The Perfect Breakfast Cake

Wouldn't it be great to have cake for breakfast?I am sure we would all love to but guilt always holds us back. Well this recipe will quiet that annoying voice in your head, even if just for a few hours. Despite its not so attractive appearance this cake will please.

Wholemeal Dark chocolate hazelnut cake

Wholemeal Dark chocolate hazelnut cake

Wholesome and filling, sweet enough to be breakfast yet savory enough to be a meal. It goes great with a hot drink or a tall glass of milk and keeps really well too.

Wholemeal Dark chocolate hazelnut cake

175g butter
175g golden granulated sugar
3 beaten eggs
2-8 tbsp milk
175g wholemeal flour
2.5 level tsps baking powder
200g dark chocolate, chopped up into little bits
110g ground hazelnuts
25g chopped hazelnuts

Oven: 180c, gas mark 4
Grease and line a deep round cake tin about 18cm in diameter. ( I used a square 9 inch)

Method:

• Cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs a little at a time and fold in the flour and baking powder.  
• Add 1/3 of the the chocolate and all of the ground hazelnuts, Fold. Then add the milk a
• tablespoon at a time till the mixture drops off the spoon when you tap it on the side of the bowl. It will be a fairly firm mixture.  
• Put the mixture in the tin, smooth the top and sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts and balance chocolate over the top.

Stick it in the oven for about 1.5 hours – you’ll need to check it after an hour and put a sheet of grease proof paper
over the top if the nuts are getting too brown. Let it cool in the tin for about 15 minutes before you turn it out.

Wholemeal Dark chocolate hazelnut cake

Valentine's Day Special : Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Red Velvet is just the perfect cupcake for Valentine's Day. It's not to chocolatey and over powering, light enough for you to indulge yet sinful enough to make it a decadent V-day treat. Since V-day is this weekend, i thought i'd share my go to recipe here. This recipe is an adaptation from Georgetown cupcakes' Cupcake Diaries. As usual i've edited the recipe to suit me; no food coloring and lesser sugar. Have a go at it this weekend. It just might be the best V-day gift you've ever given.

Ingredients

(The recipe says it makes about 24. But if you are using a ice cream scoop as a measure for dividing the batter you will be getting about 30 pieces)

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour ( not self raising)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 170g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups castor sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons natural cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

For the cupcakes:1. Preheat oven to 180C and line muffins tins with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, whisk flour and salt together. Set aside.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and the sugar together and cream on medium speed until it is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
5. In a small bowl, whisk cocoa powder, and vanilla together until throughly combined and no lumps remain. Very slowly add to the mixer, and mix at low speed until well combined.
6. Add in one third of the flour mixture, mix until combined, then add in one third of the milk. Mix until combined and repeat adding in the flour then milk, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
7. In a small bowl, add the baking soda to the vinegar. Mix well and add to the batter. Mix until just incorporated, about 10 seconds.
8. Scoop batter  using an ice cream scoop into the muffin tin, filling them two-thirds full. Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least 2 hours.

For the frosting

• 225g unsalted butter, room temperature ( not too runny)
• 4 cups confectioners sugar
• 500 grams cream cheese (2 Philly bars),  cut into 8 pieces and chilled
• pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract ( Madagascar is the best.)

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream butter and confectioners sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
2. Add in the cream cheese, 1 piece at a time, until well blended, about 30 seconds. You may need to scrape the bowl after every other addition. Add in the salt and vanilla extract. Whip the icing on high speed for about 1 minutes to make it light and fluffy.
3. Use immediately, or refrigerate until ready to use.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Chocolate Chip Muffins

These are absolutely amazing muffins. If you are gonna try one recipe this month i recommend this.. and don't skimp on the chocolate chips!

What you need:
2 cups flour ( self raising)
1/3 cups brown sugar
1/3 cup castor sugar
2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs beaten
1 tspn vanilla
1 pack chocolate chips ( 12oz/360g) - i recommend Nestle's Toll house,
1/2 cups walnuts

Making it work,

Pre heat over to 180c. line muffin trays
1. In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients ( flour, sugars, baking powder & salt)
2. In an other bowl stir together milk, eggs, melted butter & vanilla essence. Make sure all wet ingredients are blended well.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture and stir to combine. Please take note not to over mix as overmixing will produce hard muffins.
4. stir in the whole pack of chocolate chips & nuts, spoon into lined muffin tins and bake for 15-20 mins.

The Wonders of Chocolate

Any man in love would give the apple of his eyes a box of chocolates. Yes it is true; chocolates can make any woman happy. Whenever depression strikes, chocolates can be very helpful. Kids simply cannot get their hands off chocolates and many parents experience that chocolate is very effective in making their children stop from crying. Previously, it was assumed that chocolates are bad for health and should be taken moderately. It was considered to be responsible for affecting dental health and causing obesity. However, recent studies prove otherwise.

It is scientifically proven that dark chocolate is the healthiest type of chocolate to consume. This is because of its high cocoa content. Notice that dark chocolate has darker color compared to milk chocolate. Milk chocolate is lighter in color because of its milk content. Dark chocolate has far more antioxidants than milk or white chocolate. These other two chocolates cannot make any health claims. Dark chocolate has 65 percent or higher cocoa content. Cocoa has certain ingredients that make them really beneficial to one's health. It contains antioxidants that give protection to the body from free radicals that causes aging which can eventually lead to heart attack.

A large quantity of antioxidants can be found in cocoa just like almost any other plant-based foods like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. However, it is believed to contain 8 times more antioxidants than strawberries. Just imagine the amount of antioxidants you can get by eating a deliciously healthy bar of dark chocolate. Even just a small bar of this, your cardiovascular system will start running in a good condition.

The benefits of chocolates do not stop there. Chocolates also help reduce cholesterol in our body. It also increases the amount of endorphins in our brain. Endorphins are responsible for making us feel happy. That explains the reason why we always feel better whenever we finish a bar of chocolate.

Chocolates also contain serotonin which is one of the main ingredients found in anti-depressants. Chocolates can therefore bring a person up whenever he is down and lonely. So whenever you are feeling gloomy, feel free to sink your teeth into that rich bar of dark chocolate and feel the happiness right away.

If you like what i write about, check out my other sites like Acne Scar Removal and i also like to write about African Scar Removall

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nickolaus_Cabcabin

Indulgence

I decided to name this cake Indulgence because of its contents. If you are a chocolate lover,or even if you are not, i bet you will love this. The combination of dark chocolate, hazelnut creme and chocolate ..one bite will take you into an orgasmic high...

The cake itself is a rich dark chocolate cake which i have been baking since my high school years. The recipe is an original which i have fine tuned and tweaked to perfection. My best friend Nicky loves this cake.

I separated the batter into two equal portions and baked them the night before. The next day i sandwiched both cakes with Nutella and frosted it with regular melted chocolate. As this was supposed to be a birthday cake i used simple M & Ms for a bit of color.

Apologies but i am unable to provide the recipe of this cake. But if you want to order it do give me a tinkle..

xoxo

Chocolate Cranberry Biscotti

I am not a fan of biscotti. If you are not sure what it is, well you know those long-ish shaped hard cookies they sell in Starbucks, yup, thats biscotti. Its an Italian double baked cookie . Traditionally it is Almond flavored. Nowadays there are all sort of variations. I choose to make this version with chocolate and cranberry because i have never baked with berries and thought this a good start.

I wanted to bake this simply because i saw a few cyber bakers making them and thought i could do it.

Thought, ladies and gents, being the operative word. Boy was i in for one hell of a mess... but like life, sometimes you just gotta get in there and get dirty once in a while. The batter was too watery, i could not roll it as required. I didn't know if i should have added more flour or chilled it. And I didn't have a serrated knife so cutting became a chore.

If you decide you wanna give it a try, please do because it tastes absolutely choco-licious. You can get the recipe here

Happy baking
xoxo

Guinnes Brownies

Since St Patrick's Day happens in March i thought it would only be right for me to bake something to suite the occasion. Shamrock, Clovers, Leprechauns, Guinness Stout are all must haves of this special celebration. The alcoholic within me screamed YESSSS when i landed on this recipe. 

Though i am not a huge Guinness drinker, i do occasionally fancy a pint, so i thought, why not? I'm pretty sure my colleagues at work would love it.

This particular recipe was pretty tricky, the batter was way too watery because it called for one can of Guinness stout. The batter didn't have any consistency at all, it was so diluted, kinda looked like my morning coffee! I of cause panicked a bit thinking this would be a flop. I used a 9inch cake pan to bake it instead of my normal brownie tray because i feared it would over flow when it was baking, especially since the recipe also called for baking powder. The cake pan filled almost to the brim, thankfully it didn't overflow!.


My brownies didn't turn out perfect, they were a bit too moist and gooey in the middle and chocolate chips all sunk to the bottom. I would reckon the next time i make these, i'd add nuts instead of chocolate chips. But these brownies smell heavenly and best eaten after you have frozen it a bit in the fridge. It also keeps pretty long.



The recipe can be found here. Let me know if you do try making this tricky recipe. I'd love to hear how yours turned out.

Happy St Patrick's Day
xoxo

Bloomin Brilliant Brownies

I have always loved everything chocolate so when i found this recipe i just had to try it out. Made this one Tuesday night and popped it into the fridge right after it cooled down, it really does taste better if you freeze it up. Brought it to work the next day and gave my colleagues orgasmic pleasure :)
The best part about this recipe is that its super easy to make!

Bloomin Brilliant Brownies
(Jaime Oliver's recipe)

What you need

250g unsalted butter
200g dark chocolate, broken up
• optional: 75g dried sour cherries
• optional: 50g chopped nuts
80g cocoa powder, sifted
65g plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
360g caster sugar
4 large eggs

This is the original recipe. I however thought that the required amount of sugar was just too much. I only used 100g in mine, and i added two handfulls of raisins as well.

Making it Work

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C and Line a 25cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper.
2. In a large bowl over melt the butter and the chocolate and mix until smooth. Add the nuts and and any other fruit you want to, and stir together.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and sugar
4. Add this to the chocolate, cherry and nut mixture. Stir together well.
5. Beat the eggs and mix in until you have a silky consistency.
6. Pour batter into the grease baking tray ,pop it into the over and baking for 25 minutes

The brownies should be slightly springy on the outside but still gooey in the middle. Allow to cool in the tray, then carefully transfer to a large chopping board and cut into chunky squares.
Jaime suggest serving it with a dollop of crème fraîche mixed with some orange zest. Eating it on its own, or with a cold glass green tea is fine too.

Happy Baking

xoxo

Weekend baking spree -Part 1

Two weekends ago i woke up bright and early on Saturday and started baking cookies.

I must confess that this was officially the first time i ever baked cookies and it turned out pretty darn yummy.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
I got this recipe from Alex's website and was sold the minute i read it. Check out her site for the full recipe. Being the experimental freak that i am, i decided to add macadamia nuts for a bit of crunch.

**Note to readers, Cookies are different from Biscuits. Cookies are meant to be soft and gooey in the middle unlike biscuits which are hard and firm.

A little tip
~because of the baking powder, the cookie batter really expands when its baking so i'd advise to use teaspoonfuls instead for cutter shaped cookie :)

Best eaten with Hot coffee or Milk

Happy Baking