#onecakeaweek – A Home by the Sea

Who wants to spend too much time in the kitchen these days?

Even with Covid lockdowns, the easier and simpler the recipe, the better it is for everyone. Right?
This Chocolate Brownie recipe will be perfect to whip up for Afternoon or Morning Tea treats, school lunches, surprise gifts for friends and impromptu family visits.

In just 45 minutes you can serve up this mouth-watering delight.

The dark chocolate component of this slice makes it a healthy option, when eaten in moderation. Provided you use quality dark chocolate with a high cocoa content, then it is actually quite nutritious.

It {Dark chocolate] contains a decent amount of soluble fibre and is loaded with minerals. 100 grams (3.5 ounces) is a fairly large amount and something you should consume in moderation. All these nutrients also come with 600 calories and moderate amounts of sugar. The fatty acid profile of cocoa and dark chocolate is also excellent. The fats are mostly saturated and monounsaturated, with small amounts of polyunsaturated fat.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-health-benefits-dark-chocolate#section1

A 100-gram bar of dark chocolate with 70–85% cocoa contains:

11 grams of fibre
67% of the RDI for iron
58% of the RDI for magnesium
89% of the RDI for copper
98% of the RDI for manganese
Minerals: potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium

Chocolate Brownie Recipe

Ingredients

200 grams Dark Chocolate that has 50%- 70% Cocoa
250 grams (9 oz or 1 & 1/4 cups) Butter
200 grams (7 oz or 1 & 1/2 cups) Brown sugar
4 eggs, slightly beaten
150 grams (5 oz or 1 & 1/4 cups) Plain or All-Purpose Flour
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
30 grams (1 oz) Cocoa

Method

Preheat oven to 180 or 350 F and line a square cake or slice tin with baking paper.
Melt the butter and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat, stirring continuously till smooth. Once all lumps have melted, take off the heat.
Mix other ingredients together, adding the eggs last.
Mix in melted chocolate mixture and stir through.
Bake for 28 minutes.
Brownies may look slightly underdone, so allow them to cool in the tray.
Dust with Icing sugar and cut into small squares to serve.

Variation:

Add roughly chopped walnuts for a tasty and healthy variation.
Serve warm with ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

This is the recipe for this week’s #Onecakeaweek series.

Do you have a recipe you wish to link up?

Pingback to this post and I will come and visit your blog.

#Onecakeaweek. Are you tempted by any from previous weeks?

I will be making one cake each week and would love you to link up any cake recipes you have posted on your blog, so I have more recipes to try out.

Enticing Desserts – Strawberry Mint Sorbet
The New Vintage Kitchen:
- Lavender and Lemon Shortbread Cookies
- Catherine’s Chocolate Zucchini Cake

food

Sticky Date Pudding Recipe – My Way

September 1, 2020September 1, 2020 Forestwood

Ingredients

Pudding:

1 and 1/4 cups pitted dates, chopped
1 and 1/4 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
60 g or 2 oz butter, softened
3/4 cup soft brown sugar or dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup self-raising flour (All-purpose flour with 1 tsp baking powder and well sifted)

Butterscotch Sauce

2 cups brown sugar
250 ml or 2.5 dl cream
50 g or 1.75 oz butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Preheat oven to 180 celsius (375 F) – slightly cooler for fan-forced.
Grease and flour/line a base of a 20 cm cake pan.
Combine the dates, boiling water and baking soda in a bowl. Allow to stand for 30 minutes.
Cream butter, brown sugar and vanilla until creamy with an electric mixer.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add the date mixture and flour and mix until well combined.
Pour into the prepared cake pan.
Bake for 35 – 45 minutes or till a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean

To Make Butterscotch Sauce

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over a medium heat on the stovetop.
Stir regularly and bring to the boil.
Simmer for 1 minute until butter and sugar have dissolved.
Pierce pudding all over with a skewer. Pour sauce over warm pudding. Stand for 10 minutes.*
Serve warm with ice cream or as you prefer.

^Variation:

I served the pudding as it was out of the oven. I let it cool slightly and then cut it into wedges, to serve with the sauce and icecream. Pouring the sauce over immediately prior to serving.

* The recipe recommended letting the sauce sit and permeate through the whole pudding, however, I prefer a slightly firmer texture better, than a soggy pudding.

It is up to you how you tackle that!

#onecakeaweek

Follow this blog for more recipes. They are posted weekly at the Home by the Sea

food

Lemon Yoghurt CupCakes

August 1, 2020February 7, 2021 Forestwood

Speciality delicatessens and bakeries in my part of the world offer Lemon Yoghurt cupcakes to die for. Mostly they come from one or two bakeries, ones that are Italian in origin and their product offerings. Yet, it seems that the Lemon and Yoghurt Cake may have been French in origin:

Grandmother all over France are renowned for Lemon and Yoghurt Cake. In French, this cake is called Gâteaux de Mamie, which translated is: Granny Cake. The part of the story I love, is the way these French grandmothers measure the cake ingredients – with yogurt jars!
https://thecafesucrefarine.com/french-grandmothers-lemon-yogurt-cake/

You can try that version of the recipe out at this site.

This week, the cake for #onecakeaweek comes from Best Recipes, however, I wanted to produce a cupcake experience, rather than make another ring cake. My ingredients vary slightly from the French version in that there is more yoghurt and sugar, but less eggs and oil. Yeah – nah! – probably evens out, doesn’t it?

LEMON and YOGHURT CAKE RECIPE

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups fine or Caster Sugar – I only used 1 & one-half cups
Zest of 2 Lemons
2 Eggs
3/4 cup Oil
1/2 tsp Salt
3 tsp Lemon juice
1 cup natural yoghurt
2 cups Self-raising flour (or regular plain flour with 4 tsp baking powder added)
extra leftover lemon juice

Method

In a bowl, mix rind, oil, eggs and sugar with a fork.
Add remaining ingredients and combine well.
Pour into greased ring tin or lined cupcake pans and bake at 180C for 30 – 40 minutes – more time, for the ring tin.
When cooked, remove freom oven and poke holes in the top with a toothpick.
Drizzle few drops of lemon juice for extra tang. Not too much or the cake will go soggy.
Leave to cool and dust with icing sugar to serve.

Variation: I added Pearl Sugar and an Almond on the top prior to baking. White chocolate chips could also be added for an extra measure of decadence.

Donna Hay, Australian cook and Cookbook Author, uses almost an identical recipe to mine, but decorates the cake with icing and strangely of all, thyme leaves. If you want to try that variation?