but gives a lovely sharp contrast to the crunchy meringue and the moist chocolate cake. It would make a great dessert, and you could use some cream instead of the curd, or even fruit - I certainly think you need another texture on top of the meringue. Don't think I'd like just 2 layers of chocolate cake and meringue. This is certainly a cake I'll make again.

Peanut, chocolate and pecan cookies

My grandsons came for the weekend, and as the weather wasn't very kind, I wanted to find something to do with them. They enjoy cooking, so we made some cookies.
The original recipe had walnuts in it, but I needed to use up the last of my pecans. We found the recipe in an old Blue Peter book, which had belonged to the boys' Dad. They were then called biscuits, but cookies sounded more modern.
They all took a turn beating the mixture, adding ingredients and making the cookies into balls. I have to own up that I drizzled the chocolate over the ones in the photo - their efforts had the chocolate mainly over the worktop! They proudly took the finished cookies [well most of them!] home for their Mum, and wanted to take some in their lunch boxes.
We made 15 cookies.

Preheat oven 190C/gas5 and grease 2 baking trays.

Put 125g butter, 70g soft brown sugar and 70g caster sugar in a bowl and beat together till nice and creamy. Add 1 beaten egg and beat into the mixture. Fold in 200g of plain flour which has had 1 tspn bicarbonate of soda added, then add 2 tbspn of crunchy peanut butter, 100g chopped chocolate and 100g chopped nuts.
Mix it all together, then pull together with your hands to make a ball of stickyish dough. If it's too sticky just add a little more flour.
Make 15 balls and put them on the baking trays, leaving some space for the cookies to spread. Squash them down a bit.
Bake for 10-12 mins till golden and cool on a wire rack.
Melt 100g chocolate and either drizzle the chocolate over the cookies, using a fork to make lines, or put the chocolate in an icing bag and pipe lines over.

We only tried one each, so they could take the rest home. Lovely textures - crunch from the peanuts and pecans, then a good hit of chocolate. Very moreish.

Almond praline creams

Had some friends coming to stay over the weekend, so decided to make some small cakes to have with tea.
I bought a book in a charity shop a while ago, called 'The Encylopedia of Baking'; it has no author and I think it was originally published in Germany. It has some unusual cake and biscuit recipes, so I thought I'd make these almond praline creams, as I had half a bag of flaked almonds left over from the almond and honey cake.
The creams look a bit like whoopie pies, and  I think they're really more like a cross between a cake and a biscuit. It's a basic sponge cake recipe, and whatever they are, cake or biscuit, they taste good, and the ingredient list is short and you've probably got everything in your store cupboard.
The recipe makes about 30 biscuits.

4 egg yolks
20g caster sugar
pinch salt
200g plain flour
75g flaked almonds
200g Nutella or any hazelnut chocolate spread
40g dark chocolate

Preheat oven 200C/gas 6
Grease a baking sheet and dust it with flour.

Put yolks into a bowl and beat them with an electric mixer or beater for a minute on high speed. Then add the sugar and salt and carry on beating for another 2 mins till the mixture is white.
Gradually add the flour.
Put the mixture into a piping bag and pipe thickish rounds on the baking tray using a wide nozzle.
Decorate the tops with flaked almonds.
Bake for 10 mins then take them off the baking sheet.
Melt the nutella in a bowl over some hot water, stirring till it's nice and creamy and smooth.
Spread  over the smooth sides of half the biscuits and cover with the other halves.
Melt the chocolate and drizzle over the biscuits.

These little sponges are a good texture, soft and spongy! Good contrast with the hazelnut filling and the crunch of the almonds.

Think I'll make it my 2nd offering to the April Alpha Bakes challenge, to bake something beginning with A.

This is a monthly challenge hosted alternately by Ros of The More than Occasional Baker blog and Caroline of Caroline Makes blog. Ros is hosting this month - have a look here.

Chocolate meringue log

A very Happy New Year! Here's to lots of great baking.

After the success of the meringue on Christmas Day, I thought I'd try a variation as a dessert for New Year's Eve. I hunted through my cookbooks and folders and found a recipe for a meringue log in a Home and Freezer Christmas book. Anyone remember Home and Freezer magazines, littles ones which were always in racks by the checkouts?
Anyway I thought it sounded ideal, although it has a fewextra ingredients in it, like mini marshmallows.
You could use a chocolate sauce as the filling instead of the spread if you wanted, as this what was in the original recipe. I thought the spread would be more substantial when rolling up the log. I had visions of the sauce running out of the sides of the log! I know there's hazelnuts in the spread, but I don't think this will change the taste of the log very much.


5 egg whites, beaten
150g icing sugar, plus 1 tbsp extra
2 tsp cornflour, sieved
 1 tbsp cocoa powder
400ml double cream
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
chocolate spread such as Nutella - or use chocolate sauce if you prefer
50g raspberries and a few redcurrants of you can find them
100g mini marshmallows

to decorate
extra icing sugar and cocoa powder, to dust
*chocolate sauce and raspberries or any red berries

Preheat oven to 150C/gas 1. In a clean bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the icing sugar, beating till the mixture is creamy and gooey. Then whisk in the cornflour and cocoa.
Spoon the mixture onto a Swiss roll tin lined with baking paper. Bake the meringue for 1 hour then set aside to cool.
In a bowl whisk the double cream with icing sugar and vanilla seeds till it's thickened.
Sieve some icing sugar and cocoa powder onto a large piece of parchment paper then turn the meringue out onto the paper.
Spread the chocolate spread on top , followed by the whipped cream, then dot with raspberries and mini marshmallows.
Carefully roll up the log, using the parchment paper to help you, and dust with more icing sugar and cocoa. Serve with some *chocolate sauce and raspberries. I had some recurrants in the freezer, so added a few of those.

* I made a simple chocolate sauce using double cream and melted chocolate.

It was delicious. A lovely combination of flavours - the only thing I wasn't sure about were the marshmallows -they weren't really necessary to the filling, a bit chewy. The chocolate sauce gave it another kick of chocolate - you can never have too much chocolate imho, but again, it isn't absolutely necessary to the log.

Chococlate and raspberries are always a good combo, and this is a log I'll certainly make again.

Our favourite chocolate cake

Chocolate cake 'fashions' have come and gone over the last 30 odd years. There was the Black Forest gateau, the Sachertorte, truffle torte, lots of poor imitations of the River Cafe's gorgeous Nemesis cake to name but a few. I've tried most of these, but the recipe I come back to when the family want a chocolate cake is this one. I've been making it for a long time, but think it was originally a Delia recipe.
I like using oil in cakes, and this one is really moist and keeps well - a joke in this house! It's a good sized cake too, and it can be dressed up for an occasion with ganache or whatever you fancy. Today's version is unadorned except for a filling of Nutella and a smattering of icing sugar on the top.

275g plain flour
3 tbspn cocoa powder
11/2 tspn baking powder
11/2 tspn bicarb. of soda
215g caster sugar
3 tbspn golden syrup
3 eggs [large]
225ml sunflower oil [I use rapeseed]
225ml milk

2x 20cm sandwich tins [about 4cm deep], greased and lined

Preheat oven 160C/gas3

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarb into a bowl and mix in the sugar. Make a well in the middle and add the rest of the ingredients.
Beat together well with a wooden spoon till nice and smooth.
Pour into the tins and bake for about 35 mins [ mine took 45 mins]. till well risen.
Remove from tins and take off lining paper. Cool on a wire rack.

You can then do what you like with them. As I've already said, I apread Nutella over one of them, put the other on top and sifted over some icing sugar. They'd risen quite a lot, so I cut the dome off one of the cakes to make it level so I could put the Nutella on it. Cook's perk to eat the slice cut off!

The cake isn't very sweet, considering how much sugar and syrup are in it and it has a good chocolate taste. It doesn't crumble when you try and eat it either. A good recipe to have in your repertoire.

Chocolate cake (Schokogugelhupf]

My lovely dil bought me a silicone kugelhopf mould and I've been looking for a good recipe to use it. This is the Hairy Biker's chocolate cake recipe from their 'Bakeation' programmes. I presume 'gugelhupf'' [Austrian] uses the same mould as a 'kugelhopf' [German]! Here's their recipe from the Beeb - it's also in their 'HB big book of Baking'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolate_cake_20610

I didn't put any ground almonds in the mould before putting the mixture in, and I didn't decorate the cake with almonds or sugar, but otherwise I followwed their recipe.The cake has a lovely firm but moist texture, and a good chocolate flavour, slightly nutty. The icing holds its shape well as you spoon it over the cake.

Thumb biscuits

Apparently today is National Nutella day. I love any combination of chocolate and hazelnuts, so I decided to make a really easy biscuit that I've made many times for my children and grandchildren. Don't know where the original recipe came from - it's in my handwritten notebook. I've made them with jam and with lemon curd, as well as with Nutella.

It makes about 18 biscuits.

175g butter
175g caster sugar
1 egg
175g plain flour
125g plain flour
Nutella

Line a baking sheet with some parchment paper.
Preheat oven 180C/gas 4

Beat the butter and sugar together using a mixer till nice and fluffy.
Beat in the egg then add the flours, a bit at a time.
Leave the dough for about an hour to rest.
Take out tbspns of the mixture, roll into a ball then flatten on the baking sheet. Press your thumb in the top to make a hole. Fill the hole with Nutella.
Make sure you space the biscuits out on the baking sheet, because they spread.
Bake for about 12 mins.
Cool on a wire rack.

I can think of a few variations I must try - adding cocoa to make chocolate thumbs, or coffee essence, lemon juice etc. It's a good basic biscuit recipe.

Chocolate and cinnamon muffins

I'm sure that everyone has their own tried and tested muffin recipe. I like recipes which use oil instead of butter. I found this one in a French food magazine and it looked interesting, having yoghurt and coffee as two of the ingredients, plus one of my favourite spices- cinnamon. Muffins are quick and easy to make, and these are no exception.

For 12 muffins:

250g plain flour
2 tspns cinnamon
21/2 tspns baking powder
1/2 tspn bicarbonate of soda
130g caster sugar
1 egg
80ml oil - I used rapeseed
250g yoghurt
75ml cold strong coffee
12 squares of dark chocolate
Chocolate coated coffee beans to decorate

Preheat oven 180C/gas 4

Grease a 12 hole muffin tin, or use muffin cases.
In a bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarb.and sugar.
In another bowl beat the egg and add the oil, yoghurt and coffee. Mix these together.
Fold in the flour mixture carefully - don't overmix, a few lumps are fine.
Put the muffin cases, if using, into the muffin tin.
Fill the cases half full with batter, then put a square of chocolate on the batter and fill the cases up with the remainder.
Bake in the middle of the oven for about 25 mins.
Cool on a wire rack.
Decorate the muffins with a chocolate bean before serving.

I love the melted chocolate in the centre of these muffins. The texture is quite different from my usual recipe - coarser but still soft. The cinnamon and coffee add another layer to the flavour. I'll certainly make these again.

Irish cream tartlets

And now for something completely different....!
This is another recipe to use up a Christmas leftover, but this time it's a small bottle of Baileys that we were given in a hamper.
We were invited for a meal to a friend's house last weekend and she'd asked me to bring something sweet to have with coffee after the meal. An unusual request, so I hunted through my cookbooks and eventually came up with these little tartlets.
I made some sweet pastry, but shortcrust would do as well. I used 175g flour etc. and this made 12 tartlets.

You need 12 little moulds or barquettes  - these are the ones I used. I bought them on a whim years ago and have never used them! I have 3 of each shape.

Line the greased moulds with the pastry and bake blind.

For the filling you need:

150g plain chocolate, melted
120ml milk
3 egg yolks
2 tbsp caster sugar
3 tbsp plain flour
4 tbsp Baileys Irish liqueur
4 tbsp whipping cream, whipped

Chocolate shavings or cocoa to decorate.

Put the pastry shells on a baking sheet.
Brush the bottom of each shell with some melted chocolate.
In a heavy bottomed saucepan, bring the milk just to the boil.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar for about a minute, then stir in the flour. Add the hot milk, whisking all the time.
Put the pan back on the heat and cook till the custard thickens, about 2 mins, making sure you whisk all the time.
Take it off the heat and add the Baileys, then allow it to cool.
When cool, fold in the cream gently then put in the fridge till thickened - about half an hour.
Spoon the custard into a piping bag fitted with a medium star nozzle.
Pipe the mixture into the tartlet cases then put them in the fridge.
Decorate with a curl of dark chocolate.

They're rather fiiddly and time consuming, but they taste great. A special occasion recipe, but worth trying. Lovely texture to the custard, and it blends well with the cream topping.

Tyler's cinnamon squares

My favourite spice is cinnamon, so when I found this recipe I had to try it.
It comes from a very old copy of 'Home and Freezer Digest' magazine, which is sadly no more.

250g caster sugar + 2 tbspns
1tbspn + 21/2 tspns cinnamon
11/2 tspns instant coffee
175g plain flour
2 tspns baking powder
175ml milk
2 large eggs
1/2 tspn vanilla extract
140g butter, melted
Bag chocolate chips

Preheat oven 180C/350F/gas4
Grease and line a 20cm square tin.

Put the 2 tbspns of sugar, the 21/2 tspns cinnamon  and the coffee in a bowl and mix together.
In another bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, caster sugar and the cinnamon. In a third bowl beat together the milk, eggs and vanilla.
Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and beat them together.Fold in the cooled, melted butter.
Put half of the batter into the tin, smooth then sprinkle over the chocolate chips and the cinnamon sugar. Put the rest of the batter on top.
Bake for about 35 mins. Leave in tin for 15 mins then put onto a wire rack.

The cake is delicious as it is, but it's even nicer with a chocolate topping. Use your favourite ganache or whatever you fancy. I used 175g plain chocolate and 45g butter - I put them in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and then let them melt, stirring. Don't let the mixture get too hot or it won't be nice and thick to spread over the top. Swirl it over with a small palette knife.

The cake has a real cinnamon flavour and a soft texture.

Chocolate mousse tartlets

We had some of the family yesterday, and as my dil is a chocoholic, I thought I'd make these.

The recipe has been adapted from a French cookery book that my penfriend gave me years ago, but which has languished at the back of the shelf ! The book has some other great tarts to try, so will be posting more recipes. It's called simply 'Les tartes' but I can't find an author.

The recipe makes 8 tartlets.

250g  shortcrust pastry [your own or bought]
175g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
2-3 tbspn water
1 tbspn butter - softened
1 tbspn cognac or cointreau [opt!]
3 eggs, separated
chocolate shavings or grated chocolate to decorate

Preheat oven 200C/gas6

Roll out the pastry and line eight 10cm tartlet moulds. Then put them in the fridge for about 15 mins.
 Line them with parchment and fill with beans and bake them 15mins; take out the beans and paper and cook them for another 5 mins; leave to cool.

Melt the chocolate over a bowl of hot water or in the microwave and leave to cool. Add the butter and mix till it's melted then add the egg yolks. Now's the time to pour in the cognac or Cointreau. Mix it all together.
Beat the whites stiffly then fold in the chocolate mixture .

Spoon the mixture into the pastry shells and put in the fridge till they're set [2-3 hours].

Before serving, sprinkle some shavings or grated chocolate on top.

I didn't add any cognac or Cointreau to the tartlets as my grandchildren would be eating them. We liked the texture of the chocolate in the filling - silky and very more-ish.

English biscuits

These biscuits are a French recipe given to me by my neighbour when we lived there. Not sure why they're called 'English' biscuits! My grandsons are coming today and they love these. My neighbour always uses half plain flour and half potato flour, but as I couldn't find any potato flour, I used all plain flour. Also the recipe uses some cooking chocolate as well as some with praline in it. I used good milk chocolate instead of the cooking chocolate. They seem to have a better selection of good cooking chocolate in France.

 The recipe makes about 30 biscuits

4 eggs, separated

pinch of salt

100g caster sugar

1 lemon

75g potato flour

75g plain flour

100g cooking chocolate

100g chocolate with praline 

Preheat oven 200C/gas 6/400F

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Beat the egg yolks in a bowl with the salt and sugar till they whiten. Wash the lemon, grate its zest, then juice it. Add the juice and zest to the egg yolks.

Beat the egg whites till firm and add to the yolks' mixture.Mix the flours in carefully .

Put tablespoons of the mixture onto the baking sheet, spacing well. Make them into little rounds with a spoon.

Bake for about 10 mins and let the biscuits cool on a wire rack.

Melt the chocolates together then dip the biscuits half way.



Chocolate and cranberry flapjacks

I haven't made flapjacks for ages. Each time, I change my original recipe and add new things; today it's cranberries and sunflower seeds.

125 gr butter
75g caster sugar
1 tbspn golden syrup
300g rolled oats
50g sunflower seeds
75g chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
50g dried cranberries

Preheat oven 180C/350F/gas4
Grease a 20cm square cake tin.
Put the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan and melt over a low heat. Mix well.
Take off the heat and add the oats and sunflower seeds. Stir until well mixed, then add the chocolate chips and cranberries.
Spoon into the cake tin and press it down well with the back of a spoon.
Bake for 25 mins.

Let it cool in the tin for a bit, then mark into 12 squares.

Chocolate banana cake

Had a few really ripe bananas to use up so decided to make a banana cake. Then I fancied something chocolate, so changed the recipe into a chocolate version. I'm very pleased with the result. It's a very moist cake.

150g butter or margarine
150g light brown sugar
300g plain flour
2 tspn baking powder
2 eggs, beaten
4 tbspns cocoa powder
50g dark chocolate broken up [or chocolate chips]
100 ml vegetable oil

Preheat oven 180C/gas4

Grease a 900g loaf tin.

Beat the eggs and sugar together.
Mash up the bananas and add to the mixture.
Beat in the eggs.
Mix the flour, baking powder, cocoa and chocolate together, then add these to the mixture.
Lastly add the vegetable oil, and give it all a good mix.

Spoon into the tin and bake for about 45 mins.
I found that because of the lumps of chocolate, the centre was quite soft. I checked to see if it was cooked in several other places.
Leave it to cool for 10 mins in the tin, and then turn onto a wire rack.

You can see the melted chocolate in the centre of the photo.

National Cupcake Week

It's National Cupcake Week, so I made a few this morning as my contribution. I decided that I would make fairy cake sized ones, as this is much more British than the blowsy US cupcakes.

I'm not a huge fan of buttercream, so these are simply dipped in some good dark chocolate from our local chocolatier. I used about half of a 100g bar of 70% dark chocolate for the topping.

It's a simple 100g butter, sugar and sr flour mix with 2 heaped tbspns cocoa powder and 2 eggs.

Just beat the butter and sugar together, add the eggs and beat them in, then fold in the flour mixture.

I also added a heaped tspn of coffee granules to the flour mixture, which Ina says enhances the chocolate flavour. We shall see!

This amount of mixture made 8 small cakes, plenty for the 2 of us.