bit of Baking - Flourless Chocolate cakes :)

Hi 

It's that time of year where I seem to be constantly baking something - kids stuff - family stuff - school stuff and it will keep going till just around new year. 

I've made this batch of cakes several times over the last few weeks - its the easiest fool proof recipe I know and it tastes delicious.

Today I feed 6 teen boys lunch and this was the requested dessert.

 

Over the years its been adapted from several recipes.

This is my version. You will find lots of different versions all over the place 

This mixture will make 24 individual cakes

Ingredients

180g salted butter

300g good quality dark eating chocolate

1 1/4 cups of raw caster sugar

100g hazelnut meal

1 cup cocoa powder

5 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 150c. 

Place the sugar, chocolate and butter in a saucepan over a low heat and gently melt until smooth.

In a mixing bowl place the almond meal and cocoa.

Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients and beat to combine.

Add the eggs one at a time whilst the beater is going and mix each egg in well (the mixture will be warm and you don't want the eggs to cook).

Once all the eggs have been beaten into the chocolate mixture you will have a glossy stiff mixture, using a table spoon - spoon the mixture into your muffin pan.

I recommend using a patty case or baking paper in your muffin trays as I have done for the photos.

Bake for 25 minutes

The serving size is on the small size as the cakes are incredibly rich!!

Serve with Clotted cream and fresh raspberries

Enjoy Xx Siobhan 

Whats cooking

I've been cooking just a bit longer than I have been sewing. 

I cooked a lot as a kid - in retrospect it must have been a good way of keeping me occupied, no DVD/ computer games back in the late 70's early 80's in our house. 

I remember owning a video copy of the 'Life of Brian" and watching it over and over again then a few years later down the track it was "Pretty in Pink" "Sweet Sixteen" "Breakfast Club" and The big blue, Im sure there are many others but they stuck in my mind. 

My Kids own every DVD under the sun as well as PSP/PS3/DSi/Wii/Ipod Touch/digital kids TV and the computer. Bring back the good old days.

I went through fads with cooking - my poor family had months of choux pastry and lemon delicious pudding. I generally don't bake so much anymore, I have learnt not to - basically because I'm the one that eats it. Today with the cold and rain I went into baking mode and whipped up some choc hazelnut brownies, I haven't made them in years, the smell was sooo good - It also feels good to bake something - a bit like sewing or making anything I presume. Watching others enjoy it is a double pleasure.

I was very impatient and shot the pics at night in my kitchen with fluro lights - hence the yellow hue :)

Over the years I have sort of combined a few recipes together, I have it scralled on the back of some junk mail and safely in my recipe file, This recipe is gluten free.

Chocolate Hazelnut Brownie

(gluten free)

380g Dark eating chocolate

180g Butter

1cup Brown Sugar

3eggs

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/ cup Hazelnuts

150g Hazelnut meal

1tsp Baking powder

Heat the oven to 180C fan forced, and line a 

20 X 30cm tin with baking paper.

Melt butter and chocolate in a bowl, leave for ten minutes to cool. Beat sugar and eggs until pale in colour and creamy, fold through the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture add vanilla and mix through hazelnuts. 

Add in hazelnut meal and baking powder mix gently. 

pour into tin and bake in the oven for 35 - 40 minutes. Its ready when the skewer comes out moist but not wet. Leave the brownie to cool completely in the tin (it will continue to cook once out of oven), then cut into squares and sift icing sugar over the top.

any nuts can go into these brownies, Macadamia nuts or walnuts make a nice change - what ever is on hand, Also the hazelnut meal can be changed to almond meal.

I like my Brownies crusty on the outside and gooey on the inside 

and with a nice warm milky coffee

Xx Siobhan