Happy Birthday to us, March Gals!

It's March and a Very Happy Birthday to us! I didn't really have the mood to think of what else to bake and simply used a coffee cupcake or muffin recipe.
I couldn't recall which recipe did I use, but I remember that it was Vietnamese coffee granules which I added to the mixture.
It was difficult for the coffee to melt completely, and the outcome had traces of coffee granules laying on top of the cupcake/ muffin!

Hmmm... the batter looked kinda wet .

Some of them had overflowed onto the pan.

The texture is very soft, but there seemed to have some of the coffee granules that were not completely melted. And I could only taste the coffee on the top only.

I used the same choc frosting as I had too much left over which is kept in the fridge. Sprinkled some rainbow bits to brighten them up!

Cooool...

March Gals blowing out the candles.

'Lil party's over. Back to work again.

Mocha Brownies

It happened on one Thursday night when I decided to bake brownies for my colleagues but couldn't find the recipe for my Chocolate Brownie Cakes with Blueberry Chocolate Sauce! So I tried this alternative recipe, which I flipped upon.

The method is similar to the one used in Chocolate Brownie Cakes, except that it doesn't require you to cool the choc mixture before adding the eggs.

Instead of using a 19cm square cake pan, I poured the batter into the muffin tray. I managed to get 10 muffins this time, by filling more than 2/3 full.

HAA... I sat infront of the oven and had my dinner as I waited for the muffins to be ready.

The top of the mufins started to crack. I started to worry at this time.

I took them out once the toothpick came out clean. The top felt kinda hard to the touch of my finger.

Verdict: The inside of the muffins were soft with the crispy top even after warming them up in the microwave oven for 3mins. Pig Head prefers this to Chocolate Brownie Cakes, while Turkey the opposite.

Source: The Australian Women's Weekly Home Library: Biscuits & Slices

Recipe:
180g unsalted butter
250g dark chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 tbsp dry instant coffee
1 tbsp hot water
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour

Grease deep 19cm square cake pan, cover base with paper, grease paper.
Melt butter and chocolate in pan over low heat, stir until smooth.
Remove from heat, stir in sugar and and combined coffee and water, then eggs 1 at a time.
Stir in sifted flour, pour mixture into prepared pan.
Bake in moderate oven (180 Deg C or 350F) for about 35mins or until firm; cool in pan.
Dust with sifted icing sugar, if desired, before serving.

Hit hard with 2 Choc Swiss Rolls

It was during one chinese variety show that featured old bakery house that sells traditional swiss rolls sparked me to try baking one.

It wasn't that hard, I thought. Simple ingredients + simple steps = no problem.

I looked up the websites for the recipes.

But it wasn't as easy as it looked. I tried 2 recipes but both flopped. I turned to peanut butter cupcakes in the end, which didn't look that fantastic either. A friend couldn't even taste the peanut butter and asked me if it's choc?!

I think I must be too disappointed with the recipes, which I've deleted from my laptop. I couldn't find it in my recipe folder at all!

Recipe 1

The result was a really light and fluffy swiss cake. Unsatisfied, I continued to bake with another recipe

Recipe 2

This is worse! It looked more like choc cake.

Since I've promised my colleagues I'll bring one over to them, I decided to use back the 1st recipe and bake an unsuccessful choc swiss roll cake.

Maybe I felt I needed to bake one more time, but a better cake, to make myself feel better.

So I scroll to my folder and located a Peanut Butter Cupcake recipe.

Hmmm... I didn't manage to taste it and I can't remember why. Probably the failures before this set in pretty hard.

Here's the recipe for Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Servings: Makes 12
Ingredients:
For cupcakes
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powderRounded
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup whole milk

For icing
1/3 cup heavy cream
4 oz milk chocolate, finely chopped
1/3 cup chopped peanuts

Special equipment: a muffin tin with 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups and paper liners

Preparation:
Make cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
3. Beat together peanut butter, butter, and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until blended, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat until fluffy, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, then mix until just combined.
4. Divide batter among lined muffin cups (about two-thirds full) and bake in middle of oven until pale golden and a tester inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Turn cupcakes out onto a rack and cool completely.

Make icing while cupcakes cool:
Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan, then pour over chocolate in a small bowl. Let stand 1 minute, then whisk until smooth.
To thicken icing to spreading consistency quickly, spread it on a metal baking sheet and chill until thick and glossy, about 5 minutes. Scrape icing back into bowl and stir until smooth. Spread icing on cupcakes and sprinkle with peanuts.

Cooks' notes:
• If you aren't pressed for time, chill icing in bowl, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 20 to 30 minutes before spreading on cupcakes.
• Iced cupcakes keep, chilled in an airtight container, 3 days.

So what did I do with the swiss roll cakes? I slapped choc frosting that I kept away in the fridge for some time already and snadwiched the cakes.

=( No words to describe my great disappointment!

Super Moist Chocolate Fudge

I don't usually have luck wih cakes. I once baked a choc cake for my own birthday when I was in secondary school. It turned out to be a flat choc pan instead! I still have much to practise if I wana bake a successful cake for others.

So I've to start by baking with pre-mix that can be purchased at all supermarts. And nothing will go wrong with Betty Crocker!

I chose this Chocolate Fudge cake because I knew the gals at my office will love it.

The mixture after addition of eggs and maybe butter &/or water?

Layer 1

Layer 2

Guard dog always my companion while I'm baking away. I think reason's most likely is for food.

The skin (top layer ) seemed to be able to peel away from the cake.

Looked kinda cute though?

For the choc frosting, I decided to choose this particular recipe, Old Fashioned Choc Cake with Cocoa Frsting, that I probably copied from a book I borrowed from the library.

Yes, it looked kinda wet, and probably only meant for slapping between the layers only.

Verdict: Very moist and delish!

Cocoa frosting

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar
8 tablespoons (about) whole milk
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in 3 cups sugar. Beat in 6 tablespoons milk and vanilla. Add cocoa and remaining 2 cups sugar; beat until blended, thinning with more milk if necessary.
2. Place 1 cake layer, chocolate-chips side up, on platter. Spread 2/3 cup frosting over.
Top with second cake layer, chocolate-chips side up. Spread 2/3 cup frosting over.
Top with remaining cake layer, chocolate-chips side down.
Spread frosting over sides and top of cake. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome; let stand at room temperature.)