Steam chocolate cake & brownies

Using recipes from BH’s blog, these are what I made for Hayden’s birthday party at d childcare. Not much but at least I made all of this myself... Hopefully 1 day, he’ll appreciate the amt of sleep I lost doing this for him…

Steam chocolate cake & brownies

Seduction Brownies

Tomorrow is Halloween & Hayden is required to bring 1 dish to his sch party. So here I was, searching for a easy recipe to try out, when I went back to Cookie Baker Lynn’s blog. She really loves brownies & as I was browsing through, I saw a rather simple recipe that I think I shd be able to handle so here goes - Seduction Brownies.
It’s really a very easy recipe but am not sure why my brownies does not look like d original pics. At first, I thot it might be because I didn’t prepare d ganache (didn’t want d kids to get too much chcocolate). Then I realised d round baking pan might be d reason. D brownie came out with BIG cracks all around & d inside r still slightly wet. I was still trying to figure out whether to consider this a failure when Hubby happened to walk in & saw it. He’s a chocolate fan & requested for a slice so I cut 1 for him to taste. He loved it! MIL also tried a bite & find it very bitter at first, followed by a sweet taste after it has ‘flow’ down her throat. Interesting cause I have alrdy reduced d amt of sugar. Mmm….
But now with a slice in my hubby’s tummy & cracks all over it, I cant send this to Hayden’s sch. So I baked another 1, this time using d same size pan as stated in d original post – 20cm square baking pan. This time, d brownie looks so much better than d 1st attempt & there is no visible cracks on d brownie after it’s be remove from d oven! Hurray! Even though it still looks flatter as compared to d original pics but shd still be consider a success (at least to me) ;-p

Hubby's ofc gals commented d rd brownie is not soft enough. However, Hayden's sch loves d flatter brownie. So I guess I shd be baking this in d square pan next time.
115g unsalted butter
115g unsweetened chocolate chips
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup or 105g all-purpose flour
½ cup or 65g chopped almonds

1. Preheat oven to 140C. Butter an 20cm square baking dish.
2. Melt butter & unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler, stirring often.
3. Once melted, remove from heat be4 stirring in d sugar, followed by eggs & vanilla extract.
4. Fold in d flour & nuts, stirring just till incorporated. Scrape batter into prepared pan & smooth d top.
5. Bake for 25 mins. Cool completely on a wire rack be4 cutting.

Brownie Bites

I was really quite disappointed with most of my bakes recently. Of course this does not included those that were baked in d ABM, which has been gg on quite well so far. I was told that most of my failures might have been due to my little understanding of d oven that I am using. Friends told me that I need to really ‘learn’ how d oven really works, that meant besides reading d manual. So nowadays, I tried to stand by d oven whenever am baking to c if I can ‘understand’ it.

N with no success in past cookies testing, I decided to give this brownie recipe from Cookie Baker Lynn’s blog a try instead. It’s a very easy recipe & I still have problem with it due to my oven. D temp is always giving me problem.

1st batch of bigger size brownies were too dry after only 10mins @ a lower temp of 150c. 2nd batch of smaller size brownies were better but still consider dry in d middle, given d fact that brownie shd be rather wet in d middle. I also reduced d amt of sugar cause we dont really like too sweet.

Am really starting to think maybe am not suitable/capable of baking anything else but bread with ABM! Sigh…

• 113g unsalted butter, cut into chunks
• 58g unsweetened chocolate bits
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• pinch of baking powder & salt
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 150C.


2. In the saucepan, melt butter & chocolate over low heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture is smooth. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl & set aside to cool.


3. Sift flour, baking powder, & salt together into another bowl.


4. Stir sugar, eggs & vanilla extract into d cooled chocolate mixture until well combined be4 adding flour mixture. Stir until blended.


5. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling them only 2/3 full. Bake for 8-10 mins, or until set but still soft in d center, because brownies r supposed to be wet.


6. Let brownies cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for abt 10 mins, be4 removing them completely.

Brownie cupcake

Saw what Shopoholic2802 did with her left-over batter & decided to give it another go since my 1st attempt failed. I half all d stated ingredients in Blessed Homemaker's recipe & baked it for only 30mins @ 160c. Am I glad I took it out after 27mins cause d top is starting to blacken. Result not as smooth as Shopoholic2802's but still taste as good.

• 90g melted butter
• 90g brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 60g self-raising flour
• 35g cocoa powder

1. Mix melted butter w/brown sugar till well combined;
2. Add in eggs 1 at a time, mixing well. Stir in vanilla essence;
3. Fold in flour & cocoa powder till smooth;
4. Pour batter into pan & bake in preheated oven @ 170C for 40mins or till cooked.

Brownie

Past 2 days were buzy cause Hayden had fever & thus lots of running ard. He’s finally well enough to go school today, thus, I thot I give this recipe that I saw from my friend’s blog a try. However, I half all d ingredients & omit d cream cheese filling. Instead, I put marshmallows on top. Big mistake cause end result looks horrible, BUT, taste really great!

• 180g melted butter
• 270g brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 120g self-raising flour
• 70g cocoa powder
• Some marshmallows
  

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. Pour brownie batter into loaf pan, sprinkle top with marshmallows.
5. Bake in preheated oven 170C for 40 min.s or until cooked.