Brownie Pudding Cake

http://community.jeroxie.com/groups/cookbook-challenge/

I've been doing too many desserts and baked goods on here, but I couldn't help it this time because the Cookbook Challenge theme is Dessert. I'm a little late once again, but everyone else was too, so I don't feel too bad about it! I had this really great dessert planned, but I couldn't find a key ingredient at the supermarket, so at the last moment I had to change my idea for what to make. This brownie pudding cake was perfect because not only did it sound delicious (It's a brownie cake on top and pudding on the bottom! Of course it sounds delicious!), but every single ingredient was something that I already had on hand.

The recipe is from the 2007 edition of The Good Housekeeping Cookbook.

2 teaspoons instant-coffee powder (optional)

2 tablespoons plus 1 3/4 cups boiling water

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

4 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (optional)

I didn't use any instant-coffee powder when I made it, because I can't stand the taste of coffee. People sometimes say that if you add coffee/espresso powder to chocolatey recipes, it doesn't make them taste like coffee, it just gives them a more intense chocolate flavor. I don't know if this is true or not, and I don't care to find out. People that drink coffee are so desensitized to the harsh bitter flavor that they go around saying that their mochas don't taste anything like coffee and that I should try some because I'll like it. And when I try it, all I taste is coffee, and it is horrible.

Anyway, I don't know if the extra two tablespoons of water is necessary if you don't use the coffee powder, but I used it anyway and added it when it told me to just to be on the safe side.

Preheat oven to 350F.

In cup, dissolve coffee powder in 2 tablespoons boiling water, if using.

In large bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In 2-cup measuring cup, combine milk, melted butter, vanilla, and coffee mixture, if using. With wooden spoon, stir milk mixture into flour mixture until just blended.

 Pour into ungreased 8-inch square baking dish.

In small bowl, thoroughly combine brown sugar and remaining 1/4 cup cocoa; sprinkle evenly over batter. Carefully pour remaining 1 3/4 cups boiling water evenly over mixture in baking dish; do not stir. Be careful not to make my mistake and boil the water so long that some of it boils away. Just add some warm or hot water to the boiling water if you do.

Bake 30 minutes (batter will separate into cake and pudding layers). Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Serve hot with whipped cream, if you like. Makes 8 servings.

You must view this at full size to get the full effect. It looks so good.

 This turned out amazing, of course, and it was so quick and easy to make, too!

Dark Chocolate Soufflé

http://community.jeroxie.com/groups/cookbook-challenge/

This fortnight's Cookbook Challenge theme is Eggs. I wanted to make an egg-based dessert and I wanted to try a dish that I had never attempted before, so I went with a soufflé. This recipe is from Hershey's Chocolate Lovers Cookbook, published in 1993. It says to use a 6-cup soufflé dish, which of course I didn't have. I went many places trying to find one, with no luck. In one store I did find some for $10 and I wasn't even sure if they were big enough. So I decided that I would just make individual soufflés and use coffee mugs instead of soufflé dishes or ramekins. And they worked very well!

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup dutch cocoa (or European-Style)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

1 cup milk

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar, divided

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs, separated

Heat oven to 350F. Butter 6-cup soufflé dish (or mugs); coat with 1 tablespoon sugar. In medium bowl, combine cocoa and flour. Add butter; blend well. Set aside. In medium saucepan, heat milk until very hot. Reduce heat; add cocoa mixture, beating with wire whisk until smooth and thick.

Remove from heat; stir in 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla. Cool slightly. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Cool to room temperature.

In large mixer bowl, beat egg whites until foamy; gradually add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and continue beating until stiff.

Stir small amount beaten whites into chocolate mixture; fold chocolate mixture into remaining whites.

 

Carefully pour into prepared dish. Bake 40 to 45 minutes until puffed (or if making individual soufflés, bake 20 to 25 minutes). 

They start to deflate very quickly!

 

The cookbook suggests serving with vanilla ice cream, but I thought they went perfectly with whipped cream.

Black Velvet Cake

Sorry about the lack of updates. I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this month and it's eating up most of my free time. Anyway! This cake was meant to be posted around Halloween, but obviously that didn't happen. It's just your basic red velvet cake recipe, but with black food coloring instead of red, and orange food coloring added to the frosting. The recipe is from Beyond Grits and Gravy: The South's All-Time Favorite Recipes, by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley. I forgot to take a photo of the cover so this is a low quality one from Google Image Search.

By the way, this recipe is to be used with three 8-inch cake pans to make a three-layer cake, but I only had 9-inch cake pans so mine was only a two-layer. I had to add a little extra baking time and I used the excess frosting to frost the sides of the cake, but other than that I didn't make any changes and there was no leftover batter. So if you're in a similar situation, just add an extra 10 minutes or so to the baking time, and it should come out perfect!

Cake:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp red food coloring (Or black, or blue, or whatever you want! It's okay to use as much as 1/4 cup of food coloring if you want the color to be richer, or less grey if you're going with black.)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour three 8-inch round cake pans, tapping out any excess flour; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add food coloring and vanilla; beat until well-blended.
In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine cocoa, flour, baking soda, and salt.
Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition and ending with dry ingredients.
Scrape batter evenly into three prepared pans, and bake until a cake tester or straw inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
Let cakes cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a wire rack and let cool completely.


Icing:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 pound powdered sugar, sifted
food coloring (optional)

In a small bowl with an electric mixer, blend cream cheese and butter until light. Gradually add powdered sugar, a couple of tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition, until fluffy and light.

To assemble cake, place 1 layer on a cake plate and spread 1/3 of frosting over top. Repeat with remaining layers and remaining frosting; do not frost sides of cake.

(I'm a sloppy cake-slicer.)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

It's finally October! So why not have a recipe that involves pumpkin? Actually, I really love pumpkin so don't be surprised if I make a post in April with something pumpkin-y. This recipe is from Muffins by Elizabeth Alston, published in 1985. The original recipe includes almonds, but I don't care for nuts in bready or cakey things, so I left them out. I've written that part of the recipe in brackets.

[1/2 cup (1 1/4 ounces) sliced unblanched almonds]
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup plain pumpkin (half of a 1-pound can)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips

I also included a dash of ground cloves. For the chocolate chips, I used Ghirardelli bittersweet baking chips. They're larger than most chocolate chips, but they worked perfectly.

Heat oven to 350F. [Put almonds on a baking sheet or pie pan and bake about 5 minutes, just until lightly browned; watch carefully so almonds don't burn. (You can also toast them in a toaster oven.) Slide almonds off the baking sheet so they cool quickly.]
Grease muffin cups, or use foil or paper baking cups.
Thoroughly mix flour, sugar, pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.


Break eggs into another bowl. Add pumpkin and butter, and whisk until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips [and almonds].


Pour over dry ingredients and fold in with a rubber spatula just until dry ingredients are moistened. This is the most important part of making muffins. You must never over-stir!


Scoop batter evenly into muffin cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until puffed and springy to the touch in the center. Turn out onto a rack to cool. Wrap in a plastic bag and keep for 1 or 2 days. I've had pumpkinbread and pumpkin muffins go wonky pretty quickly, so definitely try to eat them all within just a few days.

Delicious! This recipe was so easy and the muffins tasted amazing, so I'll definitely make these many more times in the future.