Flourless Chocolate Cake

Doesn't that cake look pretttty? It's ofcourse mainly because the cake was Oh. So. Good., but also because, I'm the proud new owner of a Canon EOS Rebel T2i! Finally :) Even though I haven't learnt any of the settings yet, I've got so many nice pictures of myself + friends. Can anyone recommend a good book / links to understand it all better, for a total beginner? It'd be super helpful, any would actally lead to me making some use of the camera beyond automatic settings! I super suck at food photography, and while I doubt that's going to change soon, I'd still like to learn more about the camera in general.



So back to the cake. I baked it on my visit home. The visit was amazing and so so much fun, but I was so busy meeting people and getting stuff done, that I hardly managed time to bake, and only did because people were requesting it so much, and ofcourse, my own cravings ;)


I'd had my eye on this cake ever since it won Most Popular on the Secret Recipe Club's December reveal, and was looking for a chance to make it, but couldn't because of exams. After baking it, I realised why it was most popular, the cake was heavenly. It was super fudgey and dense, but not annoyingly so wherein you need to grab a glass of water. The chocolate taste really shone through, which is why it's important to use a good chocolate [I used Callebaut Dark]. This cake has got the vote of a lot of people, so you need to try this one soon. Paired with some ice cream, it was sheer indulgence.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Recipe from David Rosengarten's Taste via My Beautiful Disasters


7 oz extra bittersweet chocolate
1 3/4 stick [200 g] unsalted butter
5 large eggs, separated
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup [180 g] granulated sugar
pinch of salt - omit if using salted butter
2 tbsp [15 g] unsweetened cocoa powder



Instructions -

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Grease a 10 inch springform. I halved the recipe and used a 6 inch pan.
2. In a double boiler, melt together the butter and chocolate. Set aside to cool slightly. Now slowly whisk in the egg yolks and the vanilla. Stir to combine, and add in the sugar, salt and cocoa powder, stirring until incorporated.
3. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Whisk in 1/3 of the whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten. Now gently fold in the remaining 2/3. 
4. Pour into prepared springform pan, and tap lightly on the counter to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 25-28 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
5. Place on cooling rack, removing the sides immediately. Allow to cool, and serve alongside some ice cream

German Christmas Market in Birmingham

Happy 2012!! I know I've been away, I'm on a visit back home for the holidays. And I'm having the absolute best time, this year has been amazing so far. I finally managed to get some time in to do this post, which has been pending since forever. Back when I was still in the UK, I went over to the German Christmas Market in Birmingham, after hearing a lot about the food there. Frankfurts make me happy :) After getting some shopping done at my paradise, the Bullring, we went over to the Market.

It was so so much fun. I had the best food and beer there, even though I'm not a fan of beer. It wasn't a very big thing, but the stalls that were there, were absolutely amazing.



The steakhouse, that had one of the best beef burgers I've ever eaten. It was moist, juicy, and their homemade sauces just took it to a whole other level.


So many different types of frankfurts, supersized :)



And ofcourse I had to try out the desserts. These crepes were fantastic, rivalling what I'd eaten in the streets of Paris. They had a ton of options.


I had the Nutella Marshmallow one - messy food is always more fun - and the Bailey's one, because I just had to try one of the tipsy ones :) The Nutella Marshmallow was delicious, but it's the one with Bailey's that hit it out the park, it was so good, and completely a new taste for me, I hadn't seen crepes with any alcohol before this.


A line up of all my favorite men. After the Bailey's I wanted to try every other version too. :)


So many options here too. Can you tell that I absolutely loved this stand?


This stall was all about the nuts. In every flavor imaginable!

There were a ton of other stalls, for German chocolate, some great tasting fudge that I pigged out on for an entire week, for various crafty things and for some great popovers, that I didn't get a chance to try. I didn't manage to click too many pictures of it though unfortunately, we were tired after a long day of shopping, holding a ton of bags, and just too exhausted. But on the whole, the Market was absolutely amazing, and if  it weren't for the damn exams, I'd have easily spent a whole day there, gaining tons of weight :)

With that thought, Happy New Year again!! This year, I've resolved to not make any weight loss resolutions :D

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Hello there :) I can't believe how much I've stayed away from this blog. My exams are up in week, term 1 is already set to end. It's been surprisingly hectic, so much work. I literally have had no time to bake, but on the bright side, have been learning to cook pretty well. Seems I actually have the ability. Who would have thought? My day's schedule has become like - wake up, shower, hurry for class, do some group work, come back for dinner, then go back to the business school and study late into the night. Sleep isn't even considered. I'd be quite near burnout, if not for the fact that exams will be over in 10 days :D

Anyway, the other day I decided I needed a break, and also with the Secret Recipe Club's deadline looming, decided to do some baking. I spotted pecans at the grocery store long ago, and picked them up for snacking. I'd wanted to make a pie with them for thanksgiving, but since that didn't pan out, I zoomed in on Kim's Chocolate Pecan Pie. This month's blog assignment for me was a very nice one, I reallly wanted to try her red velvet cupcakes, and probably will, soon.

I made this pie at 5 am a few days ago, when I got back home. And I was so glad I did. It made the home smell amazing, my flatmates were so pleased :) And did I tell you how much I love the weather here? Making pie crust is so easy, there's absolutely no worry about the butter melting! The chocolate layer is nice and dense, with the pecans providing a wonderful texture, and the crust is a perfect complement. I used my standard pie crust, and made the filling from Kim's site.

Chocolate Pecan Pie.

For the pie crust -

Use half of my standard pie crust recipe.

For the filling

3 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 stick [113 g] butter
2 large eggs
3 tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup pecan halves

Instructions  -

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare a pie plate with a bottom crust. 
2. Melt together the chocolate and butter and in a  medium saucepan. Set aside to come to room temperature.
3. Whisk the eggs and add into the chocolate mixture.
4. Now add the flour, and vanilla, stirring until just combined.
5. Now stir in the pecan halves, and pour onto unbaked pie shell.
6. Bake for 55-60 minutes, until the filling looks set.
7. Serve along with cream or ice-cream for a decadent treat, or just as is .

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

This little breakfast cake represents the first thing I ever baked in my new home. It was kind of a hit and miss, with no scale [I'm just so used to it now], weird measuring cups, a new oven etc. But I was still quite happy with it. It tasted perfectly fine, and was a wonderful accompaniment to my breakfast.

I've started cooking ever since I came here, stuff other than pancakes and eggs atleast [though I tried the BEST pancakes the other day, I'll try and post them on here soon]. It's a slow process, but I'm realising that I actually quite like cooking. I'm not doing so too regularly, but when I do, I go all out, put in an hour of effort at the least. This blog has always been about baking, and I don't think I'm ready to change that, but I might just talk about some cooking experiences sometimes. Oh and also, I would love some recipe recommendations for a beginner cook!

Anyway, back to the cake. It's for the Secret Recipe Club, and this time I got Stacy from Every Little Thing. She has the cutest blog, and it had a ton of stuff I wanted to make. Unfortunately, since I'm still setting up, my options were quite limited by ingredient / tool unavailibility. I had a few options, of which I really loved the blueberry breakfast cake, especially since I had some blueberries in the fridge [P.S - Did I tell you how much I love that I can now just say a statement like that like it's no big deal. I love how easy it is to get things here :)]. The cake was also really easy to make, I actually just used a hand whisk, since I haven't even bought a mixer yet. The cake turned out really well, so soft, and barely sweet, so it went perfectly with my morning coffee.

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Recipe from Eat, Live, Run via Every Little Thing
 

For the streusel -
1 cup oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter, melted

For the cake -
2 cups whole grain pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 cups nonfat Greek yogurt
1 stick butter, melted
2 cups fresh blueberries


Instructions -

1. Preheat oven to 350 F [180 C]. Grease a 9x13 pan, or two smaller pans, which is what I had.
2. Combine all streusel ingredients. Toss well. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, eggs, yogurt, and butter until well combined. Gradually sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix until just combined.
4. Now pour out about 3/4th of the batter into your prepared pan. Sprinkle blueberries on top. Pour the rest of the batter onto the blueberries. Now pat the streusel mixture on top.
5. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until it feels springy to touch, and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy Diwali to all my Indian readers! I just celebrated my first ever diwali away from home, and it was actually a lot of fun, though ofcourse I missed family and friends a lot! But unless I manage to get a job, I'm only here for about a year, so I figure I can manage that :)



I actually did get some baking done a few days ago, but that's for the Secret Recipe Club, so I can't post it yet. In the meantime, I'm gonna post these amazing cookies that I've been meaning to for months. All these years, I didn't like peanut butter straight out of the jar, and assumed I wouldn't if it's baked into anything either! So I never really bothered to even try. But then, a really close friend requested some peanut butter cookies, he was feeling nostalgic about them, and after he described them to me, I decided I'd just make some, and give them all to him. I scoured the net, and ultimately landed on my favourite site, should have just gone there directly. Deb's recommendations always work for me :)

I just made them very sceptically, didn't have any hopes for them, I was just gonna taste one to quality check, and then pack them all off to him. Yeah.. I don't even know what I was thinking! Peanut butter is gooood! Now I finally get what all you guys have been talking about. The soft cookies, with delicious chocolate chips, were just divine. I ate quite a few of them.. had some friends come over, and before I knew it, the entire batch was over. Just like that. To date, my friends rate these cookies as one of the best things I've ever made. You MUST try them :)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook{India | UK} via Smitten Kitchen


1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup peanut butter chips - I didn't have, absolutely fine without it
1/2 cup chocolate chips
For sprinkling: 1 tbsp sugar, regular or superfine


Instructions -

1. Preheat oven to 350 F [180 C]. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and peanut butter till fluffy. Add in the sugars, and beat till well incorporated.
4. Add in the eggs, milk, and vanilla, beating between each addition. Fold in the flour mixture. Add in the chips.
5. Lay the sprinkling sugar out on a plate. Roll one tablespoon sized balls of dough in the mixture, then place on the cookie sheet, leaving quite some space for expansion. Using the tines of a fork, make the traditional criss cross indents, and bake for 10-12 minutes. These cookies are meant to be chewy, do not overbake them.