Easy Peasy Chocolate Cake

This is based on the fabulous yoghurt cake recipe. If I haven't mentioned this before, then you must must must try this recipe. It's so so easy, requires NO weighing and is endlessly adaptable. My personal favourite is dark cherry yoghurt, replacing some of the flour with ground almonds or even oats.

Great for people who don't bake much, all you need is a bowl large enough to mix everything in and a receptacle for baking. Try muffin, sandwich or loaf tins. Even a large rectangle tin would be perfect for creating bite size cakes for afternoon tea.

I'm still developing student recipes for www.oxnosh.co.uk. While I knew this recipe would be great for students, I wanted something that would also work for a birthday cake. Birthdays are generally the occasion when most people dust of their mixing bowls. To me, birthday + student = chocolate. So, I tweaked the yoghurt cake recipe and came up with this version using cocoa powder, no chocolate melting involved!

You end up with a rich, moist chocolate cake ready for decorating. Make sure the cake is comletely cool before attempting to ice, too many times have I let impatience get the better of me and ended up fighting back the melting whipped cream (and the tears) as it cascades down the side of the cake.
Here we've filled the cake with whipped cream and iced with chocolate ganache, but you could try a mascarpone and raspberry filling. An easy grown up version - chocolate and raspberries are a delicious combination, strawberries would be great too. Mascarpone, although a little more expensive is great because all you need to do is stir it vigorously with a little icing sugar and maybe vanilla until it's soft and billowing like a dense whipped cream and stir the fruit in gently. Spoon generously onto one sandwich and top with the other.


My top tip for icing a cake successfully with minimum mess is to tear 4 long strips of greaseproof paper and place them on the edge of your plate. Top with the filled cake and do one layer of icing. The greasproof paper means you can be as messy as you want (within reason), you're going for general coverage here, trying to make the surface as smooth as possible in a thin coat of icing. Let this chill in the fridge before doing the second layer.

Once dry, pull the strips out from under the cake for a perfectly clean plate.

Chocolate Ganache Icing

• • 300ml double cream
• • 125g dark chocolate
• • 2tbsp icing sugar

Melt all the icing ingredients in a small saucepan, stirring gently. Keep whisking until it becomes thick and glossy.

Wait until the cakes are completely cool before icing. Place four strips of baking paper (or just normal paper) on the edge of a plate and place one of the cakes on top.

Pour half the cream into a large bowl with 1tbsp icing sugar and whisk until softly whipped (the peaks stand up by themselves). Spread this over the cake on the plate. Top with the other half.

Melt all the icing ingredients in a small saucepan, stirring gently. Keep whisking until it become thick and glossy. Ice the cake in 2 thin layers, chilling in between. Read more...

Chocolate Brioche pudding

There's this Nigella recipe for Orange Scented Brioche Pudding and it is AMAZING. Brioche, spread with marmalade, squished into a dish, topped with custard and baked until golden. This is the bread and butter pudding.

So, when I spotted these little chocolate brioche rolls in the supermarket, I thought I'd make a chocolate version. Yes, it was as good as it looks and so easy. Sweet, buttery brioche, dark chocolate and eggy custard. This is much better at warm or even at room temperature rather than hot out of the oven. Leftovers can be eaten out of the dish for a naughty breakfast.

Ingredients

Serves 4

1 pack chocolate brioche rolls (approx 300g)
or bricoche with 100g chopped chocolate
2 eggs
50g sugar
125ml double cream
125ml milk
3tbsp brown sugar

• Slice the brioche and squish into a large, greased casserole dish.
• Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, cream, milk and sugar.
• Pour the custard over the brioche and leave to sit for 15minutes.
• Sprinkle the brown sugar over the top and bake at 170C for about 30mins until the pudding is just set.

Read more...

Chocolate and Pistachio Fudge

I normally give people food related presents at Christmas, partly because they love it, and partly (mostly) because its cheap! In the same vein, this year I decided to branch out from my usual brownies and try something different. Something different being this insanely easy fudge recipe from Nigella Express,, of course, its not really fudge in the strictest sense of the word, but it is delicious and has that soft 'fudgy' texture.

...I was drawn to it because I know any recipe of Nigella's will be delicious, but also because she says you can prepare it in advance and then stash it in the freezer. Hurray! No more mammoth baking sessions on Christmas Eve! Although I'm sure my family won't let me get away with it that and I'll be baking brownies too...

I think 'easy' is a bit of an understatment, simply melt the chocolate with condensed milk, stir in chopped pistachios and leave to set, cutting it into squares the next day. I made one batch with pistachios as per the recipe and the next with hazelnuts, both delicious.

I got the bags on Cakes Cookies and Craft Shop - an amazing website for anyone who likes baking.

Taken From Nigella Express


Ingredients

350g dark chocolate, chopped
1 x 397g can condensed milk
30g butter
pinch salt
150g chopped pistachios or hazelnuts

Empty the condensed milk into a saucepan and tip in the chopped chocolate with the butter.
Heat gently, stirring slowly until completely melted.
Add the salt and chopped pistachios and mix well.
Pour into a 23cm square tin (I used a Silicon one) and spread until a smooth layer.
Leave to cool and refridgerate overnight.
Cut into small pieces and enjoy!
Read more...

Damp Chocolate Cake

Another treat from How to Be a Domestic Goddess this is a simple plain loaf cake. That's not to say it isn't incredibly damp, intense and worryingly moreish. This is perfect on its own with tea or coffee or made more elaborate with the addition of some berries and ice cream or custard. Nigella confesses to liking it spread with cream chees, hmm will have to try that one out...

As its so moist, this cake keep like a dream, just make sure you line the tin well, or get some liners. It also improves after a day or so, perfect to make in advance.

Ingredients

225g soft butter
375g dark muscavado sugar
2 large eggs
1tsp vanilla
100g dark chocolate, melted
200g plain flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda, added to the flour
250ml boiling water

• Preheat the oven to 190C and line your loaf tin.
• Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs and vanilla, beating in well.
• Next pour in the chocolate and mix this in well too.
• Add half the flour to the batter and stir well, now add half the water and stir carefully until fully combined. Repeat with he rest of the flour and water.
• Be patient stirring the batter as you will end up with a very liquid consistency. Now decant into the loaf tin, don't be alarmed if it fills the tin almost to the top, the cake barely rises on cooking.
• Bake for 30mins, then turn the oven down and bake for another 15mins.
• Bear in mind a cake tester won't come out completely clean as the cake is so squidgy, it will also tend to sink a little in the middle for the same reason.
• Once cooked, remove from the tin and allow to cool.

Read more...

Mars Bar Rice Krispie Cakes

Rice krispie cakes were always my favourite thing about cake sales at school. Mars bar rice krispie cakes are really a whole other level of fudgy joy. My friend Jamie, the original baking goddess introduced me to these and now I would never make any different. Its as easy as making normal rice krispie cakes, just melt the mars bars with a little butter and stir in enough rice krispies so that they are evenly coated, allow to cool and try not to eat them all! Read more...

Gooey Chocolate Pudding

These are possibly the easiest dessert you could make, yet they still offer everything you could want in a sweet treat. Rich intense chocolate pudding with a gooey centre. The only difficult part is cooking the fondants, but even then its not that stressful as its fine to slightly undercook them, you just end up with more goo in the centre. Of course these need to be eaten with double cream, or ice cream, or maybe custard?

If you don't have ramekins, you can make this is in one large dish instead, but cook it for longer.

Ingredients

Makes 4 fondants

100g dark chocolate
100g butter
2 eggs
100g caster sugar
2tbsp flour

Melt the chocolate and butter. Meanwhile whisk the eggs and suagar together, whisk in the melted chocoalte and then the flour. transfer to 4 greased ramekins. Bake at 180°C for 12-15mins until the top feels frim but still soft underneath. Read more...

The Best Chocolate Brownies

It was only a matter of time before these came up... These are based on Nigella's recipe, (how can you go wrong with Nigella?) and give you everything you could want in a brownie, rich, intense, chocolatey, gooey perfection. All I've done is scale down Nigella's recipe so that you get a more manageable mixture that can fit into a smaller tin, which makes it a lot easier to cook.

The key to a good brownie is to use good quality ingredients, the best chocolate you can get and good butter and eggs. The only sticking points might be melting chocolate (see below) and knowing how long to cook the brownies for, its difficult to give exact instructions as all ovens vary, you're looking for the top to have dried to a paler brown and for the middle to be firm but still squidgy. Remember they will continue to cook as they cool. I would always rather an undercooked brownie than an overcooked and its amazing what a few hours in a fridge can do to firm brownies up.

Variations
This recipe is a fantastic base to add any number of ingredients to, below are a few ideas, I've not tried all of them, so it would be interesting to know if they are good...

• Add 150g chopped walnuts or macadamia nuts
• Substitute 1tbsp Baileys for the vanilla
• Add the grated zest of 1 orange instead of the vanilla for chocolate orange brownies
• Add 150g chopped white chocolate just before baking
• Add 100g peanut butter just before baking
• Substitute either all or ½ of the flour for ground almonds
• Add 1tbsp espresso instead of the vanilla for chocolate and coffee brownies
  

Melting Chocolate
I always melt my chocolate in the microwave and have never had a problem. Now I am not the most patient or careful person, so I thought this technique must be pretty foolproof but, having spoken to friends, it turns out they have problems with chocolate burning, so, I found this website that gives pretty comprehensive tips on melting chocolate. Also, it turns out, you might be able to rescue burnt chocolate by carefully whisking in a little vegetable oil, I've never tried though, so let me know if it works.

Ingredients
190g dark chocolate, broken up
190g butter, cubed
250g caster sugar
3 eggs
2tsp vanilla extract
110g plain flour
½tsp salt

Melt the chocolate and butter together. Meanwhile whisk the eggs and sugar together well until pale. Whisk in the melted chocolate and vanilla, and stir in the flour, salt and any extra ingredients. Transfer to a greased 9in square tin. Bake at 180°C for approx 20mins, keep checking the brownies after about 15mins to see if they're done, a minute can make all the difference between a dry brownie and a squishy one. Read more...

Whte Chocolate Brownies

You must seriously make these, they're a revelation, sweet and gooey. The first time I tried them, I loved them so much I pretty much baked them continuously until they made me feel a bit sick. Now don't do that, but do bake them. They are about a million calories in each brownie, but why eat a brownie that doesn't? It pretty much guarantees it will be tasty.

Ingredients

500g white chocolate
75g butter
175g sugar
3 eggs
175g selfraising flour
1tsp salt
2tsp vanilla
175g chopped hazelnuts

Melt 100g white chocolate with the butter. Meanwhile, whisk the sugar and eggs, next whisk in the butter chocolate mixture and vanilla and fold in the flour. Chop the rest of the chocolate, add this to the mixture with the hazelnuts. Pour into a 20cm tin and bake at 180°C for 30mins until firm on top, but still al little squidgy, the brownie will carry on cooking whilst it cools. This makes enough for about 16 squares. Read more...

Gooey Chocolate Cake

This is actually just a baked chocolate mousse, so you could chill the mixture in individual pots (coffee cups work well) and have it as a mousse. That said, its really worth baking it in the oven. I'm not a massive of eating chocolate on its own, but it really comes into its own in baked goods. What is more satisfying that a perfectly cooked gooey chocolate brownie? Er, maybe some ice cream with it...

Cooking with chocolate is so easy and it always affords the best responses from people. There are a few rules, one only use very good quality dark chocolate, even if you don't like eating, its a must for baking, (you get the sweetness from adding sugar). Make sure you use good quality butter (english, organic if possible) and melt it very slowly. I always use a microwave, it saves the hassle of melting it in a bain marie and I've only ever burnt it once. (If you melt chocolate too quickly, it burns, seizes up and is unusable, you will know as it smells pretty bad too). All I do is melt it for a minute or so on medium, give it a stir and then repeat until the chocolate has melted. Simple.

As this cake contains no flour, it is whisked egg whites that give it lift. Whisking egg whites can be a bit of a hassle (though not impossible) without and electric whisk. In those instances, it can be useful to rope in someone else to do the whisking for you, who will benefit from the cake later on. When whisking egg whites, the key is to go slowly at first until the eggs starts to foam, then you can go quite quickly. Its also very important that there is no fat or grease on the bowl or whisk (make sure no yolk gets into the whites) as this will stop them forming peaks. To make sure, you can run a cut lemon around the bowl and whisk.

Gooey Chocolate Cake

350g dark chocolate
200g golden caster sugar
175g butter
8 large eggs, separated
1tbsp vanilla

Grease and line a springform tin. Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks and sugar until really pale and thick (an electric whisk works best here) then stir in the vanilla and melted chocolate.

Then whisk the egg whites, by whichever means, until they form stiff peaks (i.e you can hold the bowl upside down over your head and nothing falls out, I would recommend this as a testing method). Make sure you only whisk the egg whites right before baking to retain as much air as possible.

Add a dollop of egg white and stir briskly to loosen the mixture. Add the rest of the egg whites and using a large metal spoon, cut a path down the middle of the mixture with the edge of the spoon. Then gently turn half the mixture over onto the other half. Continue cutting down the middle and turning a portion over. Don't stir. The purpose of folding is to retain the air you have beaten into the whites. Be careful to only mix enough to incorporate the whites, and never use an electric mixer for this step.

Transfer the mixture to the springform tin and bake immediately at 180°C for about 30-35mins. You want the cake to be firm on top but still a little squidgy underneath. Read more...