Chocolate Happiness

Pallavi makes chocolate cup cakes everytime and I love it!

Brownies

These are your basic cakey-brownies. I wont claim them to be the best, I know I can do better. But I will still go ahead and share this recipe I came up with myself. Pretty good eh.
Ingredients:

3/4 cup of flour (maida)

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup cocoa, separate half

1 tspn vanilla

2 eggs

1 tspn salt

5-6 cashew nuts or walnuts roughly chopped

Method:

In a non stick saucepan, combine sugar, milk, vanilla, butter and half of the cocoa. Whisk together as they blend beautifully and come to a boil. Please do remember to keep your gas flame low. Once you see tiny bubbles, take it off the stove and let it cool, whisking it once in a while. In a separate bowl combine flour, rest of the coco and salt. Add the eggs to the cooled chocolate mixture. Whisk quickly. Now fold in the flour, salt and coco into the chocolate and egg mix along with the chopped nuts. Keep a few nuts aside to sprinkle them on top of the batter after being poured into a greased tin. Bake it for 20 minutes. When you stick a fork/toothpick into the brownie, it should come out with little moist crumbs on it or thick batter stuck to it, unlike baking a cake. If it does come out clean it only means that it has been over-baked. Brownie done!

When I do come up with a better recipe I will post it again. There are always many variations to cakes an brownies. We just need to find the one that we like best. I am not completely satisfied with this one, but it hasn't disappointed me completely as well.

Serve with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream when warm.Or the way I like it, straight up!

The X-treeeem Chocolate Cake

This is the most ridiculously chocolatey chocolate cake ever. Rich yet light because I haven't added an ounce of butter in it except for the icing.So moist you forget to chew. And most of all, so chocolatey you don't want to stop. I strongly recommend you trying this cake. You just have to take my word for it.It will make you the most popular amongst family and friends.

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients:

1 cup flour (maida)

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tspn baking powder

1/2 tspn baking soda1/2 tspn salt

Wet ingredients:

1/2 cup curd

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup boiling water

1 tspn vanilla1 egg (separate yolk and white)

Combine all the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl whisk the egg white till almost stiff-very frothy.Add the yolk, curd, vanilla, oil and hot water to the dry mix. Mix well using a whisk but dont over whisk or beat it. When the batter is smooth, fold in the egg white. Grease your baking tin. Dust it with some flour, to avoid the cake from sticking to the tin. Pour all the batterand bake at 175C or low-med heat in oven for 45 mins or till the toothpick comes out clean when stuck inside.Remove and let it cool completely.

Psst psst: I forgot to add vanilla. Couldn't tell the difference anyways.

For the icing:

1/4 cup cocoa

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tspn vanilla

1/4 cup softened unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

Bring all the above ingredients to a boil on low flame in a saucepan. Keep whisking every now and then. Once it comes to a boiltake it off the heat and let it cool, all the while whisking it. Don't worry it will be thin in consistency when it is off the stove.But as it cools it will thicken to a fudge like consistancy. So beautiful it will stop your heart (not literally!)

Once it has completely cooled, generously pour it over the cake. Just to avoid mess, do place butterpaper under the cake.Or in my case today's newspaper. Once you've poured it, let it spread or you can do it yourself by using a spatula. Drench the cake completely with the chocolate frosting. Devilishly sinful chocolate cake is ready to serve.If you have left over icing, store it in the fridge. Whenever you need to use it, lets say for ice-cream sundaes or cakes , the likes, pop it in the microwave for about 15 seconds and enjoy!

There are many many chocolate cake recipes out there.It's just the matter of finding the right one that satisfies and have your taste buds tingle. I have a few such recipes for chocolate cake with different icing/frostings. Watch this space for more.

So ironic, this chocolate cake is so sinfully delicious leading you to think you're in heaven.

Sinful Chocolate cookies

I was going through a rough day and I needed something to take my mind off something else.What better than having your entire house smelling chocolate. To achieve this, I attempted baking some chocolate cookies.
This was my first time baking cookies, so I used a recipe I tumbled upon a few days ago. Try it.
Without any warning you will be sucked into the sinful chocolaty aroma that will fill your home.

1 1/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
Dash salt
1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Cream butter and sugar add eggs and vanilla.
Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Add nuts. Use your hands to make small patties of the dough.
Remember they widen while baking, so don't make big patties.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 9 minutes. Do not overbake. It Will turn soft.
Let set for a minute. Makes about 4 1/2 dozen.
I halved all the ingredients just to be safer since I was testing this recipe.

It's great with some chilled milk or even coffee. I personally would love a few of these
cookies and a tub of vanilla ice cream ;)

Good old Sponge cake with Chocolate frosting

Just the other day I was going through my mother's old diary of recipes.1993 mind you. That's when I tumbled upon the Sponge cake recipe. I thought I'd add a little twist to it by making a chocolate frosting to go with it. Common, who'd say no to chocolate. So let's get on with it.

250 gm maida

250 gm sugar

200 gm unsalted butter

6 eggs

1 tspn baking powder

1 tblspn vanilla essence

Process:

Separate the egg whites and the yolks. Beat the egg whites to an almost stiff frothy consistency. Beat the yolks separately and fold it into the whites.

In a separate bowl mix the butter (soft) and sugar till it turns a little fluffy. Add the egg mix into it and fold gently. Don't panic (like I did) if it looks like they don't blend well together.

Now sift the maida and baking powder and add it to the wet mixture slowly folding it in little by little. What I did was, use a small sieve and added a heaped spoon of maida at a time and folded it into the wet mix. Then you'll see how after adding the flour the batter slowly takes shape and all the ingredients blend into one harmonious body.

Now add the vanilla essence.

Baking:

Grease a big square piece of aluminium foil with some butter. Place it in your baking tin.

Pour in half of the batter and pop it into your pre-heated oven for 40 mins when in medium heat. Do check the cake after the first half hour just to be safe. Pierce a tooth pick or just a fork deep into the cake in the center. If it comes out clean, great! you're done then.

Wait, it gets better..

Frosting:

Butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder.

Blend in these ingredients to a thick consistency. Let the cake completely cool down and only then slather it with the chocolate frosting you just made.

Enjoy! :)