Soft Centred Chocolate Bites

So what do you think?

This week was the turn of the Soft Centred Chocolate Bites, which were taken from a lovely little recipe book called Everyday Baking, given to me by my friend Laura for my last Birthday.

It's a fantastic book and contains pretty much everything you could ever wish to bake, so you won't be surprised to hear that I'll be using it several more times, as I make my way through the Challenge list!

(Incidentally here's a photo of the book's cover, if you want to look for it - It's very good and very easy to understand!)

Go on, go look for it!

The recipe itself was very straight forward and oh so delicious (I've adapted it everso slightly, but not so much as you'd tell!)

So what you'll need...

* TO MAKE 7/8 CHOCOLATE BITES*

• 4 Tablespoons of Soft Margarine
  
• 55g/2oz Caster Sugar
  
• 1 Large Egg
• 85g/ 3oz Self raising Flour
  
• 1.5 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder
• 1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder
  
• 1 Bar of Plain Chocolate (Segmented is best)
• Icing Sugar for Dusting
• Strawberry Garnish
  

Recipe

1. Put 8 paper cases in a muffin tin.

2. Put the margarine, sugar, egg, flour, baking powder and cocoa into a mixing bowl and beat together until smooth.

3. Spoon half the mixture into the paper cases. Using a teaspoon make an indentation in the centre of each cake. Break the chocolate into eight segments and place a piece in each indentation (although I would recommend you use two, because one isn't quite enough!)

4. Spoon the remaining cake mix on the top of each cake until the cases are almost full.


5. Bake the cakes in a pre heated over at 190C/ 375F/Gas Mark 5 for 20 minutes.

6. Remove from oven and leave to stand for two minutes, before lightly dusting with icing sugar for presentation.

Fresh out of the Oven

The Verdict?

These mini chocolate bites were incredibly delicious - even if I do say so myself - and I would certainly recommend them to anyone who wants make them - really, go on make them, you won't regret it!
The only thing I would say is that the chocolate quantities in the centre should be doubled (I've noted this in the recipe) but this can be easily adjusted to make them the perfect cakes.

Next week I'm jumping over to the savoury side of the wall to make Black Olive Focaccia so check back soon to see how that goes!

Until then,

Happy Baking!

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Carrot Cake Cupcakes

This probably wasn't the most ambitious of recipes, but it did make delicious cakes and gave me the perfect opportuntity to use my piping bags!
Before I started, I had been pretty worried that the icing was gonna be a disaster and that it would all go wrong, but as it turns out, I didn't have too much to worry about, and after a few practice runs I was icing like an almost-pro, or at least, icing a lot better than I'd expected.



The recipe which I like to use when making carrot cake, is one by Mary Cadogan, which I've stolen from the BBC Good Food Website and taylored to my own needs (Check out the original here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3229/yummy-scrummy-carrot-cake)
I generally prefer to leave out the cinnamon, nutmeg and raisins which are usually found in Carrot Cakes, as I feel that they overpower the cake a little. But if you decide to make these by all means include the spices - some people find that they improve the cake!

Ingredients for Cake

• 175g light muscovado sugar
• 175ml sunflower oil
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 140g grated carrots (about 3 medium)
• grated zest of 1 large orange
• 175g self-raising flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder

To make twelve Cakes

*Pre-heat oven to 180C/Gas 4/fan 160C *

1. Pour the Sugar, Oil and eggs into a large bowl and mix together until fully combined.

2. To this mixture add the grated carrots and orange zest, and stir until the carrot is evenly spread throughout the mixture.

3. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture and stir again until completely integrated.

4. Pour the mixture into cupcake cases until about 80% full, because these cakes don't rise too much, and put into the oven for 40-45 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for several hours until completely cool. (You can use a fridge if you want to speed this process up)




So this is how mine looked after they came out of the oven, and if you can see they've not risen too high, which allows plenty of space for icing!

For the Icing

You'll need a piping bag and a large(ish) nozzle either spikey or smooth - for want of a technical name! - and a hell of a lot of icing sugar, and a few dessert spoons of margarine.

With icing I always find that it's something which you've just got to keep mixing until you get it right, trial and error. Although the key rule is that you need a LOT more icing sugar than margarine. If you follow this then it should be fine, and you just keep adding icing sugar until the mixture becomes fairly stiff. (sorry I can't be more specific)


Here are my finished cakes - not bad eh? - I must admit I'm quite pleased with my little carrot cake cupcakes - escecially the mini cattots which I think look adorable.

Okay so that's it - Challenge One complete - see you next week for soft centred chocolate bites!

Happy Baking!

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