Orange's American Choc Cake and X'mas Shortbread

I had a pot luck session cum pre-X'mas gathering with Uni group mates. Well, it also ended up being an early birthday celebration for Orange as well, as it happened that his was 16 Dec. Knowing me, I'll definitely prepare a dish and some bakes for the occasion.
And I'd asked Pig along too.

After much 'flipping' among the choc cake recipes in my hard drive, I chose this American Choc Cake by Cuisine Paradise blogger for its simplicity.

Creaming of the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy, before the addition of the eggs and vanilla essence.

Then the addition of flours and cocoa mixture.

Instead of stirring, I con't to beat at the slowest speed till all flours and cocoa had been incorporated.

Finally, baked in pre-heated oven at 180 Deg C for 15-20mins.

Wala! My first cake that rose, though still not high enough.

Yes! More room for improvement is needed!

Coming to the shortbread now, which I started baking only in the evening.

The shortbread recipe was from Joy of Baking, and I added 1/2 cup of choc chips to the shortbread to enhance the taste.

It took me a pretty long time to cut out the shapes as the dough was too soft. I added more plain flour along with corn flour as I kneaded the dough.

The shortbread cookie turned out crisp yet melted in the mouth once a bite was taken. I made a batch of 56 cookies, mainly because the cookie cutter I used was small. By the time I finished with the last tray, it was 5+am!

With the crockeries waiting in the wash basin, I washed all up till the sun rose. And since I still had that much energy left, I made choc frosting for Orange's choc cake, and crushed and sprinkled the remaining digestive biscuits around the side.

I was so tired when the cake was done, and couldn't go on anymore. Needless say, no writings were on the cake.

American Choc Cake (http://ellenaguan2.blogspot.com/2005/06/american-chocolate-cake.html)

Ingredients for Cake
125g Butter
175g Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla essence
2 Eggs
35g Cocoa Powder
130ml Warm Water
140g Self-Raising Flour

1. Mix in cocoa powder and water. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add in eggs, one at a time. Add in vanilla essence, beating well after each addition until well combine.
3. Then add in a bit of cocoa mixture and flour slowly until finish.
4. Spoon batter into a 10”X14”X1” cake tin. Bake in preheated oven at 180degree for 15-20 minutes.

Ingredients for Chocolate Ganache
100ml Dairy Whipping Cream
125g Dark Chocolate

1. Heat dairy whipping cream until it comes to just under the boil, off the fire and adds in dark chocolate, mix well.
2. Slit cake into 3 layers. Spread ganache over first layer, cover with another layer. Repeat twice. Cover the top with ganache.

Shortbread Cookies (http://www.joyofbaking.com/shortbreads/shortbreadcookies.html)

2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
1 cup (2 sticks) (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (60 grams) powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar
1 teaspoon (4 grams) pure vanilla extract

1. In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth (about 1 minute).
3. Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. latten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to 1/4 inch (.5 cm) thick.
Cut into rounds or whatever shapes you wish using lightly floured cookie cutter. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly brown.
6. Cool on rack.
Shortbread will keep well in an airtight container for about a week or frozen for several months.
Makes about 20 shortbread cookies.(Well maybe for larger cookie cutter)

Author's suggestion to make them more flavorful by adding:
1/2 cup (90 grams) of chocolate chips or cut up semisweet chocolate,
1 tablespoon of instant espresso powder for a coffee taste,
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon,
or 1 tablespoon of finely chopped orange or lemon zest.

The texture of shortbread can also be changed by replacing 1/4 cup (35 grams) of the flour with rice flour to give them a slightly crunchy texture. Or, for a more delicate tasting shortbread with a melt-in-your-mouth texture, replace 1/2 cup (70 grams) of the flour with cornstarch (corn flour).