Baking: Quickest Easiest One Bowl and Spoon Chocolate Cake

Quickest Easiest One Bowl and Spoon Chocolate Cake

This was ripped out of a weekend Dommion Post at least a year ago eagerly by my mother. Therefore it is no surprise that it is a Ruth Pretty passalong creation. She calls it Serena's Cheating Chocolate Cake - Her website says  "New York caterer, Serena Bass, says this cake takes less time to make than it does to heat the oven to bake it so she calls it a cheating cake. She describes it as damp, dark and toothsome."

Living in a flat and being a student, I don't often have Buttermilk in the fridge therefore use low fat natural youghurt as a substitute. It works beautifully, if not better! The cake must be cover in either chocolate buttercream icing or ganche!

I am very much a cup and teaspoon girl so will post the recipe as I use it below. I am also even lazier with this recipe, i.e. i don't sift the flour etc. and I only use one bowl! A link to her recipe is displayed above.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup Dutched cocoa 
2 cups Sugar
1 3/4 cups Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 pinch Salt
1 cup  Yoghurt (she uses Buttermilk)
2 large Eggs
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract + 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Bean Paste
1 cup Boiling Water


Preheat oven to 180°C.

Lightly grease base and sides of a 23cm deep round cake tin with oil and line with baking paper.


Into a large bowl sift cocoa, sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and combine. 

Make a well in flour mixtures centre and add eggs, oil and vanilla extract/ paste and whisk to combine.

Pour in water and whisk till combined and batter is smooth.

Immediately pour batter into prepared tin and place into preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or till cake skewer when inserted comes out clean.

Remove cake from oven and cool completely before removing from baking paper and tin. Ice !

Happy Birthday Daisy

Yesterday I was one of the lucky to be invited to attend Daisy's first Birthday.

As I have some very pressing study to do (due to exams), I was not able to stay for long therefore Helen insisted I bring home a doggy bag. The treats inside, needless to say (as all the Lovely Wee Days girls were there) were perfect. They tasted even better than they looked, which I know is difficult to believe as they looked so exquisite they could have easily belonged (in plastic form) in Daisy's tea party set.

The lemon meringue tartlets were definitely my favourite (but perhaps that just my love for citrus coming out); the curd just sweet enough and the meringue nice and crisp.

Change of A Kitchen

I haven't posted anything in a while due to exam prep and moving flats. However I thought I would share the result of the move and where I used to bake / cook compared to where I now have the delight of baking. This was quite exciting and believe it or not the kitchen was the HUGE selling point of the house to my two flatmates and I.

The two photos below show the kitchen at my old flat which was used by all six flat mates.

The picture below shows my new kitchen, complete with more cupboard space (for half the number of flatmates), dishwasher and even a little space for my mothers old retro Kenwood, which I so very love.

Above: Orange retro Kenwood in its cubby - (Note: fridge just temporary and microwave coming soon!... as you can probably tell was very excited by it all)

Below: Dishwasher!

The first thing I cooked was a batch of thank-you Hooky Pokey Biscuits (which I still have not mastered the art to the skill of Mary Bollard - Recipe: Edmonds Cookbook) and the Quickest Easiest One Bowl and Spoon Chocolate Cake (Recipe: On Blog) for my brother (Weston) and his two friends who helped me move.

Will post book cake recipe soon!

xoxo

Chloe

Dessert: White Chocolate, Raspberry and Gingernut Cheesecakes laced with Butterscotch

White Chocolate, Raspbeery and Gingernut Cheesecakes laced with Butterscotch

This recipe is for one large cheesecake however sometimes it is nice to make individual ones, as seen in the pictures. I make them in a silicon muffin pan, so they are easy to get out (just run a knife around the outside of the cake and push on bottom of the pan - they will pop out easily)

Ingredients:

150g Gingernut biscuits

75g Butter, Melted

250 mL Cream
250 mL Cream Cheese
250g Mascarpone Cheese
125g Caster Sugar
2 Tablespoons Butterscotch (1 for Base, 1 for Topping)
500g White Chocolate, Melted
1 Cup Raspberries (Frozen or Fresh)

Process biscuits, butter and butterscotch in food processor and then press into a 25cm spring foam tin, lined with baking paper. Put in fridge.

Beat, with an electric beater, cream cheese, cream, mascarpone, sugar, chocolate and butterscotch until smooth. Place raspberries in bottom of base. Pour over cheese mixture and refrigerate for at least four hours, preferably overnight.

Cut into wedges and serve.

Cookie Dough

Sometimes you just feel like eating a cookie.

There are none in the house.

You can't be bothered making one.

At this point I head to the frezzer!

Frozzen cookie dough is amazing! Its as easy as letting it defrost for half an hour (or if your in a hurry you can deforst it in microwave), slicing it up and whacking it in the oven.

Secondly,

I love raw cookie dough, so as you'd imagine when am overseas go straight for the Ben and Jerrys Cookie Dough Ice-cream.

This cookie got a bit crispy around the outside due to the timing issues. I guess just an off day! I hope you have better luck when you try it!

This dough was Melting Moment Cookie Dough but Oaty Chocolate Chunk Crisp Cookies work just as well! Anything which the butter is creamed should be fine to freeze.

Biscuits, Cookies and Slices: Weston's Favourite The Classic Ginger Crunch

Weston's Favourite The Classic Ginger Crunch

My brother Weston loves this Ginger Crunch as it is so thin and crispy + it contains no healthy rolled oats...just pure sin (butter)

Ingredients:

Base

150g Butter, softened

1/2 Cup Sugar

1 1/2 Cup Flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

Icing

75g Butter

1 Cup Icing Sugar

2 1/2 Tablespoons Golden Syrup

2 Teaspoons Ground Ginger

Preheat oven to 180C.

Cream first measure of butter and sugar together.

Mix in remaining crust ingredients until combined and crumbly.

Press into baking paper lined tray (20cm by 30cm) and bake for 20 mins or until lightly browned.
Note: It should just fit the base of the tin if pressed out thinly enough.

When crust has been taken out of the oven, melt the second measure of butter in a heavy based saucepan. Add golden syrup, then ginger and icing sugar, whisking with each addition until it forms a smooth runny icing.

Pour on top of the hot base and spread out evenly with a knife or by tilting the tray. Cut now, when hot into squares and leave to cool.

Martha's Pantry, Wellington; Lemon Curd Cupcakes

I had heard of the beautiful cupcakes and the divine high teas, so my mother and I decide it was necessary to indulge on a particularly cold and windy overcast Wellington day. 

We managed to score a table in the packed wee cafe, sitting down while the evacuees, a mother and three or four year old little girl, were only metres away.  The staff were very friendly and told us while clearing the table, that a cupcake had been in order for the previous little girl due to a particularly nasty doctors visit. I thought how delightful this place would be as a child, however looking around the majority of the clientele were alot older.  

After ordering a cup of tea, chocolate milkshake, mini cupcake, lemon curd cupcake and lemon meringue pie between us, we sat down to our grown-up tea party (or feast) to taste, nibble and sip, before a verdict could be reached.

I will admit that while the cupcakes were in pretty little cases they were particularly dry. A disappointment similar to that found at the "Cupcake Parlor" in Christchurch. Perhaps they were stale. Despite this they did look the part and were decadently decorated with layers of icing. I thought the lemon curd cupcake's stale interior was disguised, a little, by the large dollop of delicious lemon curd in the middle. This, I thought, was a very nice idea indeed. 

The real winners of the day was the chocolate milkshake and lemon meringue pie. The pie looked homemade with a rustic feel. The pastry was thin, crisp and sweet, which was pair perfectly with a tangy lemon curd and a velvety meringue which floated on top. The shake sprinkled with real chocolate and full of creamy ice-creamy goodness. Even two men in orange vests, who I assume were contractors, were sitting at the corner table (possibly on lunch break) slurping one each. The shake was definitely an afternoon tea by itself. It was huge!

In conclusion I would recommend this cute wee little place, however perhaps not for the cupcakes.

I was inspired by the lemon curd cupcakes, therefore went home and made myself some nice moist ones (one is shown below). I will share the recipe in my next post.

For your reference:

http://www.wellingtonnz.com/bars_restaurants/marthas_pantry

Baking: Vanilla Bean Meringues

Vanilla Bean Meringues

These are used every Christmas to make a meringue mountain with cream and berries

(off course minus the blue food colouring!)

At the bottom you can see a blue meringue topping a White Chocolate, Raspberry and Gingernut Cheesecake laced with Butterscotch. This recipe will be shared in a later post.

Ingredients:
6 Egg Whites
2 Cups Castor Sugar
1 Teaspoon Natural Vanilla Essence
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Bean Paste (optional– don’t panic if you don’t have it)
1 Teaspoon Malt Vinegar
2 Teaspoons Cornflour

1 Teaspoon Blue Food Colouring (if you feel so inclined)

Preheat oven to 115C.

In a large metal bowl beat egg whites until soft peaks form using an electric beater.

Gradually add caster sugar (teaspoon at a time), Beat in vanilla paste, essence, vinegar and cornflour.

Spoon mixture onto baking tray, and bake in an oven for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes turn off oven and leave meringues in there to cool down and dry out.

Below is a Jaffa Mouse as well as a White Chocolate, Raspberry and Ginngernut  Cheescake laced with Butterscotch  topped with a blue Vanilla Bean Meringue ( I will share the mouse and cheesecake recipes with you later)

Biscuits, Cookies and Slice: Oaty Chocolate Chunk Crisp Cookies

Oaty Chocolate Chunk Crisp Cookies

My mother has brought us up to like crispy cookies that you can eat easily with a cup of tea (perhaps have a little dip). Therefore cakey cookies esp. those with eggs in them are shunned.

These are my favourite delightfully crispy chocolate cookies with rolled oats so you can feel virtuous that it contains something healthy.

I didn't think in detail directions were required so below is what I use when making them.

CREAM

250 g Butter, Softened

¾ Cup Brown Sugar (tightly packed)

MIX

3 (very large) Tablespoons Sweetened Condensed Milk ~ perhaps almost but not quite a half can

JUST COMBINE

1 ¾ Cup Flour

1/2 Cup Rolled Oats

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

250g Eating Chocolate (Dark or Milk)

BAKE for 15 - 20 mins til lightly golden 

- turn off oven leaving oven door open a little and leave to crispen

Teed Street Deli, Auckland: Lemon and Blueberry Scones

I went to Teed Street Deli over the weekend and had the most amazing scone!

It had lemon rind and blueberries in it, with a sprinkling of brown sugar and cinnamon over the top to give it a sweet and crispy crust. Delish!

It was very similar to my own maple syrup scone mixture (buttery, cakey and not at all dry) so I decided to try to make my own lemon and blueberry scones!

To achieve this I added 2 teaspoons of lemon rind and 1/2 Cup frozen blueberries to my scone mixture (leave out the maple syrup and replace with sugar), additionally before cooking I sprinkled 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 tablespoon brown sugar over them.

They came out beautifully and think they tasted almost identical to the Teed Street Deli delights!

PS. To make them even more delish, sprinkle over some flaked almonds before sprinkling the cinnamon and brown sugar over the top!

Mains: Pumpkin Risotto

Pumpkin Risotto

My family prefers this recipe without the cheese in the risotto but instead with only a sprinkling on the top. You may need more stock (or water) than stated to insure the risotto moves freely in the saucey mixture.

Ingredients:
100 grams Butter
2 Large Onions, Finely Diced
500 grams Pumpkin, Peeled, Deseeded and Cubed
1 Cups Alborio rice
4 Rashers Bacon, Chopped
1 Teaspoon Curry Powder
3 cloves Garlic, Crushed
500 mL Chicken stock/Water and 1 Oxo Cube (Minimum)
½ Cup Parmesan Cheese, Freshly Grated
Pinch Sea Salt
Some freshly ground Black Pepper
½ Cup Peas, Frozen or Fresh

Melt butter in a large deep frypan over a medium heat, add onions and sauté until soft and transparent.

Add pumpkin, rice and bacon. Cook for a further five minutes. Add garlic and curry powder as well as salt and pepper.

Add chicken stock in two additions. Simmer for 20 – 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Rice should move freely in sauce and be soft with a mild crunch.

Add peas and chese. Serve with a light grating of cheese on top.

Matterhorn, Wellington: Vanilla and Black Pepper Ice-cream

I went to Matterhorn in Wellington the other night and had a lovely pineapple souffle with vanilla and black pepper ice-cream. The pepper gave the sweet vanilla a nice spicy kick and I wanted to create something easy and similar.

As i couldn't be bothered with all the stirring or setting up the ice-cream machine I opted for a vanilla and black pepper creme brulee ice-cream. I used the creme brulee recipe, which I have posted on here in an earlier post, leaving out the toffee (sugar and water mixture) and raspberries and adding 3 teaspoons of freshly cracked black pepper. I then froze the mixtures after allowing them to cool in the fridge first (after cooking).


The result was surprisingly refreshing (I didn't bother to brulee the top, I just ran a knife around the container and turned it out onto a small plate!) serving it with a biscuit base, brandy snap and chopped up moro bar. 

- rest of plate explained below and in posts to come

Left: Caramelised pineapple pieces with french milk chocolate = Pineapple Lumps

Left Middle: Vanilla and Black Pepper Ice-cream with brandy snap, biscuit base and slices of moro bar = Moro Bar Medley

Right Middle: Blue Mergingue with White Chocolate, Raspberry and Gingernut Cheesecake laced with Butterscotch = Dream Bar

Right:  Dark chocolate mouse laced with Cointreau complete with Jaffa on top =Jaffas

Baking: Raspberry and Chocolate Brownies

Raspberry and Chocolate Brownies

These are my favorite treat out of the tin. To make extra special swirl some melted white chocolate over the top before cutting into pieces.

Ingredients:

250g Butter, Melted but not hot (unsalted works nicely but salted will do)
1 ½ Cups Sugar
½ Cup Brown Sugar
4 Eggs
¾ Cup Dutched Cocoa
2 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
2 Teaspoon Vanilla Paste
450 g Good Quality Dark Chocolate (70% Cocoa)
4/5 Cup Flour
1 Cup White Chocolate Chips (Optional)
1 Cup Raspberries

Beat butter, sugars, eggs, cocoa, vanillas together until pale and creamy.

Add dark chocolate and fold in.

Once combined, add white chocolate and flour and fold until just combined.

Spoon out into large tin (20 x 30cm). Use a knife to smooth out into an even layer.

Place berries scattered on top and gentle press in so still visible.

Bake for fifty-five to sixty minutes at 150C, until crunchy on top.

Allow to cool for 30 minutes before cutting.

Baking: Berry Youghurt Muffins

Berry Youghurt Muffins

One bowl = minimal dishes - this attracted me to this recipe!

Ingredients:

1 ½ Cup Flour

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
3 Eggs
3/4 Cup Natural Youghurt
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/3 Cup Rolled Oats
1 ½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
1 ½ Cup Frozen Berries

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix until just combined.

Spoon into a muffin tray and bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until spring back when the top is push.

Turn out of tray and allow to cool on a rack.

Dessert: Four Ingredient Butterscotch Sauce with Banana

Four Ingredient Butterscotch Sauce with Banana

Ingredients:
50g Butter
50 g Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Golden Syrup
2 Tablespoons Milk

Melt butter and brown sugar together in microwave until starts to bubble (30 to 60 sec).

Add golden syrup and milk and stir until combined.

Pour over chopped up banana.

Lunch or Easy Dinner: Slowcooker Pumpkin and Kumera Soup

Slowcooker Pumpkin and Kumera Soup

Ingredients:
½ Pumpkin, Peeled, Deseeded abd Cut into small chuncks
1 Large Kumera, Peeled and Cut into small chunks
2 Large Onions, Diced
1 Tablespoon Sweet Chili Sauce
Dash Balsamic Vinegar
2 Teaspoons Mild Curry Powder
2 Teaspoons Chicken Stock Powder
4- 6 Rashers of Bacon

Place all ingredients in slow cooker, fill with water until vegetatbles just not covered and cook on slow for about eight hours or until all ingredients are soft and break up a little when lightly stired.

To remove excess liquid remove lid and cook on high for a further hour (or manually heat over the oven in a heavy based pot).

Bit on the Side: Spicy Chips

Chips

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Chicken Stock Powder
1 Tablespoon Cajin Seasoning
3 Tablespoons Cornflour
½ Tablespoon Mixted Herbs

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1kg Potatoes, Washed and Cut into Wedges


Combine dry ingredients in plastic bag.

Place potatoe wedges in and shake.

Place coated wedges on baking tray with lined with baking paper.

Pour oil over top, toss and cook for 30 minutes at 180C or until nice and golden. Don't forget to turn at least once.


 

Baking: Banana Bread

Banana Bread
– Dairy free!


I freeze this and toast it for breakfast with the "defrost" function. To get the size in the photo, spilt mixture into two loaf tins instead of one.



Ingredients:
4 Large Bananas
3 Smallish Eggs
150g Sugar
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Cup Rolled Oats (Optional)
1/2 Cup Shredded Coconut
250g Flour
2 ½ Teaspoons baking powder

Preheat oven to 180C.

Combine wet ingredients. Sift in dry. Fold together to just combined. Do not over mix.

Bake in large loaf pan for 1hr 15 minutes.

Note: You can sprinkle the top with chopped walnuts and brown sugar to make that extra bit special