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).

Crazy Over Bananazzzz and HPBOB!!

By the way, HPBOB referred as Happy B'day Old Bird.

Saturday night was only the 1st day of baking for OB's birthday. As she doesn't like choc as much as me, I decided to follow Peach Muffins' recipe from Aunty Yochana's blog.

It looked fine at first.

But it was a disappointment after it's been baked.

It didn't look as fluffy a muffin should be as it's suppose to as Aunty Yochana's.

The texture was more like peach tart. MH brought them all to the aunties and uncles at the wet market. Feedback was surprisingly good though.

Since the peach muffins were a flop, I decided to bake Banana Cake from Chubby Hubby and Cheese Brownie from Aunty Yochana.

Chubby Hubby's Banana Muffins calls for creaming the butter and sugar before adding the rest of the wet ingredients. I wondered if I had over-beat the wet ingredients.

The batter was pretty light and white.

The muffin cups turned 'wet' as soon as the cake started to bake.

I like how golden brown the tops looked.

Time for taste testing!

Guard dog joined in as well.

Oh my... the muffin cup was completely soaked with oil.

Verdict: The texture was soft but kinda dry, due to the loss of moisture of the butter.

Continuation of the die-hard spirit! I didn't know what happened to the pictures for the cheese brownie. I must have been in a moodless spirit for photo-shooting. It took more than the time required to bake it in 1 small loaf pan. I used a aluminium foil to cover the top when baking for the second time, while I took a nap on the sofa in the living room.
I woke up when the sun reached the top of the sky and checked my brownie. To my dismay...

the cheese brownie fell apart once I poured it out of the pan. I think it must be over-baked.
I had some remaining brownie and cheese batter left, so I mixed them up in muffin pan.

Not really a pleasant sight but, the brownie was rich and fantastic! This is the true brownie I've been waiting for! You should try this recipe quick.

With the unsuccessful cheese brownie, I decided to bake 3 variations of banana muffins for OB.MH had bought back with 2 bunches of bananas from the market, so why not?

Recipe from Mad Baker. I didn't over-mix the batter this time round, unlike the 1st time.

I bought these lovely brown cupcake paper from Phoon Huat.

Guard dog woke up to the smell of muffins and stuck around the kitchen.

This last banana muffin recipe's from Joy of BAKING. Instead of white choc, I used unsweetened choc chips instead.

I thought I got the melted butter right this time by melting it directly over low heat.

I packed 21 banana muffins for OB, though she's not celebrating 21st b'dae. I thought 21 banana muffins should be enough for her colleagues.

The 3 'musketeers' with peach muffins on top (meant as reward for Guard dog)

I was still left with 3 bananas at the end of the tiring day.

Peach Muffin (http://auntyyochana.blogspot.com/2007/09/peach-muffins.html)

180 gm. unsalted butter - melted
220 gm. fine sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs - lightly beaten
250 gm. cake flour
2 tsp. Baking powder
80 gm. ground almonds
1 small can of peach - cut into dice
100 ml. fresh milk

1. Mix melted butter wih sugar, salt, beaten eggs and milk. Stir till well combined and then pour into the sifted flour, ground almonds and baking powder. Stir lightly.
2. Add in diced peaches.
3. Spoon into muffin cups and bake at 180C for about 25 mins. or till cooked.
4. Leave muffins to cool on cooling rack.

Banana Cake (http://chubbyhubby.net/blog/?p=191)
Makes 20 to 24

21⁄4cups (295g) flour
2tsp baking powder
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
1⁄2tsp salt
1cup (210g) sugar
240g unsalted butter
4 eggs, beaten
4 bananas (roughly 375g), mashed
5Tbs milk
1tsp pure vanilla essence

1. Sift flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a medium bowl.
2. Cream butter and sugar until creamy white.
3. Add beaten eggs a little at a time. Beat well after each addition.
4. Add vanilla, milk and mashed bananas.
5. Fold in flour and blend well. Pour mixture into muffin cups and bake at 180˚C for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Cheese Brownie (http://auntyyochana.blogspot.com/2007/05/cheese-brownie.html)

Brownie:

180 gm. Butter - melted
275 gm. brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla essence
120 gm. self-raising flour
70 gm. cocoa powder

Cheese filling:

250 gm. cream cheese
45 gm. butter
80 gm. icing sugar
1 egg

Some chocolate chips to sprinkle on top

1. Mix melted butter with brown sugar until well combined.
2. Add in eggs, one at at ime, mixing well after each addition. Stir in vanilla essence.
3. Gently fold in flour and cocoa powder and stir till smooth.
4. For cheese filling: beat cream cheese, butter and icing sugar until well combined. Add in egg, beating well.
5. Pour half of brownie batter into loaf pan, then pour in cheese filling. Then pour the balance brownie batter on top of cheese filling. Sprinkle top with chocolate chips.
6. Bake in preheated oven 170C for 40 min.s or until cooked.

Banana Muffin (http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/BananaMuffins.html)

Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all-purpose
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) light brown sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ounces (65 grams) white chocolate, cut into small pieces
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
8 tablespoons (113 grams) (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 very ripe large bananas (approximately 1 pound or 454 grams), mashed well (about 1-1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Garnish:
1 large banana, sliced (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Butter or spray a 12 - 1/2 cup muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and white chocolate. Set aside.
3. In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients until just combined and batter is thick and chunky. (The important thing is not to over mix the batter. You do not want it smooth. Over mixing the batter will yield tough, rubbery muffins.) Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins and place a slice of banana on top of each muffin for garnish. Bake about 20 - 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool for five minutes and then remove muffins from pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.