13 Mar 2013 – Yellywelly

I am doing something yummy for money!

Our office is doing a week-long bake sale to raise money for Comic Relief. Comic Relief is a charity based in the UK that was set up in 1985 that aims to raise money to tackle the root causes of poverty and social injustice. The money that gets raised each year helps so many people and I enjoy doing my bit to contribute, albeit in a very small way.

I’m going to bring coffee and walnut brownies tomorrow. It’s still chocolate but it’s got a distinct coffee taste that cuts through the chocolate quite nicely, or at least, I think so! I love the recipe enough to share it. I think this would be great with a cup of milky tea or, what else, coffee! If you try the recipe, please tell me what you think! I’d love the feedback.

Ingredients:
200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
175g butter
25g instant coffee granules
200g caster sugar
125g brown sugar
150g plain flour
100g walnuts, roughly chopped
3 eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 170°C.
Prepare a baking tray by greasing and lining with parchment paper and set aside. I learned that when you grease the baking tin that you plan to use, it’s a good thing to also grease the parchment paper you line the baking tin with. It prevents the parchment from sticking to the cakes and makes for easy removal.
In a bowl, mix flour and choppped walnuts together, making sure that the walnuts are completely coated in flour.
Place chocolate, butter and instant coffee granules in a heat-proof bowl over a sauce pan of simmering water. Leave until melted completely but making sure you stir once or twice to make sure that everything is combined properly. Remove from the heat once everything is melted completely and well-incorporated.
In a free-standing mixer (this can also be done by hand or a hand-held mixer), mix sugars and egg and beat until the mixture is smooth and fluffy-looking. I read somewhere that this usually takes about 5 minutes, but what I look out for is a change in colour, the batter becomes a paler shade of what you when you started to cream the sugars. Pour chocolate mixture slowly into egg and sugar mixture and mix until everything is well-combined. Add the flour and walnut mixture and mix until the batter is thick and smooth.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean. The top will look shiny and flaky. Be careful not to over cook as the brownie can become hard and very chewy.
This can make up to 24 squares, depending on how large your slices are.

Presenting (finally) the recipe for Mango Love!

I created this recipe to enter the Emerald Street Cupcake Challenge. While I didn’t make the shortlist (I was disappointed, but I knew my recipe was more tropical than American), the whole process of creating and designing a cupcake was a very enjoyable and very delicious one!

This lovely golden cupcake is offers you a burst of tropical mango sunshine. The twists of lime in the sponge, frosting and mango jelly are added to bring out the mango flavour. The cupcake is moist and full of fruity mango sweetness. The mango flavour theme continues in its golden yellow frosting. It is topped with a heart-shaped mango jelly piece. This luscious burst of tropical sunshine during the cold winter months that will have you reaching for another…and another!

Cupcake Sponge:
90g sugar
50g butter, unsalted
1 egg
180g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
200g mango pulp
2 tbsp lime juice

Frosting:
300g icing sugar
80g butter
1 1/2 tbps lime juice
40g mango pulp

Mango jelly (for decoration, optional):
50ml hot water
80g mango pulp
1 tbsp lime juice
15g granulated sugar
1 packet gelatin

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180°C
In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt until well combined with a balloon whisk and set aside. In a small bowl, mix together the mango pulp and lime juice. Set aside.
In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until this becomes fluffly and light yellow in colour. About 5 minutes. Add egg and mix until mixture is creamy.
Add the flour mixture and mix until a heavy batter forms. Add the mango pulp into the batter and mix for 5 minutes until the mango pulp is distributed well. You may have to scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is well combined.
Spoon into a lined muffin tin. Makes 8 – 10 cupcakes. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
To make the frosting, cream butter and the icing sugar together. Add mango pulp and lime juice until the mixture is creamy. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.
To make mango jelly for decoration, mix hot water with 1 packet of gelatin until gelatin is dissolved, mix in the sugar, mango pulp and lime. Allow to set (leave for about 4 hours for it to set properly) and cut into cubes or shapes and use to top frosted cupcake

This recipe makes 10-12 cup cakes.