When I told Miss5 that I was baking a Mexican chocolate cake she asked if it had tacos and beans in it. No, it doesn’t, but it does have one helluva kick. This comes courtesy of some spice that transform the sometimes overly sweet flavour of chocolate cake into a cake for grown-ups. I found the recipe on food.com and tweaked it. Continue reading
Chocolate and peanut butter is always a winning combo and makes a perfect foil to all that fruit cake’n’pud traditionally offered around the Christmas table.
This easy-peasy brownie would also make a fab addition to any Christmas parties or festive barbecues. You’ve probably got all six ingredients in your kitchen so why not make a pan of this right now? You will thank me later…
The recipe was found on BBC Good Food’s site, a fabulous place to while away the hours. I added some roasted, salted peanuts on top and boy did it make this sweet sing.
GATHER:
225g crunchy peanut butter
200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
280g soft light brown sugar
3 medium eggs
100g self-raising flour
handful roasted, salted peanuts
handful dark chocolate drops
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a 20cm pan with non-stick baking paper.
Melt peanut butter, chocolate and sugar in a pan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has just about melted.
Turn off heat and use a wooden spoon to beat in the eggs one by one then stir in the flour.
When everything is mixed in pour into tin, then dot the peanuts and dark chocolate drops on top.
Bake 25-30 minutes, until top is firm but inside still fudgy.
Cool and cut into squares.
A little while back I blogged about Oreo cupcakes and it went OFF! Obvs everyone is fond of a cupcake that is drenched in chocolate, more chocolate and a swirl of decadent cream cheese. I know I am, and I’m not even a cupcake fiend.
The sad, neglected apples sitting unloved in the fruit bowl were never going to get eaten. They looked so shiny, so full of hope in the greengrocers. By the time they had completed the journey home and been relegated to the big purple ceramic fruit bowl they had begun to lose their lustre. A cake would turn these lovelies into something befitting their sweet taste. Continue reading
Growing up in Australia we kids were made aware of Oreos due to the fact that every sitcom on TV here was American. In these shows kids come from school, drank milk and had an Oreo. They attained mythical status even though we had just a vague idea of what kind of biscuit, or cookie, they were.
Then, a year or so ago, supermarkets were awash with Oreos. And they were so cheap. I bought them, I tried, them, I was underwhelmed. Never fear, thought I, for they can be turned into a swoon-worthy treat – the Oreo cupcake. Continue reading
I’m not one to blow my trumpet but this is probably the best cake I’ve ever made. Considering I am somewhat addicted to baking this is a big call. As always Donna Hay has produced a recipe that results in a gorgeous, melt-in-the-mouth baked cheesecake that is tart yet sweet at the same time. Not cloyingly sweet, just perfect sweet. Continue reading
Our rosemary bush is a beast of a thing – large, unwieldy but capable of producing the most fragrant and delicious tasting leaves. No matter how much we use or give away there is always more, more, more taking over our herb garden.
Looking for another way to use it I stumbled across the mistress of original cooking concepts, Nigella Lawson. My well-thumbed copy of ‘How To Be A Domestic Goddess’ provided the answer with this luscious cake.
Continue reading
If you are trying to watch your waistline or worried about the soaring costs of dental care avert your eyes. For this treat be both fat-and-sugar laden *but* it is super delicious and a cinch to make. Continue reading
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – cinnamon is the new black. The older I get the less I’m interested in sickly sweet desserts and cakes but I still want something with a real taste. I love vanilla [real, actual vanilla – not the nasty synthetic stuff] and I love cinnamon. This cinnamon tea cake has both which makes it a real winner. Continue reading
I was sent a copy of ‘After Toast – Recipes for Aspiring Cooks’ by Kate Gibbs to review in my day job as a journalist at The Leader newspaper. I brought it home to test some recipes and the first one to get the Hungry Mum treatment was her recipe called All About The Chocolate Loaf. I adore chocolate cakes that actually use chocolate, rather than cocoa, and this delivers that intense choc hit I was after. Ms Gibbs said the cake improves over a day or two but I served mine that evening. She suggests sesame & almond praline as an accompaniment but I lathered mine with dark chocolate ganache and walnut pieces.
GATHER:
1 1/3 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
130g dark choc melted
200 g butter, diced, at room temperature
1 ¼ cups brown sugar
2 large eggs
splash vanilla
1 cup boiling water
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 190C and grease and line a 23cmx 13cm loaf pan.
Sift flour with bicarb, set aside.
Cream butter and sugar in bowl of electric mixer until pale, then add eggs one at a time, then vanilla.
Fold in melted chocolate. Add one heaped spoon of flour at a time and boiling water alternately, stirring after each addition [I didn’t end up using all the water]. Batter will be runny. Make sure there are no lumps.
Pour into pan and bake for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 170C and cook for another 15 minutes.
Remove and allow to cool for about two hours before turning on a wire rack. When cold dress with choc ganache or icing sugar.
the hungry mum 