Archive for the ‘Chocolate’ Category
Someone recently asked me what my favorite thing to bake was and I was stumped because it is difficult to narrow it down when I like so many things! The truth is that I like to bake just about anything, but if I have to pick, I would say that brownies are one of my favorite things to bake. They’re easy to bake, huge crowd pleasers and you can put many different spins on them to change their flavor completely. These Banana Brownies with Cacao Nibs, for instance, definitely stand out from your average brownie.
The basic brownie batter here is one that I use often, made with melted dark chocolate and cocoa powder for a strong chocolate flavor. I added mashed banana to the brownie base, along with chocolate chips and cacao nibs. Cacao nibs are chopped up pieces of roasted cocoa beans. The nibs usually go on to become chocolate, but they can also be added to chocolate bars and baked goods for a little crunch and a slightly toasty, nutty, chocolate element.
These brownies are pretty amazing and a fantastic change of pace from your standard brownie recipe. They are super moist and fudgy, yet still tender, and they have a great balance of chocolate and banana flavor. I used dark chocolate chips, but semisweet are a good choice here, as well. The cacao nibs add a crunch, but are more subtle than a big pecan or walnut is going to be, and they enhance the overall chocolatiness of the brownies. You might have to look to a specialty baking store to find the nibs, but if you want to skip them you’ll get good results by using walnuts or pecans in this recipe, too.
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Rocky Road is a popular ice cream flavor, and the combination of chocolate, marshmallows and nuts is so well known that it can be used to make a lot more than just ice cream. For instance, these Rocky Road Scones will be instantly recognizable to fans of rocky road. They are chocolate scones with mini marshmallows, walnuts and chocolate chips. Definitely not your usual breakfast fare!
The scone dough is made much like other scones, with butter cut into a flour mixture to give the finished scones a light, flaky texture. I recommend sifting the flour mixture for this recipe because it contains cocoa powder, and you don’t want to get unincorporated lumps of it in the dough. Mini marshmallows add some extra sweetness and walnuts add a nice crunch, while those chocolate chips up the chocolate factor considerably. Walnuts could also be substituted with almonds, if you prefer almonds to walnuts in your rocky road.
These scones have a great, brownie-like chocolate flavor to them along with that light texture of a regular scone. They’re moist and not too sweet, so they still seem like a good breakfast or brunch treat, rather than a straight dessert. They are best when they are still slightly warm and fresh out of the oven, while the marshmallows are still soft. If you can’t eat them all at once, however, they will keep well for a day or two when stored in an airtight container after cooling.
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This Banana Buttermilk Chocolate Cake is the kind of classic cake that never goes out of style. It’s the kind of cake that you can bring to bake sales or barbecues, and even serve at dressy dinner parties. It is also very easy to make, so it’s the type of recipe that you can keep “in your back pocket” for occasions when you need a cake quickly. In short, it is an all purpose cake recipe and it is absolutely delicious.
Bananas and chocolate share the flavor spotlight in the cake. There are very generous amounts of both mashed banana and cocoa powder in the cake batter, and they contribute to a cake that is extremely moist and has a very tight, tender crumb to it. There are subtle butter and vanilla undertones here, but chocolate and banana are the stars. The cake is very satisfying, but it is not to rich or heavy, so you can eat a generous slice without feeling stuffed, too.
I baked this cake in a 10-inch ring pan, but it can also be baked in a bundt pan. The baking time will be about the same, but don’t forget to grease and flour your bundt pan to ensure that the cake comes out cleanly. You can serve it plain, or top it off with a drizzle of chocolate or cream cheese frosting. You can even turn it into a sundae with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The cake keeps well for several days when stored in an airtight container, and you can even freeze a few (unfrosted) slices to save for another day.
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Chocolate and strawberries make an excellent pair – especially when you’re talking about chocolate covered strawberries. I switched around the chocolate and strawberries to make these Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream. They’re rich chocolate cupcakes topped off with a creamy frosting made with fresh strawberries that are just starting to come into season.
The chocolate cake is one of my favorite cupcake recipes. The cakes are very moist and tender, with a tight crumb that gives them a velvety mouthfeel. And, of course, they pack in a lot of chocolate flavor. That chocolate flavor comes from a large amount of cocoa powder in the cake, so don’t be alarmed by the large amount of sugar required in the recipe, as it is needed to balance out that unsweetened cocoa. The cupcakes need to be baked and cooled before they can be filled. I always use the cone method for filling cupcakes, where you have to cut a small cone of cake out of each cupcake to create a large cavity that can hold a lot of filling.
For the strawberry buttercream, I simply pureed a bunch of fresh, hulled strawberries in the food processor until the mixture was very smooth. I added it to butter and confectioners’ sugar and beat it until the frosting was thick and fluffy. If you get ripe, flavorful strawberries, you’ll get a dark pink frosting with a great strawberry flavor. You can add a few drops of food coloring to make the color of your frosting a little more distinct, if you prefer. It is used as the filling and the frosting of these cupcakes, adding a bright berry flavor to every bite of chocolate cake.
These are great summertime cupcakes, with great flavor. Serve them plain or garnished with a fresh strawberry. When making the puree for the frosting, be sure to puree some extra berries and you can use that as a base for daiquiris, margaritas or other summery cocktails to serve along with the cake!
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One of my favorite souffle recipes to make is for my Yogurt ‘Cheesecake’ Souffles. It’s an easy to make souffle recipe where the base is thick, greek-style yogurt that gives the souffle a lot of body (and a cheesecake-like flavor) without a lot of work. It is also a great base for other souffle flavors, like these Chocolate Yogurt Souffles. Adding a little bit of cocoa powder to the mixture, along with a little extra sugar and honey for sweetness, turns these desserts into something a little more decadent.
These souffles have a great texture, both light and creamy. They don’t have an intense chocolate flavor, as some more traditional chocolate souffles do, but they certainly have enough to satisfy a chocolate craving – and they’re light enough that you can justify making them as often as you want. The base is made with yogurt, eggs, cocoa powder, honey and flour, with a little vanilla added for depth of flavor. Egg whites are beaten into a fully meringue with some sugar, then folded into the yogurt mixture. The mix is divided into ramekins and baked.
I use plain, Greek-style yogurt when making these souffles. The finished dish still has a slightly tangy, yogurty flavor to them, in addition to chocolate. If you don’t care for that tang of plain greek-style yogurt, a vanilla flavored yogurt will give you a slightly sweeter and slightly less tangy finished product and is also a good option. Greek-style yogurts definitely give you the best results with this recipe and you can use nonfat, full fat and everything in between.
To dress them up for a fancier dessert, I like to add a drizzle of chocolate fudge sauce (or ganache) before serving, but generally enjoy them as-is when I’m just indulging myself.
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