Chunky Chocolate and Banana Cupcakes

I've got a confession to make: I've never watched the entire movie of The Notebook. It's suppose to be really romantic, and I like romantic movies, but I've just never got around to watching it. My friend V wanted to put an end to this, and came to my place earlier this week for an evening of baking cupcakes and watching The Notebook. We didn't get around to watching the movie but we made a ton of cupcakes. We made two kinds from V's new book 75 Best-Ever Cupcakes by Carol Pastor. The first set we made were Chunky Chocolate and Banana Cupcakes. They were more like Chocolate Chip and Banana Cupcakes, but I thought they came out pretty good. My friend preferred the second set of cupcakes we did, Simple Cupcakes. I'll post that recipe on the next entry. Happy Baking!

~Ann

Chunky Chocolate and Banana Cupcakes

6 tbsp semi-skimmed (low-fat) milk

2 eggs

2/3 cup butter, melted

2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup golden caster (superfine) sugar (we used regular granulated sugar)

5oz plain (semisweet) chocolate, cut into chunks (semisweet chocolate chips are fine too)

2 small bananas, mashed

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Arrange 12 paper cases in a muffin tin.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the milk, eggs and melted butter together until combined.

3. Sift together the flour and baking powder into a separate bowl. Add the sugar, chocolate and bananas to the flour mixture.

4. Stir gently to combine, gradually stirring in the milk and egg mixture, but do not beat it. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases. Bake for about 20 minutes until the cakes are risen and golden. Allow to stand for 5 minutes, then turn out and leave to cool on a wire rack.

-Makes 12 cupcakes

Carrot Cake

I've been craving carrot cake for some time now, but I've never gotten around to making it simply because I've been too lazy to actually grate the carrots. I know I'm awful but this week I stopped procrastinating, dug through my cupboards, grabbed my grater and grated those carrots for this cake, and the end results were quite satisfying. I got the recipe from one of my books, Cooking: A Commonsense Guide, edited by Jane Price and Justine Upex. I guess this is the North American/European version of carrot cake because in Brazil it's made differently, where the carrots are pureed rather than grated. The carrot cake turned out pretty good. Changes that I made are in italics. Happy Baking!

~Ann

Carrot Cake

3 Eggs

1 cup (250ml) oil

1 1/4 cups (230g) soft brown sugar (I did not have any brown sugar...well I did but it was completely hard so I used white sugar instead.)

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 cup chopped pecans (I used 3/4 cup of raisins instead)

1 2/3 cups grated carrot (I don't know how many carrots this yields, but I would advise you to start with two big carrots. I grated three and it was way too much.)

125 g (4 oz) cream cheese, softened

30 g (1 oz) butter

1 cup icing sugar

2 teaspoons orange juice

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Grease a deep 23 cm (9 inch) square cake tin and line the base and sides with baking paper.

2. Combine the eggs, oil and brown sugar in a large bowl. Add the sifted flour, soda, salt and cinnamon, and beat with electric beaters until the mixture is smooth. Add the nuts (or raisins) and carrot and stir well.

3. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake. Leave for at least 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

4. To make a cream cheese topping, put the cream cheese, butter, sugar and orange juice in a bowl and beat together until the mixture is spreadable. Spread over the cake and if you would like sprinkle some extra pecans on top.

Ovaltine Brownies

Hi, hey, hello, hi there! Remember me? After a looooong vacation from the blog, I'm back. And with a super-duper delicious recipe. =9

Do you like brownies? Do you like Ovaltine? Oh great, than you are going to LOVE today's recipe.

Let's get to business!

~Ana.

Ovaltine Brownies

Slightly adapted from here .

125g dark chocolate, chopped

150g unsalted butter

130g brown sugar

2 eggs

125g all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

75g Ovaltine - the original recipe calls for Horlicks

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350°F. Line a square 8in (20cm) baking pan with foil, leaving a 1in (2.5cm) overhang.

2. Melt butter and chocolate and let it cool a bit.

3. Add sugar and eggs, mixing well.

4. Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa powder over the chocolate mixture, add the Ovaltine and stir until smooth.

5. Pour over the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until just set - be careful to not overbake.

6. Let it cool before cutting it - if you can resist that long. ;)

Serves 16.

Snickerdoodles

I know, I know, it's been forever since I've posted here. Things have been pretty busy on my side of the world, but I haven't forgotten about OSSD. A couple of weeks ago my mom asked me when I was going to make a ginger cake. I told her I would make one soon, and instead I ended up making snickerdoodles. I have no idea why, but I wanted to bake these instead. So for those who don't know snickerdooles are like butter cookies covered with cinnamon and sugar.

The recipe is taken from Betty Crocker.com. It's a pretty standard recipe. The only change I made is using only butter instead of butter and shortening. Changes and comments are in italics.

The only comments I can make about these cookies, are that they are very sweet. I thought that I had a sweet tooth, but these are way too sweet for me. I would have loved these when I was a kid, when I used to actually eat granulated sugar *shudder*. Another thing is the serving size. On bettycrocker.com it's states that it serves four-I think the author meant 4 dozen because the batter was so much, I froze some to use for another time. With that said, it's great being back, and I hope I can post more in the future. Happy Baking!

~Ann

Snickerdoodles

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup shortening (I used 1 cup of butter instead)

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups all purpose or unbleached flour

2 teaspoon cream of tartar (Back in the day, cream of tartar was used as a leavened agent. If you can't find cream of tartar, then use baking powder instead)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400F

2. Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, the butter, shortening and eggs large bowl. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.

3. Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Mix 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Rolls balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Happy B-Day B.!!

Last Thursday was lil'sis b-day and off course I made cake. She demanded asked for a Cookies and Cream Cake, so Cookies and Cream Cake it was. And it had to look EXACTLY like this one. Yeah, she's kinda bossy...but it was her birthday so...

I have to admit that she did a great choice, though. This cake is amazing! So moist, and fluffy, and light. Not too sweet, just the way we like it. Perfect. The only change I made was to use whipped cream instead of buttercream. Oh, and I added crushed cookies to the filling. =D

PS.: Dec 1st was Ann's mother's birthday,too, so I'm also dedicating her this cake. Elaine, I hope you had an amazing day and have many more birthdays to come. Happy (belated) Birthday!! =)

~Ana

Cake

1 1/4 cups All-purpose Flour

2/3 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (or Hershey's Special Dark)

1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

3/4 cup Unsalted Butter

1 1/2 cups Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

3 large Eggs, room temperature

1 1/4 cups Buttermilk

Frosting/Filling

600ml whipping cream

Sugar, to taste

Crushed Oreos - 4-5

For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180ºC. Prepare two 8-inch cake pans with butter and flour.

2. Into a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a standing mixer, or a large bowl using a hand held mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. About 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated and scraping down sides as needed.

4. With mixer on low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, mix until incorporated. Then add 1/2 of the buttermilk, mix until incorporated. Repeat until the last 1/3 of flour has been used. Mix until incorporated and then beat for 1 additional minute. Batter might look curdled but it's okay.

5. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the sides begin to pull away from the edges. Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out onto the racks and allow the cakes to cool completely. I used just one 9-inch cake pan and baked for aprox. 1 hour.

For the filling:

1. Beat  2/3 of the whipping cream and sugar until soft peaks form. 

2. Fold in crushed Oreos.

For the frosting:

1. Beat remaining whipping cream - with sugar to taste- until stiff peaks form.

Cake Assembly:

1. When the cakes are completely cool, cut each cake in half  horizontally. Use 1/3-1/2 cup of frosting to fill between each layer. When all the layers are stacked, set aside 1/2 cup of frosting then use rest to frost the outside.*

2. Using a ziploc bag and a rolling pin, crush all but 7 of the Oreo cookies. Apply the cookie crumbs to the sides of the cake*

3. Use the reserved 1/2 cup of frosting to create 7 swirls on the top of the cake, place a cookie in each swirl.

*I assembled the cake inside the cake pan and left covered with foil overnight in the fridge. Next day, I used a foam plate, smaller than the cake pan, as a base - you can use a cardboard wrapped in plastic wrap; inverted the cake, frosted with whipped cream - spreading a thick layer on top.

Now comes the hard part: using a spatula, try to lift the cake, together with the cardboard, and slide it into your palm. Be careful not to lift too much or the cake will tumble. Follow step 2. I find it easier and less messy to do this step with a rectangle pan or parchment paper underneath, or else you will end up with cookie crumbs all over your kitchen. Set on a nice cake plate. 

Recipe taken from Sunny Side Up in San Diego, that adapted from Family Circle Magazine, February 2009.

=B

Chocolate Marble Cake

I have quite a collection of baking pans and tools, however, as much as I like baking cakes I do not own a pair of round 8 inch cake pan nor a springform pan, which are essential pans for cakes. I keep promising myself that I will buy a set of cake pans, but because I am a professional procrastinator, I never get around to it. Hence this week, I am adding another quick bread/cake recipe, a chocolate marble bread, taken from Joy of Baking.com.

The writer stresses the importance in using real vanilla extract in vanilla based recipes, rather than imitation vanilla which leaves a bitter aftertaste. I have to admit that this is the first time I've used vanilla extract in a recipe on OSSD, and I could definitely taste the difference between real and imitation vanilla.

When making the marble bread, I remembered Ana's attempt at making a marble cake a while ago which did not have the swirls that she wanted. I was kind of worried that mine would turn into a mess as well, but I wanted to take on the challenge, and it didn't turn out so bad for my first marble cake ever. The only thing I screwed up on was not dividing the batter 50/50 so there was more chocolate than vanilla batter, but other than that, it turned out pretty good.

~Ann

Chocolate Marble Cake*

4 ounces (115 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used bittersweet chocolate chips)

1/2 cup (120 ml) milk, divided

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (60ml) sour cream or plain yogurt

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (170 grams)granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Direction

1. Preheat the oven to 325F degrees and place rack in the center of the oven. Butter and lightly flour a 9 X 5 X 3 inch loaf pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.

2. Melt the chocolate, along with 1/4 cup of the milk, in a stainless steel bowl that has been placed over a saucepan of simmering(Not boiling!)water. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. In a small bowl whisk the sour cream with the remaining 1/4 cup milk, and the vanilla extract.

4. With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and sour cream/milk mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Spoon half of the batter into a separate bowl. Add the melted chocolate mixture to one half of the batter and fold in.

5. With two spoons, place spoonfuls of the two mixtures into the prepared loaf pan alternately (chocolate, white, chocolate, etc.) Run a wooden skewer or knife through the two batters to achieve a marbled effect. (Be careful not to over mix or you won't get the marble effect.) Bake in preheated oven for about 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

6.Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely.

Makes 1 loaf

*Recipe taken from Baking with Passion by Dan Lepard and Richard Whittington

Today is a special day!

Happy Birthday Ann!!!

I can't believe another year has passed since we last celebrated your birthday...Time really flies. I wish I could be there to celebrate with you again this year. =( But since I can't, I'll leave a special message for you.

I wish you all the best in the world! And may all your dreams come true and all your goals be achieved.You are a great friend and a great person. I'm glad I had the chance to meet you.  I love ya and miss ya! Sometimes life can be hard but know that something awesome is in store for you. =) Don't ever give up. Keep strong, with a smile on your face and positive thinking. And when things get tough remember: breath in...and out, in....and.... hehe.

I hope you have a great day! Oh, and have cake! (I would sugest Dimitri's huge waffles and/or cakes ;))

~Ana.

PS: I hope you liked the cake. I know we did. ;)
PPS: No recipe today, guys. Sorry. Busy with final terms...=(