Chocolate Lava Cake (Failed)

I am back!

Okay, seriously, this recipe is a failed attempt to make chocolate lava cake. Turned out to be a combination of lava cake and molten cake. Oh no. By which, tastes very similar to brownies.

I don't think it's necessary to post the recipes, if you want it just search for chocolate brownies in this blog.

I'm going on a second attempt of chocolate lava cake again. Wish me luck!

Make Cream Cheese Brownie Fudge

So my one and only photo up there doesn't depict the intensity of the brownie's external texture in a profound way. Again, pardon me, because I'm still working on my photography skills.
I whipped up this recipe from Food & Travel magazine September 2009 after weeks of drooling over cheese recipes. The pic in the magazine looked extremely inviting and it was easy to make too! This brownie has two layers, with the chocolate fudge as the bottom layer, and cream cheese as the top layer.

Here is how you can make cream cheese brownie fudge.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Brownie
190g unsweetened chocolate
50g unsalted butter
2 eggs
3 tablespoons caster sugar
100g plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Layer
250g cream cheese
90g butter
3 tablespoons caster sugar
3 eggs
3 1/2 tablespoon flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler for about ten minutes until melted. Stir gently with wooden spoon. Remove from heat and let cool.
2. In another bowl, beat eggs until thick, add sugar gradually and continue beating. Then, add in vanilla extract.
3. Pour cooled metletd chocolate into the egg mixture and mix well.
4. Next, fold in sifted flour until well incorporated.
5. Spread chocolate mixture onto bas of a square cake pan, lined with baking sheets.
6. Then, pour in cream cheese filling as top layer.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 180 C.

Directions for Cream Cheese Layer:
1. In a medium bowl, beat butter, and vanilla extract with cream cheese together until creamy.
2. Add sugar gradually until fluffy.
3. Add in eggs, one at a time until it is well incorporated.
4. Fold in flour and mix until well blended.

Here I have reduced the amount of sugar in the brownie and cream cheese layer since I used melted, sweetened chocolate chips in addition (as a substitute) to my baking chocolate. Also, I don't really fancy intensely sweetened brownie. So you can add extra sugar if you intend to. The original amount of sugar for the brownie is 1/3 cup sugar and 1/4 cup sugar for the cream cheese layer.
Since the recipe calls for 3 eggs in the cream cheese filling, I honestly think that 3 is too many. 1 should be sufficient because in the end, the cheese taste a little bit eggy. Perhaps I need to add more cream cheese as well. Much to the contrary, the dense, fudgy brownie was perfect, you'll even forget how cheese tastes like!

Whatever it is, this still is a confection that promises to delight both cheesecake and brownie lovers :)

Make Lemon Squares

If you have lemons, make lemonade! But if you have a lot of lemons, make lemon squares!

"___________" Okay. Lame.

I was trying to figure out what to do with the tons of lemons in the refrigerator. Lemonade sounded tempting, but I wanted a bit more far-fetched. So I googled "Lemon Recipes" and found out that there were such things as lemon bars/squares. The soury taste of lemon didn't seem to incorporate with such pastry or so I thought. So this wasn't so appealing, but given that the recipe was uber easy, I gave it a shot.

What you need:

Crust:

3/4 cup plain flour

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened

Filling:

1 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 egss

5 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 175 C.

2. To make the crust, mix flour, confectioner's sugar and butter until the mixture becmes a breadcrumb consistency. Use fork or your own hands.

3. Pour crust over a greased baking pan. Refrigerate for about ten minutes, then bake for about 15 minutes at 175 C.

4. Meanwhile, for the filling, mix together sugar, flour, and baking powder until the dry ingredients are incorporated.

5. In another mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs. Then pour eggs into the dry ingredients. Add in lemon juice and lemon zest.

6. After the crust is baked, pour the filling on the crust, and bake again for about 20 minutes at 175 C.

7. Dust with confectioner's sugar after baked (optional).

Mine came out very burnt at the end. Perhaps, the temperature could be reduced between 170 C and 160 C. Do check on it occasionally.

The result? Okay I was wrong. Very wrong. The Lemon squares tasted great despite the burn. The tangy, soury taste were to die for. Seriously. I am definitely making this one again!

Bittersweet Chocolate Brownie with Crushed Almonds

Today, I decided to make chocolate brownie simply because the result is just too yummy. I have always craved for sweet and nutty pastries. Well, that explains so don't be surprised if my posts are mostly made of sugar and nuts. :)

Brownie or chocolate brownie is hails from the US of A, a semi-flat square or made with chocolate and baked in a sheet pan, something like a dense chocolate cake. A brownie can be fudgy or cake-like depending on the ingredients you put in.

So away with the intro, and because you and I just love sweet, nutty chocolates, I shall go ahead with the baking directions.

How To Make Bittersweet Chocolate Brownie (with almonds)

First of, the ingredients are:

250g caster sugar

180g bittersweet chocolate

180g soft butter

110g plain flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

1/2 cup crushed almonds (or walnuts)

some butter for greasing

gorgeous chocolate mixture ready for bake.

Directions:

1. Heat chocolate and butter in a double boiler for about 10 minutes until melt. Use a wooden spoon and stir gently. Then, remove chocolate mixture. Let cool.

2. Meanwhile, put the eggs in a big bowl followed by caster sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk.

3. Pour cooled chocolate mixture into the bowl with eggs, sugar and vanilla. Fold in.

4. Finally add remaining ingredients of flour and almonds (or walnuts). Use a method called cutting and folding to mix it.

5. Pour mixture in a tin (greased and covered with baking sheet) and bake for 25-30 minutes at 160 C.

6. After brownie is baked, remove from oven immediately and let cool.

7. Cut into square pieces and top with icing sugar.

As you can see, there is no use of baking powder or baking soda because you want this dense, chewy and moist texture which is how brownies should be. That makes a brownie different from a cake. The lack of leavening and minimal amount of flour results in a fudge-like bar.

Also, for brownies, it is best to remove them from the oven as early as possible basically when a toothpick test still shows a few moist crumbs, again because we are looking for a dense, fudgy brownie; as opposed to cakes and muffins, the toothpick inserted must come out clean first as an indication that it is ready to be taken out of the oven.

my pictures didn't turn out good. I'll try taking better ones for my next post! with better lighting!

This is my first time making brownies but it turned out great! Except that it was a little TOO sweet for my taste. Next time I will have to reduce the amount of caster sugar! :)

Okay, so how to enjoy a brownie?

Sprinkle icing sugar, top with caramel and ice cream (if you have an extraordinary sweet tooth), glaze with nuts; or simply have it plain with a glass of milk or coffee. You will be in heaven in no time!

Traditional Tiramisu Cake

My Traditional Tiramisu (with Philadelphia Cream Cheese)

Mention Tiramisu and it will remind me of an amiable dear friend of mine who kindly brought and shared a whole tupperware of Tiramisu cake made by her chef-brother during one lunch hour. It was heaven to the taste and I couldn't forget the taste of the refreshing dessert! That day made one of my college days memorable.

Lately however, my interest piqued again when I suddenly craved for Tiramisu. Buying one is quite costly in my area. So I took the liberty to make one, and honestly, it is the easiest cake I'd ever made;no baking needed.

I did not follow according to the original recipe but instead, I made a few ammendments during the making of this cake and turned it into my own version. The signature of the Tiramisu include the Savoiardi biscuits (lady fingers) dipped in strong, black coffee, Mascarpone cheese, eggs, and cocoa.

Several sources (from Vin Vineto) claim that Tiramisu was invented at Le Beccherie restaurant by the god-daughter and apprentice of confectioner Robert Linguanotto, Francesca Valori, whose maiden name was Tiramisu. Other sources reported that the creation of the cake was originated in the city of Siena in honor of Cosimo III on the occasion of his visit to the city.

Well, either way, this still is a cake to try to put your hands on. Frankly, I went a long way in making a Mascarpone cheese substitute as I discovered that the price of the cheese was over my budget!

So, instead of using Mascarpone cheese, I used cream cheese, with a home-made whip cream and yogurt. Still, my cake turned out gorgeous to the taste.

Here are the ingredients you will need:

Savoiardi biscuits (lady fingers)

A large bowl of strong black coffee with sugar

Cocoa powder

250g Philadelphia cream cheese

1 tablespoon plain yogurt

For Self-made whip cream:

1/2 cup icing sugar/confectioner's sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup milk powder

1/3 cup butter, melted

* you can purchase a whip cream at your local store instead of making one.

Directions:

A. For Mascarpone cheese substitute:

1. Mix cream cheese with an electric mixer or a whip until soft.

2. For self-made whip cream, combine melted butter and milk powder. Beat until a heavy

cream is formed. Add in vanilla extract and icing sugar. Mix well.

3. Pour whip cream into the cream cheese little by little and mix well. Next, add in the plain

yogurt and mix again.

B. Cake

1. Soak Savoiardi biscuits with black coffee and arrange first layer of cake on a desired dish.

2. Layer the soaked biscuites with the cream cheese mix and repeat for the next layer.

3. Finally, top the last layer with cream cheese mix (in this case, there are only 2 layers).

4. Dust cocoa powder on top of cream cheese mix.

5. Refrigerate for about 4 hours or overnight.

To make this recipe simple, all you need are Savoiardi biscuits, cream cheese + whip cream+ yogurt/sour cream for Mascarpone cheese substitute, black coffee,and cocoa powder.

There are many versions of making this cake and they vary greatly. Today, many Tiramisu cake recipes include liquor or brandy. Some with walnuts and pecans.

Recipes using Mascarpone cheese require egg whites and egg yolks, beaten till fluffy. You can find more versions of Tiramisu recipes here.

that's my half-eaten cake!

Liquor or no liquor, eggs or no eggs,the most important is the cheese is rich and perfect to taste; the Savoiardi biscuits soaked in strong espresso or coffee. Then you shall enjoy your Tiramisu (literally meaning "pick me up") and get pulled into the sinful taste of the cake!