Chocolate Yogurt Cake

*Adapted from Fauzia's Kitchen 

Pre-heat your oven at 175 C and grease/line an 8" round pan.

TIPS:
• Make sure everything is at room temperature when you start.
• Sift the flour with the self raising flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda two or three times just to aerate it, makes the cake very light and fluffy.
• If the yoghurt you are using is too watery, you can thicken it by pouring it into a cheesecloth/muslin cloth, and tie it in such a way that it can hang for a while, all the excess water will drain out and you will be left with a lovely thick yoghurt.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar, grinded to a powder (200gm)
½ cup butter or margarine (112gm)
1 cup all-purpose/plain flour (120gm)
½ cup self-rising flour (60gm) ( or 1/2 cup flour+3/4 spoon baking powder and a pinch salt)
½ cup cocoa powder (60gm)
1 cup heavy thick yoghurt (200ml)
½ cup milk (100ml)
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla essence
1 ½  tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt ( if using salted butter skip it, I skipped)

Instructions

1. Add the grinded sugar to the butter/margarine, and cream together until light and fluffy. Don't rush past this stage, it is the one that will determine the texture of your final results, so do it for at least 7-10 minutes. I use grinder for it mostly

2. Now add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla essence. Add the yoghurt and milk and beat well, then remove the mixer/machine and take a wooden spoon to do rest of steps.

3.  Add in the flour ingredients in two or three additions, folding it in after each addition. Do not over mix, just fold until everything is well incorporated. Pour into your pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Leave the cake in the pan for about 5 minutes, then turn it over on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the ganache, I didn't want it too thick because I wanted some of it to be absorbed into the cake.

Ingredients

½ cup whipping cream (100ml)
150 gm. dark cooking chocolate, chopped and at room temperature ( I used normal dark chocolate+ milk chocolate in market)

Instructions

Heat the cream until it almost starts to boil around the edges. Remove from the heat and add in the chopped chocolate. Stir until smooth.

Slice the cake in half, add half of the ganache to the center place the second half of the cake and pour the rest over the top, letting it drip down the sides. Garnish if you want with nuts or chocolate flakes. I used some strawberry and almond flakes on top.

Zebra Cake

INGREDIENTS
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (8 oz / 250 g) granulated sugar ( I added bit more)
1 cup (8 fl oz / 250 ml) milk, at room temperature
1 cup (8 fl oz / 250 ml) oil (corn, vegetable or canola is fine)
2 cups (10 oz / 300 g) all-purpose flour
1/3 teaspoon vanilla powder
1 tablespoon (equals 3 teaspoons) baking powder (if not available, substitute with 1 teaspoon baking soda)
2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder (make sure it is not very bitter) such as Dutch-processed ( Dark zebra patterns won’t stand out with light cocoa powder)

Method

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Using a hand-held electric mixer or wire whisk beat until the mixture is creamy and light in color

2. Add milk and oil, and continue beating until well blended.

3. In a separate bowl, combine and mix flour, vanilla powder and baking powder. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat just until the batter is smooth and the dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.  (DO NOT OVERBEAT to prevent air pockets from forming in the batter.

This is the consistency of the batter: neither very thick not too loose. If the mixture is too thin, add a little more flour.

4. Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions. Keep one portion plain. Add cocoa powder into another and mix well.

5. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).

6. Lightly grease the pan with oil. If you don’t have non-stick baking pan, grease whatever pan you have then line it with parchment paper (baking paper).

7. The most important part is assembling the cake batter in a baking pan. This is what you do. Scoop 3 heaped tablespoons of plain batter (you can also use a ladle that would hold 3 tablespoons) into the middle of the baking pan. Then scoop 3 tablespoons of cocoa batter and pour it in the center on top of the plain batter. IMPORTANT! Do not stop and wait until the previous batter spreads - KEEP GOING! Do not spread the batter or tilt the pan to distribute the mixture. It will spread by itself and fill the pan gradually. Continue alternating the batters until you finish them. The pictures below will guide you through.
his is how the cake will look before it goes in the oven.

8. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. Do not open the oven door at least the first 20 minutes or the cake will shrink and will not rise. To check if the cake is ready, insert a toothpick into the center. It should come out clean when ready. Remove from the oven. Immediately run a small thin knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake, then invert the cake onto a cooking rack. Turn the cake back over and let cool. You can sprinkle the top of the cake with some powdered (confectioner’s) sugar or leave it plain.

I coated it with chocolate ganache recipe from here

And some strawberry and white chocolate drops ( Using piping bag is better for this as my experiment was messy)

Chocalate Banana Muffins

Influenced by Nigella's recipe 

Ingredients 

3 very ripe or overripe bananas

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

 1/2  cup soft light brown sugar ( I think I used 1 cup since I prefer sweeter) 

1 1/2 cup  plain flour

3 tablespoons best-quality cocoa powder (sifted)

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C and line muffin tins with papers. 

2. Mash the bananas by hand or with a freestanding mixer. Still beating and mashing, add the oil followed by the eggs and sugar.

3. Mix the flour, cocoa powder and bicarb together and add this mixture, beating gently, to the banana mixture, then spoon it into the prepared papers.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15–20 minutes, by which time the muffins should be dark, rounded and peeking proudly out of their cases. Allow to cool slightly in their tin before removing to a wire rack.

P.S. This recipe was my first in the new convention oven and came awesome so I loved it :D

Nigella's brownie (Self Adapted)

Ingredients

375 g soft unsalted butter ( I used salted hence didnt add salt later and i felt butter was too much so even 300 g would be good enough)

375 g best quality dark chocolate ( I used 160 grams dark chocolate and rest good quality milk chocolate- one can make from plain milk chocolate too)
6 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanila extract
500 g caster sugar ( its generally 21/4 cups but i used 2 cups plain sugar and blended it in mixer and used 2 3/4 cups of caster sugar and so sweetness was perfect)
225 g plain flour (2 cups)
1 teaspoon salt ( i didnt use)
300 g chopped walnuts ( i used 1 cup due to less at home but 2 cups will be amazing)

Directions:

1. 1 Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. 2 Line your approximatley 33 x 23 x 5 1/2cm brownie pan with foil or baking paper. ( i used a 9" springform but usual pan is recommended due to leaks)
3. 3 Melt the butter and chocolate together in a large heavy based saucepan.
4. 4 In a bowl beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla.
5. 5 Measure the flour into another bowl and add the salt.
6. 6 When the chocolate mixture has melted, let it cool a bit before beating in the eggs and sugar mixture, and then the nuts and flour.
7. 7 Beat to combine and then scrape out of the saucepan into the lined brownie pan.
8. 8 Bake for about 25 minutes ( it usually takes 45 minutes to a hour).
9. 9 When its's ready, the top should be dried to a paler brown speckle, but the middle still dark and dense and gooey.
10. 10 Keep checking the brownies as they cook; remember that they will continue to cook as they cool.
11. 
    
12. Note: my brownie took long to cook and i did mistake to leave overnight in oven and so was hard by morning. But it was perfect in gooeyness. So cook it maximum for an hour and take it off, cool it and leave in fridge overnight so it cooks perfectly.

Chocolate Brownie

Ingredients:

* 250 g castor [powdered] sugar

* 180 g Milk Chocolate

* 180 g soft butter

* 110 g plain flour (Maida)

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 3 eggs

* some butter for greasing

Recipe

1. This ones very simple to make... firstly.. grease the dish in which you will be baking the brownie. preheat the oven to 160 degree celsius or 320 farhenheit..

2. Now, in a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter together.

3. How to make a double boiler: basically double boiler is nothing but a bigger pan filled with water, and a smaller pan or heat proof vessel inside it which holds your stuff to be melted.

4. So in the larger pan add some water, and in the smaller vessel add the chocolate and butter, heat this assembly for about 10 minutes, and the butter and chocolate should start melting,[ tip: do not touch the mixture before the chocolate is melted, coz if you do so then the chocolate will be very difficult to melt after that!! once u see that the chocolate is melted then u can stir it] once they are melted, mix them together, put off the heat, remove the inner vessel and allow this mixture to cool...

5. Now, in a big bowl, break the 3 eggs, add the castor sugar to it, and 1 teaspoon vanilla essence. whisk this mixture thoroughly.. now add in the cooled chocolate butter mixture to it, and FOLD it [do not whisk] with a wooden spatula.... [FOLDING THE MIXTURE means u move the spatula in such a way as if ur folding it over and over again]

6.Now add in the maida/flour to it and then mix it in a cut-n-fold way which means u have to move the spatula in the figure of "8" basically.. this makes sure that your cake mixture is very airy and it mixes thoroughly making your cake soft and spongy. [ you can add in some chopped walnuts to this mixture now if you wanna make it a walnut brownie]

7. And now!! time to bake!

you can bake this mixture just like that in the greased pan or u place a butter paper on your baking dish... both ways its good but butter paper makes sure your cake does not stick to the pan so its really your choice.

8. Pour the brownie mixture on the dish and spread it evenly with your spatula... and bake it for 20-30 mins at a temperature of 160 degree celsius or 320 fahrenheit.

9. Check the cake once 20 mins are over

10. one tip to do that is take a clean and dry knife and just poke it inside the cake.. and see if it comes out clean.. if it comes out sticky means you still have to cook it for some more time but if it comes out clean means your cake is ready!!

11. Once your cake is ready take it out and let it cool outside for 30 minutes or so... and then you can cut it and serve!!

Garnish:

you can sprinkle some castor sugar

you can serve it with vanilla ice cream

you can serve it with chocolate sauce

ENJOY and let me know how it went

Suggestions: One can also use dark chocolate or cocoa with hot water and some chocolates.

Chocolate Cake!

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups boiling water
* 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 2 1/4 cups white sugar(Make it 3 for the sweetness is bit less)
* 4 eggs(seperated)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 9 inch round cake pan. In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. I separated the eggs and whipped the whites separately with some of the sugar, then folded it all together to make is extra airy.Beat in egg yolks one at time, then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture and then fold and cut using the 8 shaped method. Spread batter evenly in the pan

3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool.

4. One can sift some powdered sugar on top to serve.


Note: I recipe could easily be flavored with coffee, juice, or buttermilk in place of the water.
Also if one want it little more chocolaty, use half cup of chocolate sauce and half cup of cocoa and it tastes heavenly.

Variations( spongey choclate cake)

Ingredients

* 4 eggs

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1 (16 ounce) can chocolate syrup

* 2 cups vegetable oil

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 16 ounces white sugar (2 cups powdered)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Beat the eggs and the vanilla with a spoon. Blend in the chocolate syrup. Fill emptied chocolate syrup can with vegetable oil and add to bowl. Add the flour to bowl. Fill can with sugar and add to bowl. Stir well and pour into a lightly greased 9x13 inch pan.

3. Bake 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Ice after cooling or leave plain.

Note: one can mix chocolate syrup (half) and half cup cocoa.