Saturday 8 June 2013

Banana muffins with fudge pieces

In celebration of moving in with my boyfriend (horray!!!!!!) and having some bananas to use up in the fruit bowl, I decided not to make the usual banana bread recipe but to look for some banana muffins to make.

We were helping his parents move to Plymouth and I decided to take them as a snack idea. I hope they were appreciated.  They are Nick's favourite baking recipe of mine so far.
I add fudge pieces to make them extra gooey in the middle.


Recipe adapted from the All Recipes website.  My notes are added in purple...

Ingredients

Serves : 12 

  • 200g (7 oz) plain flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 large bananas, mashed (Make sure these are overly ripe.  This adds extra flavour.)      
  • 150g (5 oz) caster sugar (I decided to split this as 100g of caster sugar and 50g of brown sugar)      
  • 1 egg
  • 75g (2 1/2 oz) butter, melted
  • You could add some spice such as a tsp of cinnamon.
  • 1 bag of fudge pieces.  (I found these in the baking aisle at Asda)      


Directions

Prep:10min  ›  Cook:25min  ›  Ready in:35min 

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 C / Gas 4. Place 12 paper baking cases in a muffin tin.
  2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt; set aside.  (I added some spice to the flour mixture here)
  3. Combine mashed bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until smooth. (I beat the sugar and butter first and then add the egg, then the banana).
  4. Add the fudge pieces and fold them in so that you don't knock much air out.
  5. Spoon evenly into baking cases in muffin tin. (Make sure the batter is close to the top of the cases so that you get that glorious muffin top!)
  6. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until muffins  (original recipe) spring back when lightly tapped.

Monday 3 June 2013

Best chcoclate bundt cake EVER

This is not my recipe.  I found this through the goddess, Joy the Baker.  My friend Rachael made me this cake a couple of years ago and it was the gooey, moist and just a perfect blend of chocolate, cake and a hint of coffee.

It was Father's Day (May this year) and I decided to make the cake for family visiting.  We had 6 of us around the table and I wanted a dessert to finish off the masterpiece of roast pork that Nick was creating.  Perhaps it's like Marmite, where in my opinion most people love Marmite.... Most people LOVED the cake and some said it was a polite good.  I don't care.  It took effort and a bundt pan brought all the way from North Carolina but it was WORTH IT!!



Hints and tips:  It was a wet batter but just go with it.
The glaze was a mess so I wiped up the tray afterwards to make it more presentable.
I didn't have buttermilk and added some melted butter and milk, which I know now was a sin but it still turned out ok.  (I have buttermilk now and plan to make this cake for a friend's birthday dinner party!)

Joy has her glaze drip and just lets it set that way. I couldn't.  I kept adding and adding and filling gaps; letting it set and then adding some more.  I didn't even taste a bit.  Oh ok.  Yes I did.  And it was DIVINE!

The Best Chocolate Bundt Cake with chocolate glaze
makes one 10-inch bundt cake
from The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook (really lovely book)

For the Cake:
1 1/4 cups plus 1 Tablespoon brewed coffee
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups plus 1 Tablespoon buttermilk
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoon canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups, plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted
 
For the Glaze:
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup unsalted butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1/4 cup brewed coffee, cooled
 
Place an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
 
Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan and set aside.
 
To make the cake batter:  Put brewed coffee and cocoa powder in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking frequently.  Remove from the heat and let come to room temperature.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a whisk attachment, mix together sugar, salt, baking soda, eggs and egg yolk on low speed for about 1 minute.  Add the buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract and mix on low again for another minute.
 
Add the flour and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.  Add the cooled cocoa mixture and mix on medium speed for 3 minutes.  The batter will be very loose.  Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 1 hour, or until a cake tester inserted in the cake comes out clean.
 
Let the cake cool completely in the pan and then invert onto a cooling rack.
 
To make the icing:  Chop the chocolate into small pieces, put them in a heatproof bowl (or a double boiler), and set the bowl over a pot of barely simmering water.  Be sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the boiling water.  Remove the bowl from the heat when all of the chocolate bits have melted.
 
Melt the butter in a separate pan or in the microwave.  Whisk the melted butter into the melted chocolate until thoroughly incorporated.  Sift in half of the powdered sugar.  Add the sour cream and whisk to combine.  Sift in the remaining powdered sugar and whisk until smooth.  The glaze should be thick and shiny.  Lastly, add the coffee and whisk to create a glossy glaze.  Pour the glaze over the Bundt cake, covering it completely.  
 
Leave at room temperature until ready to serve.